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How the Poetry Project Is Platforming Young Refugees in Berlin

Poetry ProjectWhen hundreds of thousands of refugees arrived in Germany in 2015/16, including many unaccompanied minors, SPIEGEL foreign correspondent Susanne Koelbl wondered about the stories of these young people. Having reported from countries such as Afghanistan, Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia for many years, she has experienced poetry’s power as a common form of storytelling.

Inspired by its beauty, Koelbl teamed up with Afghan-born lawyer and translator Aarash D. Spanta and a United Nations (U.N). adviser Andreas Jödecke to create a space for poetry in Berlin, hoping that they may be able to encourage young Farsi-speaking refugees to find their voices and tell their stories. The effort was an undeniable success.

The young men who attended (primarily young men were sent on the journey to Europe unattended) wrote of their trip in poems which were published later that year in an anthology that resulted in several writers performing their writing at Berlin’s 16th International Literary Festival (ilb). The Poetry Project met with The Borgen Project to give further insight into its work, mission and future plans.

How and Why Poetry Works

When organizing opportunities for the young refugees to write poetry, “we’re really thinking, how can we build connections?” Theresa Rüger told The Borgen Project. Rüger herself is a literature scholar who stumbled upon The Poetry Project at the ilb. Seeing the poems displayed in the Haus der Berliner Festspiele, she was inspired and applied to be a part of it. She explains that the workshops allow young people to tell their stories, meet others and build connections.

The inspiration to use poetry as a medium came from Koelbl’s encounters with poetry in countries such as Afghanistan. Rüger describes Koelbl’s joy as everyone from cab drivers to dinner hosts took the opportunity to share their own poetry, recite traditional poetry and use poetry to convey emotion where regular conversation failed. Searching for a medium to express the young refugees’ experiences, Koelbl decided poetry could be the answer she sought. In many countries, Rüger explains, poetry is close to the present, allowing it to weave in and out of everyday conversation. Perhaps due to this poetic connection, the young people working with The Poetry Project found that their emotions and stories flowed easily into this medium.

There’s another reason, however, that poetry fits so well to express the complex emotions and experiences at play here. “Sometimes the young people are afraid that their audience won’t be able to deal with [their stories],” Rüger explains, “or that they’re going to ask questions that they don’t want to answer.” Poetry introduces a degree of separation between reader and writer, allowing the refugees to get their story out there while retaining a comfortable distance from their audience.

Expansion

Today, The Poetry Project has expanded to include workshops in four languages: Farsi, Arabic, Ukrainian and Kurdish. Work is also translated into English and German. Workshops are held in the same room in the Project’s main office in Berlin, Rüger informs me and take place every weekend, with an additional drop-in session on Wednesday afternoons. This session, Theresa explains, can be used as a time to “just drop by if they want to write or just to talk to us.” In short, it is another opportunity for social connections to be forged and for trust to be built. Like the weekend workshops, attendance at the Wednesday sessions isn’t mandated. Instead, young people are free to invest as much time as makes them feel comfortable.

Spreading the Word

The young people involved in The Poetry Project don’t limit their words to the page. More than 10 readings are organized annually and young poets are frequently invited to speak at literary institutions in readings that impress the audience deeply. The performances “differ from your regular reading where you have a professional author. It feels more immediate.” Emotions run high in audiences facing “very young people” speaking of such harsh experiences and “often people cry.”

The readings’ most impactful are those delivered to the young poets’ peers: school children whose lives match the refugees’ perfectly in years but differ vastly in lived experience. Rüger tells of school assembly halls echoing with the jokes of 150 teenagers, raucous and reluctant to sit quietly for their teachers. But when the young poets come out on stage and begin to read, she says, “You could hear a pin drop.”

The awe and enthusiasm were verified by the school-age audience at the International Literary Festival Berlin, where students lined up to spend their “pocket money” on The Poetry Project’s first anthology after sitting spellbound through the reading. They even requested that the readers sign their individual copies.

Looking Forward

Looking ahead to 2024 and beyond, Rüger describes how The Poetry Project has many projects, readings and events that will continue to spread its message and be a platform for young refugee voices. The Project has scheduled a collaborative performance with a dance group, the publication of a new anthology and a partnership with PEN Berlin – a writer’s association that specializes in supporting persecuted authors to come to Germany and establish themselves in the German publishing scene.

PEN Berlin also organizes additional workshops “held by professional authors who share a mother tongue with the participants.” In addition, The Poetry Project has planned participation in the event series “75 Jahre Grundgesetz – intersektional” from the Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung. Through the event series, The Poetry Project will join the discussion of Germany’s Basic Law from a “diversity-oriented, intersectional perspective,” adding its poetry to the debate on how the law relates to “marginalized and discrimination-affected groups.”

The Poetry Project has established itself as a center that works tirelessly to build connection, understanding and empathy. It provides opportunities for young refugees to foster a sense of belonging and to get their stories heard – all while helping those who grew up in Germany gain a more robust understanding of what refugees have experienced. Its methodology is simple – pass the mic to those who’ve been through it.

– Peggy Hughes
Photo: Flickr

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Changemaker: Fighting for Refugee Children in Zambia

Refugee Children in ZambiaZambia is a landlocked country located in southern Africa. Due to its unique geography, Zambia hosts approximately 105,000 refugees predominantly from bordering countries such as Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and former Rwandan and Angolan colonies. Many of these refugees and asylum seekers live in three main refugee settlements in Meheba, Mayukwayukwa and Mantapala, with some residing in Lusaka, the capital city.

The Experience of Refugee Children in Zambia

The nature of being a refugee or asylum seeker involves plenty of travel. As such, many organizations, including the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), have identified many violations of basic human rights during this process. In particular, refugee children seem to be dramatically affected by the process of claiming asylum. Challenging discrimination against refugee children in Zambia is one of the key case studies in UNICEF’s research on the issue. Others range from child marriage, child labor and gender-based violence.

A New Approach by UNICEF

To tackle these issues, UNICEF Zambia decided to organize what it calls a “Changemaker Workshop” in Lusaka. These workshops are designed to foster inclusion with refugee children in Zambia to directly address the unique problems they face daily, as well as canvassing for solutions.

The initiative involved 20 children aged 13 to 19 who shared their personal experiences as refugees living in Zambia. They were encouraged to highlight adversities faced while navigating the asylum process, detailing instances of discrimination and the challenges of living as orphans or being raised in child-headed households, typically led by an older sibling. As a UNICEF Changemaker, these refugee children can actively participate and consult on issues that directly affect them. Furthermore, they can provide better information to charitable organizations like UNICEF to develop a better outcome for them.

The Impact of the UNICEF Changemaker Program

As a direct result of this initiative, UNICEF has compiled valuable feedback from the participants. Many have proposed practical solutions to various challenges they face, including:

  1. Access to clean water and sanitation.
  2. Encouraging the refugee community to adopt reuse, reduce and recycle practices.
  3. The creation of more learning opportunities in the program.
  4. Establishing additional youth groups focused on teaching skills like writing, reading and organized sporting activities.
  5. Ensuring key information such as paper processing, environmental protection, reporting security issues and access to clean hygiene and sanitation services are presented in a way that can be understood by refugee children.

UNICEF Zambia says that these workshops enable a greater level of participation from refugee children in Zambia in a meaningful way. Consequently, the organization is expanding this initiative by collaborating with partners to establish additional safe spaces for children. This aims to amplify the voices of more adolescent refugees, fostering a platform where their perspectives are heard and solutions are envisaged.

– Domenico Palermo
Photo: Flickr

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3 Key Facts on Child Refugees in Mexico

Child Refugees in MexicoIn recent years, Mexico has become an increasingly significant place of asylum. More than 70,000 refugees have submitted asylum applications in 2019, and despite an initial drop in applications in 2020 due to the pandemic, COVID-19 claims for asylum in December 2020 hit a record high. The well-being of child refugees in Mexico is of particular concern.

Child Refugees in Mexico

People are arriving in Mexico from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Venezuela in search of safety, local integration, Mexican residency and a pathway to U.S. citizenship. In 2020, one in five refugees were children. With such alarming demographics, it has been essential for Mexico to address its overwhelming influx of asylum-seekers and find solutions to protect those vulnerable, especially children.

COVID-19 has heightened poverty among child migrants. Child refugees in Mexico are escaping forced recruitment, gang violence and crime that is a daily reality in their Central American countries. This has resulted in displacement, food scarcity and poverty. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, levels of insecurity amongst these children have only increased, with about 5,000 children (60% unaccompanied) returning to El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico.

COVID-19 has devastated children and families as extended lockdowns, school closures, stalled essential economic activities, neglected migrant reparations and rising violence has escalated vulnerability. Children seeking asylum are most affected by the virus due to the lack of access to safe water, sanitation and other essential services. Restricted access to international protection and regular migration pathways are other obstacles they are facing as they search for safety.

UNICEF has responded with efforts guided by the Core Commitments for Children in Humanitarian Action that focus on providing 2.3 million children and their families, including children affected by human mobility,  protection from the exposure of COVID-19.

Trump Policy Endangers Child Refugees

Since the Trump administration’s 2019 Remain-in-Mexico program, 70,000 non-Mexican refugees have been waiting in asylum camps for their U.S. court hearings in northern Mexico. Within this group, 700 children have crossed the U.S. border alone as their parents wanted them to escape the terrible camp conditions and show themselves to U.S. border officials since unaccompanied minors cannot be returned to Mexico under U.S. policy and law.

CBS News reported that the Office of Refugee Resettlement has been able to house all children who had left their parents in Mexico and 643 of them have been released to family members in the U.S. Although this is good news, the Justice Action Center has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration for its plan to deport children with circumstances like these, threatening their safety if they go back to their home country. The NGO, Human Rights First, has complied more than 1,300 reports of murder, rape, kidnapping, torture and assault against migrants returned by the U.S.

Mexico Enlists Reforms to Protect Child Refugees

As of November 2020, Mexico has approved reforms that apply to children in all migration contexts, accompanied or not. The reform will put an end to immigration detention centers for boys and girls and instead will be referred to alternative accommodation. It will also allow international protection and eligibility for temporary humanitarian visas to prevent deportation or return until the migrant child’s best interest can be resolved.

The U.N. Refugee Agency (UNHCR) is collaborating with associated government agencies, U.N. sister agencies and civil society organizations to certify that referral procedures and appropriate shelter capacity are arranged.

Mexico’s Solidarity Plants Seeds for Progress

For a country that has been overwhelmed by the influx of migrants desperately seeking asylum, Mexico has responded with compassion and an assertion to reform its immigration policy. This combined with other humanitarian efforts will provide monumental aid and help eradicate the suffering of child refugees in Mexico.

– Alyssa McGrail
Photo: Flickr

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Factors Driving Lack of Access to Education

Access to Education
Education remains an unreachable right for millions of children around the globe. Currently, upward of 72 million children in the primary education age (five to 12 years) are not in school and 759 million adults are illiterate. There are a plethora of reasons why such a large number of children in lower income countries do not receive the adequate education at the primary school level. Below are just some of the factors driving a lack of access to education:

  • There aren’t enough schools. Many of the poorest countries in the world do not have access to the adequate financial resources necessary to create schools. Providing schooling materials along with recruiting and training teachers cost money, and aid from fellow countries generally is not sufficient enough to establish an education system for all children.
  • There is a low value of education. Many times in remote areas of the world, children who belong to the indigenous population are more trained at finding food and livelihood for themselves rather than focusing on education. Due to this, they are never taught the value and importance of education.
  • The geographical location is not ideal for schooling. This includes things like severe weather conditions, rough terrain and lack of transportation. For example, children in the Philippines have to walk miles before they can reach the nearest primary school. Some areas in India meanwhile are just too stiff to climb and for transportation to pass.
  • Many families cannot afford school and are oftentimes forced into child labor. Over 300 million children between the ages of five and 17 years are engaged in employment worldwide. Most of these children work to financially support their families making child labor a significant contributor to high numbers of them being out of school. Parents, as well as governments, are more concerned about other important things like finding food, shelter and water for the families.
  • Minority groups are often excluded or forgotten. Specific groups find themselves marginalized while their children are deprived of education opportunities. This tends to happen either because of passive underinvestment by the government in particular geographies where the ethnic minorities are concentrated or because of active discrimination.
  • Conflict within a country overruns the opportunities for education. Children in war-ridden countries don’t have a chance to go to school and be educated. Child refugees caught in war and conflict spend the majority of their young lives in refugee camps. Instead of spending time in a classroom learning, they are caught in the middle of chaos which they do not deserve.

Access to schools is the first step toward increasing the right to an education for all children on a global level. Taking steps to resolve the hindering factors driving the lack of access to education will be crucial in overcoming education’s inaccessibility to so many young minds.

– Keaton McCalla

Photo: Flickr

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Five Facts About Children Born in Poverty

Children born in poverty

Five Facts About Children Born in Poverty

  1. UNICEF estimates that 39 percent of children in low and middle-income countries are living in extreme poverty. These children born in poverty must survive on less than $1.25 a day. From education to food security, severe poverty impacts nearly every aspect of a child’s life. According to UNICEF, “Nearly half of all deaths in children under five are attributable to undernutrition.” It is estimated that over three million children die every year from hunger.
  2. In countries like Madagascar, the only meal many children receive in a day is school lunch. Malnutrition also causes children to be more susceptible to illnesses like malaria, pneumonia and measles. Several organizations like UNICEF, USAID and Save the Children have programs to provide adequate nutrition to children in developing countries.
  3. A 2015 report published by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Bank Group estimated 400 million people were without access to basic healthcare throughout the world. Approximately nine million children under the age of five die yearly. The WHO estimates 70 percent of these deaths are preventable with better access to medical care.
  4. The U.N. reports that children comprise half of the world’s refugee population. These children come from conflict-ridden countries like Syria, Sudan and Iraq and many are internally displaced. Access to adequate healthcare, education and shelter are all challenges refugee children must face. Many of these children lost their entire family to violence within their home countries.
  5. Children born in poverty are also more likely to be affected by mental health problems. Even in developed countries like the U.S., long-term financial stress is linked to poor mental health. Rates of anxiety and depression are higher among low-income individuals. The loss of close family members can also increase the likelihood of adverse mental health for children born in poverty.

Poverty is a cyclical condition and education is crucial to ending chronic poverty. Children born to low-income families are statistically likely to remain impoverished due to a lack of education and opportunities.

The U.N. reports that between the years of 1994 and 2009, “Rural households where the household head had completed primary education were 16 percent less likely to be chronically poor.”

These promising statistics are the driving force behind government-led programs and NGOs to increase access to education.

– Saroja Koneru

Photo: Pixabay

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10 Facts About Forced Migration

Forced_Migration

The subject of forced migration, especially related to refugees, is a major topic in current news and politics across the world. Columbia University defines forced migration as “the movements of refugees and internally displaced people (those displaced by conflicts within their country of origin) as well as people displaced by natural or environmental disasters, chemical or nuclear disasters, famine, or development projects.” Below are 10 facts about forced migration:

  1. Columbia University states that the three most common causes of displacement are conflict, development and disaster.
  2. Refugees are defined as individuals forced out of their home country due to persecution or armed conflict. Refugees are those recognized by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
  3. The most recent UNHCR report, published in 2014, stated there are 19.5 million refugees worldwide. The majority of refugees in 2014 were children. The U.N. reports 51 percent of refugees to be under the age of 18.
  4. Internally displaced persons (IDPs) are individuals who are forcibly
    migrated within their own countries. The UNHCR reports there are over 38 million people classified as IDPs.
  5. The 2014 Global Trends Report estimated 42,500 people being displaced daily within and outside of their home countries.
  6. Asylum-seeking individuals are those who have migrated across borders for protection but are not yet recognized as refugees. The U.N. reported 1.66 million people as asylum-seekers in 2014. 159,000 new asylum-seekers were reported halfway through 2015.
  7. The UNHCR Global Trends Report for 2015 is expected to show record breaking numbers related to forced migration. Mid-2015 data estimated the number of refugees to be 20.2 million. For the full year, the total number of individuals who have experienced forced displacement is expected to exceed 60 million for the first time in history.
  8. As of 2014, 86 percent of refugees are hosted by developing countries. Turkey hosted the largest amount of refugees (1.6 million) worldwide during this year.
  9. Syria became the largest source of refugees since 2014 due to the current conflict between the government and rebel forces.
  10. The UNHCR states that the ability for refugees to return safely to their homes has decreased to an estimate of 84,000 as of mid-2015. The report states, “if you become a refugee today your chances of going home are lower than at any time in more than 30 years.”

Forced migration has been a major issue for quite some time now. Although countries around the world have stepped in to help refugees and other displaced individuals, these facts further prove that it will take much more to reduce these numbers.

— Saroja Koneru

Photo: U.N. Multimedia

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Burundian Child Refugees Flee to Tanzania

Burundian_Child_Refugees
The remote Nyarugusu refugee camp in Western Tanzania has seen a sharp rise in child refugees from the neighboring country to the east. Children have been flooding over the border to escape violence surrounding the recent elections in Burundi.

The amount of Burundian child refugees arriving to the camp increased from about 1600 at the end of May to approximately 2600 by July 19th.

The children are not just arriving in larger numbers according to Lisa Parrott, interim country manager of Save the Children Tanzania, but they are also reaching the camp in much worse shape physically and mentally, most having walked for days with nothing but the clothes on their backs and no food or water. Many have witnessed atrocious acts of violence in their homes and along the way to Tanzania. Some of the children have even seen their own parents or other family members murdered by militia.

On July 21 2015, Burundian President Pierre Nkurunzizain won re-election after running for a third term. In the wake, violence erupted and gunfire rang out. These elections had been hotly protested with President Pierre Nkurunzizain’s opposition claiming that he was not eligible to run again. After the elections, the opposition boycotted the vote and fighting in the country intensified.

The child refugees arriving at the Nyarugusu refugee camp are not eating properly and are having terrible problems sleeping and interacting with others. About a fifth are infants with severe signs of malnutrition, anemia, malaria, diarrhea and other conditions.

The Nyarugusu camp has become one of the biggest settlements in the world comprised of mostly the Congolese who have lived in the camp since the 1990s. At 60,000 people, the already overcrowded camp has more than doubled with almost 80,000 Burundians entering over the years and the recent influx of children has only made the camp more strained.

The overflow of the population is being housed in churches and schools, causing fears that schools will not be able to operate, starving more children of a valuable education. Competition for resources such as food rations, shelter, cooking facilities and firewood, clothing, health care, and clean water intensifies every day with tensions running high.

Save the Children, an organization working in developing nations to inspire breakthroughs in the way the world treats children and to achieve immediate and lasting change in their lives, believes that every child has the right to survival, protection, development and participation.

Save the Children is on the ground in Tanzania and, with the help of local partners, are setting up child health services such as constructing Temporary Learning Centers (TLC) and creating Child Friendly Places (CFP), expected to reach 1200 children.

Life in refugee camps like Nyarugusu is difficult for thousands of people already mired in extreme poverty, but with groups like Save the Children, those seeking refuge from increasing violence in surrounding communities can find some relief and access to basic human needs.

– Jason Zimmerman

Sources: Save the Children, Reuters
Photo: Flickr

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The Hard Knock Life of Syrian Children

syrian-children
Try to imagine back to when you were in elementary school. Most children are happy living without major troubles, or at least children in the United States. Many do not have much to worry about. Most American children are going to school and are living stress-free lives. They are enjoying themselves, playing outside with their friends or playing video games, but the same could not be said for the children of Syria.

Millions on children have been affected by the conflict going on Syria for past three years, 6.5 million, to be exact. Over 2.8 million children are no longer attending school and more then one million are refugees in nearby countries. They no longer live their normal stress-free lives; they do not have “normal” childhoods.

Many Syrian children have endured horrible health issues due to poor sanitation and many are also malnourished. Many also face diseases such as measles and polio due to lack of proper immunizations.

Parents often turn to marrying their daughters off at early ages, as early as 13 years old, so that they do not get molested. Syrian refugee children are more vulnerable to rape and other acts of sexual violence.

In Syria, three million children no longer attend school, mostly because their schools have been destroyed, teachers have left and families are now using schools as homes. Other children quit school to work so that they could help make income to support their families.

The Lebanese government has been trying to help by setting up schools for child refugees but there have been problems such as overcrowding, language barriers and cost of transportation.

UNICEF has been helping since day one and partnering up with others to help. The organization has also immunized more than 20 million children when there was a polio breakout, supplied safe drinking water and provided psychological support.

Save The Children is another organization that has been getting involved and helping child refugees. Anyone could help through UNICEF or Save the Children. Just remember that you would not your children having to go through such horrible living conditions on a day-to-day basis.

– Priscilla Rodarte

Sources: Save the Children, World Vision, UNICEF
Photo: World Vision