Journey preparation and presentation
Dear supporters,
preparations move forward and here is some news I would like to share with you.
I feel like I am already leaving quite soon, as I will be in Germany before then going to Greece.
Over the past two days, Dutch newspapers have drawn conclusions from the EU-Turkey deal. Not surprisingly, for migrants these conclusions are not positive. The promised direct transit for selected migrants, categorized by where they come from, is happening very slowly, too slowly. Furthermore, this (not functioning) selection process denies migrants overall a fair access to asylum procedures. Greece is Europe's “waiting room”. Everything on hold. A vacuum of time, where human rights move to the background. That is what it feels like from the distance now. I am curious about what we will hear from the people on Lesvos. I wonder what it will be like to be that close to such a blind spot when it comes to human rights. Challenging, enraging, eye-opening- those are adjectives I can write down beforehand. Yet nothing compares to the actual experience.
An experience to engage with and to document, which is why we have this project going, powered by your support and interest!
One comment about this project on Facebook was
“Be the change you want to see”.
Which I think is sweet, flattering and more than anything important! With our group justPeople this is a motivational thought that has pushed our actions. Up to the point of now, it has lead to going to Greece for some of us! Tomorrow, 22nd of March, I will talk more about that at an info-and film evening in the Klinker Nijmegen.
I invite you warmly to this talk! The project presentation will be short and imbedded in (short) movies about Lesvos and the journey of a family from Syria looking for refuge in the EU.
In case we cross the 2000 € funding goal (!), any extra money is a valuable support for the cost of accommodation. Probably this will be around 600 € for two months (one person) and 1200€ for two. Surely, we also fund parts of this journey ourselves. However, I see every support also as a great recognition.
The newspaper clipping is taken from the Rheingau Echo, the region in Hessen, Germany, where I grew up.
