Alive and kicking!

We just got back from the shelter, more inspired than ever. When we met in the morning, we were expecting few kids, low spirits, and little engagement as Ramadan is keeping energies down, and the emptiness of the Hangar was taking its toll on the residents.

Surprisingly, this was not the case. Newcomers arrived in Tempelhof yesterday, and everything is changing. These new friends come from Afghanistan and Iraq, among others. They are happy to be in Berlin. Both families and children were surprised to see that we were there, inviting them to play. A beautiful family in very high spirits was eager to chat with us and learn some German words, as they have just got here from Norway, where they received four rejections, and they were deported at night. This was hard to digest, but the father was telling us all of their story with a smile on his face because his kids were playing and enjoying the sun, and Germany was a new chapter for them.

This was the first time so many parents got involved with the activities. We had around five families, and the fathers were learning how to make bracelets, super immersed on the technique Tegan was teaching them. We had friendly chats with them, we got a lot of love from the amazingly well-educated kids that just arrived here, and by god, these are creative ones.

Hanan is an 11-year old crazy girl from Kuwait that we all love. She is super talkative, and today, her mood was so much better than the last weeks. Hanan told us she was happy about all these new people, that the Hangar was full again, and that the newcomers were friendly. She was thrilled about this new friend she made just yesterday, telling us she would teach her German because she could only speak Kurdish and Russian.

We still don’t know if Tempelhof will shut down soon, but it doesn’t look like it. We only know that we have new friends and that even if their asylum status is weak and something might happen in the upcoming months, now they want to live in the moment and enjoy the Berlin Summer. So we’ll provide more fun.

To all our volunteers that couldn’t come the last month because of the police check: RUSH TO GET YOUR PAPERS SORTED! We’re more alive than ever, and we have been getting the most amazing proposals from artists that will lead workshops that we are proud to say they will kick ass. So, CALL TO ACTION! Hangar 1 needs you!

On another note, Tegan told us today she started an EU course from Utrecht University on Human Rights for Open Societies. The course is free, and we encourage everyone to take it (you can even do it on your phone!), education is essential to understand better what our friends need! Here’s the link: https://www.coursera.org/courses?languages=en&query=human+rights+for+open+societies