Strangers become friends

Countering prejudices and working together to shape integration

When Rama decided to leave her home country of Syria without her family or friends and come to Germany, she took a great step. As a woman travelling alone, she had it anything but easy on her flight and later on in the shared accommodation. By chance, she meets Mandy at a cooking evening organised by Über den Tellerrand and the two become close friends. "I immediately noticed that Rama is a very open person. From her I learned that I can live the way it feels right for me," says Mandy. "From Mandy I learnt that you need time for yourself. I take care of others a lot. Now I know that I also need to use the time for myself to develop personally," says Rama. Meanwhile, the two are good friends and actually neighbours. With Mandy's help, Rama has found a flat. Together they organise cooking and dance evenings so that people with and without a background as refugees can get to know each other.

Background

In recent years, Germany has become a place of refuge and a new home for people of the most diverse origins. As a society, we are thus faced with numerous challenges: How do we want to live together? What values are important to us? What makes us different? Only if we engage in exchange and answer these questions in dialogue will we find answers together and grow into a strong community. This works best through joint activities: When people take action together and do things with each other instead of for each other, encounters as among equals are created and friendships can grow (Phineo, 2019). However, the everyday life of the long-established and the new immigrants often differs greatly. Personal contacts hardly come about, and instead prejudices grow. Immigrants repeatedly emphasise the importance of social participation and friendly contact with people from the host society. These aspects are important factors in getting a job, learning the new language or finding a place to live. They help in feeling comfortable in the new country and in developing self-confidence (SVR, 2017). This is why there is a need for places and opportunities to get to know each other and to contribute with one’s skills. Social connection and participation are basic prerequisites for equal opportunities and a democratic society (FKB, 2020).

The good deed

With your good deed today, you make it possible for people with and without a history of migration to participate in free cooking events and get-togethers in over thirty large and small cities all over Germany. Cooking and eating together connects people all over the world and enables them to get to know each other more easily. Volunteers with and without a history of migration contribute their ideas and together create a sustainable social coexistence. When cooking, dancing, baking or gardening together, people come together as equals and friendships can grow. Participation is not only taught theoretically, but experienced practically. Your good deed thus lays the foundation for local social cohesion and creates visibility and exchange opportunities for committed people through a nationwide network. Getting to know each other personally at the kitchen table promotes tolerance and actively counteracts prejudice.