Dear friends and supporters,
For Women in Exile & Friends this year 2019 was a moving year full of Women* Power.
We decided to walk together and far rather than fast and alone so therefore we would like to thank all of you very much for your company, solidarity and support. THANK YOU!
Only together we could realize all the actions and facing the challenges successfully. We would like to look back at the highlights of the year and share our future vision for 2020.
- On the 8th of March 2019 together with women* all over the world we were striking in Potsdam and we realized a workshop on feminism from a refugee women* perspective.
- With the „Building Bridges Festival” in summer we created a meeting space for over 200 refugee women* to exchange and empower each other, strengthening the existing national wide network and starting new networks with other solidary feminists, looking for ways how to connect our struggles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55esoq1gt_I Despite the city council being reluctant to permit us to use oplatz but finally we could register it as a protest camp and were able to reclaim Oranienplatz as a historic place for the refugee movement but now from a women perspective.
- At the same time we also started demanding “Justice for Rita” – Rita Awour Ojunge, was a refugee woman living in Hohenleipisch, a lager in Brandenburg who was murdered and her remains found in the forest near the camp. With demonstrations in Potsdam, Herzberg and Hohenleipisch we demanded explanations of her death and the closure in particular of the Hohenleipisch Lager as a first step to abolish all camps: https://www.women-in-exile.net/en/25-11-2019-bus-tour-justice-for-rita-abolish-all-lagers/#more-5922 Her body was finally given to the family for burial on the 14.12.2019, with no explanation what happened to her (https://www.women-in-exile.net/r-i-p-sister-rita/ ).
- In the topic of refugee women health we kept on exchanging, learning and empowering each other, especially in the topics of reproductive and mental health care. We came up with the 30 min documentary film ”Testimonials from the Uterus”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNMNfMWtSbE&feature=emb_title It has been screened several times in Berlin and organisations from different federal states working in women health issues have also requested to screen it.
- As usual we gave different empowerment workshops for refugee women on political and health issues and also workshops for people working in solidarity with refugee issues. We continued connecting us with the climate justice movement and showing how climate change is also a flight reason: https://www.women-in-exile.net/en/der-klimawandel-ist-ein-fluchtgrund/
For the next year 2020 we want to realize our own safe space for refugee women in Berlin-Brandenburg: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDK8dqAcG_A To enable us to realize that, we need your support. We appreciate any support or donations to our bank account or via betterplace: https://www.betterplace.org/de/projects/75298-wie-treffpunkt-raum
For all those who supported us this year and wish to receive a “Spendebescheinigung” – if you gave us your adress, we will send it to you in the beginning of next year. Who didn’t gave us an adress yet, you can just send it to us via mail: info@women-in-exile.net
On behalf of all of us at Women in Exile & Friends we thank you again for your connectivity and supporting us. We look forward to your continuous support in the coming years.
We wish you happy festivity and happy new year!!!
Yours sincerely,
Women in Exile & Friends
