This Podi­um Dis­cus­sion will fea­ture three women acti­vists who came to know each other in Bre­men as they deci­ded to stand up against mass accom­mo­da­ti­on and iso­la­ti­on in the Lagers/Camps like in Lin­den­stras­se and Alfred Faust Stras­se. They form part of the self-orga­nis­ed refu­gee move­ment Tog­e­ther We Are Bre­men (TWAB). As peo­p­le with exper­ti­se and a voice on this topic, the­se acti­vists will speak about the broad per­spec­ti­ves of women who have had the cou­ra­ge to take the dif­fi­cult road through the various bor­ders in Afri­ca and Euro­pe and ended up in the Lager in Bre­men. They will dis­cuss the dan­ger of being por­tray­ed as vic­tims and speak not only about the men­tal, phy­si­cal and psy­cho­lo­gi­cal chal­lenges of their expe­ri­en­ces but also about their deter­mi­na­ti­on and resi­li­ence as key sur­vi­val tools in Bre­men. The spea­k­ers will address the atten­dant issue of men­tal health among Black refu­gee women and high­light the absur­di­ty of having to wage a cam­paign for their children’s birth cer­ti­fi­ca­te even when their kids were born here. They will also speak on the neces­si­ty of the right to housing, edu­ca­ti­on and health­ca­re. “It has been a long and arduous jour­ney. We have not arri­ved yet even though we are at our desti­na­ti­on“, says the women.

Spea­k­ers: Gift Ter­he­men und Vivi­an Egharev­ba (TWAB)

Mode­ra­tor: Fato­u­ma­ta Cham (TWAB)