For a project titled: ‘Acquiring Knowledge And Skills In Emergencies’ with several organisations together (among these the Red cross and IJsfontein) I was asked to do a workshop with refugees in the Netherlands, to investigate their preference, needs and wants on how to be taught new knowledge or skills or how they would be able to bring their knowledge and experience while migrating.
For this we executed several interviews, plus a hands on workshop at an asylum near Barneveld. With 10 participants from Eritrea, Syria, Afghanistan and Ethiopia plus 3 translators, 2 volunteers and 2 employees of the organisation, we worked creating 5 worksheets to get a perspective and insights.
Worksheets: “Who I am”, “My Journey to get here today”, “What and how do I wish to teach or learn”. See some examples of their work below.
My biggest learning in this workshop was how eager the particpants were to engage, they are hungry for communication, collaboration and to share their experiences, with their peers, and with us Dutch hosts. Their past is certain defined and painfully clear but their future is so vague and unsure, so each conversation helps them create a more certain and solid future.
A quote from a volunteer: “It touched me deeply, this young man missing his wife and eager to work or do anything here, but has not yet been in touch with any Dutch person outside the isolated asylum in 10 months time.“
