HEY EUROPE!

When people flee, families flee. Since February 2022, the fastest and most dynamic refugee movement since the Second World War has been developing in the middle of Europe. Almost half of all people fleeing Ukraine are children and young people.

It is a time of uncertainty and disorientation, the children's question "Are we there yet?" gains a whole new meaning. After days, sometimes weeks, the first part of the way is finally done, and hope is growing. The children and young people look at their new surroundings and get to know them. They are full of fears and worries, but also full of ideas and courage - that is what Ashoka's new program “Hey Europe!” is all about.

Migration is not an exception – it is the norm

By May 2022, 727,200 people came to Germany, the entire European Union expects between 8 and 10 million. Far more people will come to Germany in 2022 than in 2015 during the flight movement from Syria. And those who have lived in Germany for a long time will realize that the Syrian crisis was no exception. It may not be an easy realization, but it is an important truth: fleeing the war in Ukraine will not be the last crisis we Europe will have to face either. More and more people around the world will feel compelled to leave their homes and search for a better life, especially for their children.

What has Germany learned from refugee movements so far? Ukrainian women did not stay in gymnasiums with their children, but often in private accommodation, at least initially. In 2015, Syrians were bureaucratically distributed among the federal states. Eternally long processing times for applications required everyone to be patient, and very few people in Germany spoke Arabic.  In 2015, was also a huge wave of solidarity. Volunteers accompanied the refugees on visits to the authorities and registered children in day-care centers and schools. But the mood changed and in 2017, a right-wing extremist party entered the Bundestag having campaigned with racist slogans, fueling envy and resentment.

Arriving in Germany

Some children and young people may one day return to Ukraine. But many will stay in Germany. Pregnant women will have their babies in Germany. The first Ukrainian and Russian-speaking children are already arriving in schools and day-care centers, but there will be many more.

Many good ideas are needed for the German school system, the health system, the housing and the job market, as well as a rethink and a new openness. Rigid, outdated systems are not overburdened by people fleeing, they were not good enough even before refugees arrived. It is precisely here, and also in many other areas of life, that we need social innovations from people with the will to create change, people who recognize potential and implement solutions. Some of these people have migrated from one country to another.

Ashoka and the courage to change what is

It is time, especially in Germany, to understand flight and migration not only as a source of trauma, but to recognize resilience, creativity and the will to change. We at Ashoka have been working on this perspective with our program Hello Europe since 2015.  We support people in driving social change and improving the living conditions in their old or new home.

With "Hey Europe", Ashoka is now focusing on young people in Germany and their ideas and experiences of growing up elsewhere. Young people who, before leaving the place they grew up in, went skateboarding with their friends or who planted a school garden in their school. They called Kyiv, Lviv, Kharkiv or a small village their home. Maybe they got together with friends organized a flea market to exchange video games or took care of younger children at a stopover in Poland.

Children and young people full of compassion, creativity and the will to change this world have arrived in Germany. Their lives have taken an unexpected turn, they have memories and family in another country. These children and youth, along with many others, have a present in Germany and a future anywhere in the world. They are able and invited to create change: everyone a changemaker.

written by: Judit Costa, Ashoka Germany

artwork by: Alexia Souvalioti CC-BY-NC-SA