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Day 16

3 minutes of cooking for a diverse coexistence in Germany

Strangers become friends Strangers become friends Strangers become friends Strangers become friends

3 minutes of cooking for a diverse coexistence in Germany
Day 16
Countering prejudices and shaping integration together

When Rama decides to leave her home country Syria without family or friends and come to Germany, she takes a big step. As a woman travelling alone, her life is anything but easy on the run and later in the shared accommodation. By chance, she meets Mandy at a cooking evening hosted by Über den Tellerrand and the two become close confidants. "I noticed immediately that Rama is a very open person. I learned from her that I can live the way that feels right for me," says Mandy. "I learned from Mandy that you need time for yourself. I take care of others a lot. Now I know that I have to use the time for myself too, to develop personally," says Rama. The two are now good friends and even neighbors. With Mandy's help, Rama has found an apartment. Together they organize cooking and dance evenings so that people with and without a refugee story can get to know each other.

Countering prejudices and shaping integration together
need
Places and opportunities for encounters on an equal footing between people of different origins in Germany.
activity
Volunteers with and without a refugee background organize free cooking and meeting events.
Measurable performance
Number of people of different origins, ages and genders who get to know each other in a low-threshold manner every year.
Result
New friendships are formed between people with and without a refugee background, which help to find jobs, housing and language courses, thus improving integration.
Systemically relevant impact
By meeting and getting to know each other, prejudices are broken down, more people feel at home in Germany, and society grows together.
background

In recent years, Germany has become a place of refuge and a new home for people from a wide variety of backgrounds. As a society, we are faced with numerous challenges: How do we want to live together? What values are important to us? What defines us? Only when we engage in exchange and answer these questions in dialogue can we find answers together and grow into a strong community. This works best through joint action: When people take action together and do things with each other instead of for each other, encounters arise on an equal footing and friendships can grow (Phineo, 2019). But the everyday lives of long-established residents and new immigrants often differ greatly. Personal contacts hardly ever occur; instead, prejudices grow. Immigrants repeatedly emphasize how important social participation and friendly contact with people from the host society are. These aspects represent important resources for starting a job, learning a new language or looking for an apartment. They help you feel comfortable in your new country and develop self-confidence (SVR, 2017). Therefore, there is a need for places and opportunities to get to know each other and to contribute one's skills. Social networking and participation are basic prerequisites for justice and a democratic society (FKB, 2020).

Nationwide at currently 37 locations Germany
Day 16 Day 16
The good deed

With your good deed today, you are enabling people with and without a refugee background to take part in free cooking and meeting events in over thirty large and small cities nationwide. Cooking and eating together connects people all over the world and enables people to get to know each other easily. Volunteers with and without a refugee background contribute their ideas and work together to create a sustainable social coexistence. When people cook, dance, bake or garden together, they come together on an equal footing and friendships can grow. Participation is not only taught theoretically, but experienced practically. Your good deed thus lays the foundation for social cohesion locally and creates visibility and exchange opportunities for those involved via a Germany-wide network. By getting to know each other personally at the kitchen table, tolerance is promoted and prejudices are actively counteracted.

AboutGermany
Berlin
Berlin
Capital city
83 240 525
83 240 525
Population
45,723.6
45,723.6
Gross domestic product per capita per year
Rank 6 of 189
Rank 6 of 189
Human Development Index (Human Development Index)

26 percent of people living in Germany have a migration history, two thirds of them have “their own migration experience”, i.e. they were born and immigrated abroad (MDI, 2021).
About the organization and further information

organization

Über den Tellerrand eV

website

ueberdentellerrand.org/

files/siegel_itz.png

Further links