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Email: info(at)women-in-exile(dot)net
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2019 World health day focuses on Universal health coverage: everyone, everywhere but we are seeing how laws are racist and discriminating also on health issues, like „Asylbewerberleistungsgesetz“ passed in 1993, which was established to discourage asylum seekers from coming to or staying in Germany.
For over two years “Women in Exile” has been working on a health
project regarding refugee women. The project was started because we
realised many women suffer from gynecological problems. Most of them
have no right to access an insurance coverage and they are offered
with a temporary cover which only helps by granting minor treatment.
Even when going to gynecologists they don’t know how to account for
it financially, making the women go through a tough time with their
bodies.
Women in Exile & Friends are planning a three day open air summer action camp in Berlin. The camp is for refugee women* (individuals and refugee women groups) and women* working with and for refugee women* issues. This camp will enable all of us to exchange on our experiences as refugee women* living in isolation, facing racism and sexism. It will also give us the opportunity to explore on borders hindering our participation and to women in solidarity to reflect on their roles.
Our aim is to bring
together refugee women* who have participated on national wide
actions we have been organising since the year 2014. The refugee
women* from Berlin/Brandenburg, Stimme der Frauen (Magdeburg), FLIT
Solidarity Africa (Munich), Flüchtlingsfrauengruppe (Göttingen),
NINA (Hamburg), Activists from Nürnberg, Kiel, Mecklenburg
Vorpommern and possibly all the refugee women* we have come into
contact with over the years.
Refugee topic has been dominating the German politics for long but now it has also become a vessel to achieve an entry into the German parliament. This is clearly reflected on the current parliament which is dominated by members from parties who shout loud against refugee like the AFD or those supporting the criminalisation and racist policies of the interior minister Seehofer. Seehofer racist policies has led part of the civil society to belief that refugee is the problem in German and as long as “refugees” are deported and denied entry, Germany will be become great again.
The refugee laws are changing daily from bad to worse – from the backlash of the Residenzpflicht, vouchers etc. to new mass accommodations in the AnKER centers, the new law draft proposals from Seehofer such as the police laws and the “Geordnete–Rückkehr–Gesetz on quick deportations and criminalization of supporters and civil society. What is Seehofer and this government cooking for us, as refugees next?
Our Women* Strike demonstration in cooperation with the FAU and Jugend Linke Potsdam had a participation of around 250 persons. It started at the Potsdam HBF and ended at the Brandenburger Tor with several stops, the first one was at the parliament. Several groups including the ASTA Potsdam read empowering speeches supporting women in all spheres of life.
Most of us have been fighting all our lives because of our patriarcal cultural and religious backgrounds which impose violence on us, our bodies and minds.
We worked twice as hard as our male siblings but still our efforts were not considered to be good enough. At the same time we had to persevere things like FGM, sexual harassment and violence from family and spouses. We fought tendencies of discrimination in our families and in the society to be given equal opportunities in life. We fought different social and political battles to maintain our dignities as women.
We were not happy or satisfied with the little we had, so we decided to fight for our rights. These struggles and fights in our countries of origin had consequences which made us leave and undertake dangerous journeys. Journeys in which some lost their lives while others got raped and enslaved on the way. Most of those who managed to make these journeys are living in trauma and nightmares. They are forced to live in crowded, isolated, collective homes which lack privacy and on a daily basis experience sexual assault and exploitation.
8th March International Women’s Day is a global day remembering the historical, cultural, and political achievements of women. We celebrate 100 years of Women fights because we are the mothers, we are the family caretakers, domestic workers, babysitters, cleaners.
We
refugee women we are teachers, nurses, business women, engineers,
this and all other talents are not put into consideration because we
are isolated and discriminated.
In 2019 we join the
global call for a women’s strike because we come united to make
visible women’s work in all aspects of life, inside and outside
the house, in urban and rural areas, paid or unpaid no matter the
color of our skin or our origins.
Seit
unserer Bustour im Sommer letzten Jahres sind wir mit Arzoo
Jamshidi in Kontakt .
Sie
war zwei Wochen lang mit ihren drei
Kindern mit uns unterwegs und wir
haben sie als eine junge, sehr wache, selbständige und starke
Frau
kennen gelernt, die ihren eigen Kopf hat und ihre Meinung uns
gegenüber und in der Öffentlichkeit sagt. Schon nach dem zweiten
Tag war sie eine der Frauen, die sich bei unserer Demo in
Leipzig gegen Abschiebungen und die Gewalt in Herkunftsländern
wie Afhghanistan ausgesprochen hat und die Gründe für ihre
Flucht geteilt hat.
Das
Thema der Tour war “Women* Breaking Borders” und da viele
verschiedene Frauen mit unterschiedlichen kulturellen,
religiösen, politischen und sozialen Hintergründen zusammen
gekommen sind war es wichtig, dass alle sehr offen im Umgang
miteinander sind.
Ihre
Kommunikation in und mit der Gruppe zeigte uns, dass sie sehr
offenen und aufgeschlossen für alle Lebenseinstellungen ist.
Sie
hat einen sehr starken Text geschrieben, der zeigt, wie sie
beschlossen hat einen anderen Weg zu gehen, als der, der ihr
durch ihre patriarchale “Kultur” vorgeschrieben wird.
Sie ist bereit für ihre Rechte als Frau in dieser Gesellschaft und dieser Welt einzustehen und sie weiß, dass Women in Exile für sie da ist, wenn sie Unterstützung braucht.
Unten findet der Text von ihr.
Ich bin eine Frau,
die in Afghanistan geboren wurde. In einem Land, in dem das
Patriarchat herrscht. Uns wird gesagt: „Sei ruhig, es ist nicht gut
für uns, wenn jemand deine Stimme hört. Sei still!”
“Schütze dich
vor den Augen Fremder, damit, Gott bewahre, niemand erkennt, dass du
meine Schwester oder Mutter bist.“
Aber zum Glück hat
mich das Schicksal nach Deutschland gebracht. Hier konnte ich mich in
dem neuen Umfeld integrieren und mich selbst finden.
Es ist mein Recht
frei zu leben und auf eigenen Beinen zu stehen und von niemandem
abhängig zu sein. In Deutschland habe ich die Frauenorganisation
Women in Exile kennen gelernt. Sie sind Frauen mit starkem Willen,
Entschlossenheit und politischen Meinungen, die mir gut gefallen
haben. Sie haben mein Interesse gewonnen. Auch ich kann ein Mitglied
der Gruppe sein.
We gave the following speech at the Women’s March in Berlin, Germany in front of the Humboldt University on January 19, 2019.
All around the world we are seeing day after day how millions of women* are taking to the streets saying enough is enough, showing the world women*’s power. Women* are fighting for their rights in all front lines, from big demonstrations like Women’s March, 8 March women strike or Women Wall. We refugee women* we resist every day to deportations, racism, sexism and discrimination in lagers, in offices, in houses and on the streets.
Women* are farmers,
doctors, students, professors, hairdressers, drivers, coaches,
secretaries, old, middle age and young, with and without papers.
Women* are diverse, different, multiple, have different voices and
colors but united are unbeatable.
As refugee women* we came here to stay and we fight for our rights as women and the discriminating asylum laws which threatens our stay.
We fight for freedom of movement, racism and sexism; adversities which are following us from our countries of origin, on our long dreadful journeys and in our host countries. We do not forget that most of our flight reasons are man-made calamities like war, bad governance and poverty incited by the so called “developed countries”.
Many of us lose our
lifes on our flight journeys due to the European “border” closing
policies. We expect effective human justice to all those who have
lost and are losing their life’s at European borders, in the
Mediterranean sea, those committing suicides in lagers due to
depressions and traumas.
We, refugee women*,
together with solidarity activists are building a history of bridging
the refugee movement and the feminist movement, with the intention of
ending racism, sexism and discrimination.
Women have been
voting for a 100 years and still our voices don`t count! ”
aren`t we women”?
We
will continue to empower refugee women* to understand their rights
and advocate for themselves.
We
won’t give up, we will fight until freedom comes and we will be
joyful rebels.
Im Sommer 2018 reiste Women in Exile für 2 Wochen nach Süddeutschland, um die Städte zu besuchen, in denen die neuen AnKER-Zentren eröffnet werden sollen, sowie all jene Frauen, mit denen WiE bereits in den letzten Jahren zusammengearbeitet hat. Es war eine weitere ermächtigende Erfahrung für Flüchtlingsfrauen.
Dear Melanie, Julia, Katharina and all other unknown donors,
We wanted to thank you for your solidarity and for donating to Women in Exile and Friends.
Donations are important for us since they can make us sustainable, in order to carry out our political work in the way we think is best to achieve the goals of refugee women.
We would be very happy if you could send us your (Mail-) Adresses
so we yould thank you personally and also send you the latest
Newsletter.
We would be glad if you also could think of becoming a longterm
donor
of Women in Exile and Friends. If we are able to become
more independent
economically we can also guarantee our work in
the long-term,
as the fight for the rights of refugee women has
still a long way to go.
To become long-term donor you can do a regular bank transfer to our account under the subject „Long-term donor“ and please let us know if you need a donation certificate.
Women in Exile e.V. is looking for sustainig members!
Through many small but regular donations we can ensure the continuity of our work! There is a lot to do!
A monthly money tranfser order is the best way to support us. Please inform us by seding a short email to info@women-in-exile.net, including your address for donation receips. We are also happy to send you the print version of our newsletter!
