• “Berlin taught me to dislike the word integration” 

    “Berlin taught me to dislike the word integration” 

    WHP: You worked in humanitarian aid around the world for many years. What ultimately motivated you to found Just-Go-For-It? Marilena Chatziantoniou: I started working in the field of humanitarian aid in 1998. My first assignment was in Albania, where I worked for a small German NGO, just months before the Kosovo crisis. I remember falling in love with the job and…

  • What is Germany’s greatest asset?

    What is Germany’s greatest asset?

    “Football is a simple game. Twenty-two men chase a ball for 90 minutes and, in the end, the Germans always win,” said Gary Lineker after England lost the 1990 World Cup semi-final on penalties against Germany. Times are changing. Germany no longer always wins at major football tournaments. And England now has a German coach. Today, everyone is talking about renewal.…

  • Finding Trauma Instead of Belonging: A Review of I Keep My Shadow Light 

    Finding Trauma Instead of Belonging: A Review of I Keep My Shadow Light 

    TL;DR “I Keep My Shadow Light” is the self-published debut novel by Fionnuala Kavanagh. This challenging work follows a cast of four characters from different backgrounds as they try to find a home in Berlin. Very dark in places, the book gives us a chance to read something that would probably never come out of any publishing house. Its uniqueness alone…

  • The Good, the Bad, and the Arbeitsamt

    The Good, the Bad, and the Arbeitsamt

      Most places have an arm of the government to help folks out when they’re unemployed; governments like their citizens to have jobs and pay taxes. It tends to keep the governments – and the citizens – happy. There’s also the matter of not letting people starve in the street when they’re out of work. That’s usually frowned on and tends…

  • “Treat Every Case as Your Own”: How Zaki e.V. Supports Berlin’s Overlooked Migrants

    “Treat Every Case as Your Own”: How Zaki e.V. Supports Berlin’s Overlooked Migrants

    WHP: Can you briefly introduce Zaki e.V.? What is your main mission in Berlin? Pia Bergmann: Zaki – Bildung und Kultur e.V. is a migrant-led organization, with its main office located at the Berlin Global Village in Neukölln and another office in Pankow. The organization’s focus can be summed up in one sentence: arrival and inclusion through education. Zaki (ذكي) comes…

  • Germany Has an Energy Crisis — Just Not the One You Think

    Germany Has an Energy Crisis — Just Not the One You Think

    Energy – scarcity.We talk about energy all the time—but only in physical terms.I find myself thinking more and more about our social energy, which may matter even more. Because a society also needs energy. This energy, I would call social energy—a concept that appears in the social sciences under terms like collective intelligence or social capital. Social energy = the capacity…

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