„Happy people do good things“ – as simple as it is, that’s what I’ve learned at the OHF. And it is a challenge to spread happiness in a context where crimes against humanity caused by the European closed-doors policy become the most visible. Deportations, inhuman conditions in the camps, a lack of perspective – all these EU-constructions are not what people should be confronted with after having experienced war and violence. The more important it gets to have a kind of „safe haven“ while being stuck and forced to wait, an open space to come together, meet friends, laugh and relax. And the OHF shows how it works: solidarity, diversity and tolerance in practice, not for but with each other, at eye-level.
The OHF is a role-model for what large parts of the European affluent society should put into practice urgently, by opening a space where human values are upheld and that allows expression as well as potential and resources to unfold – as far as possible in the context of a humanitarian crisis. You rock!
Johanna