November 17, 2017
When the Bundespräsident is visiting

We often get visitors at Fab Lab, the design space where we work, and it is always exiting and nice to have guests. We love to show people around and explain how we are working together to transform broken rubber boats into new objects, where we share our meals and learn about each other.

We consider every one of our guests very special. Nevertheless, we were surprised and extremely happy when we were asked by Fab Lab whether we wanted to present mimycri to Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the President of Germany and the Major of Berlin, Michel Müller. What a question!

As only three of us could be present at the event due to security reasons, it was Nora, Abid and Vera who were setting up the boat material, sewing machines and backpacks in the best way possible. We had sweaty hands and a higher heart beat when Mr Steinemeier, his wife Elke Büdenbender and Michael Müller together with a delegation of around 15 people and the same number of journalists entered our workshop, in which normally not more than a handful of people are working.

The time with our special guests seemed to fly by, but we had enough time for the most important issues. We could explain that we created this project to show that there are positive ways to deal with the challenge of migration and integration. They had time to get to know a little bit of Abid’s story and to admire his German skills, which by now are close to excellent. And of course we did not let them leave without giving them some mimycri presents.

And now? In our dreams, we hope that they are sometimes thinking about the idea of mimycri. That they once in a while mention the project in conversations about how difficult the situation is for Germany with all these foreign people arriving. We think that by visiting our project, they realize that not for everyone this is a bad thing, but instead a wonderful opportunity to rethink our way of living together. And we truly hope that they appreciated that working together is one of the best ways to make people truly feel contributing to society, a feeling which is essential for living together well.

July 27, 2017
Seeing value in waste

from Moritz Reitschuster

Migration and pollution
Chios has seen around 200.000 refugees arriving on its shores over the past two years. The rubber dinghies which people use for crossing from Turkey are regarded as disposables by the smugglers and are usually left behind on the beaches. Locals and international volunteers always made an effort to dispose of the boats, lifejackets and discarded clothes after landings. However, during that time up to 1.500 people landed in a single night, many of them in remote and inaccessible areas. There was simply no way to keep track, let alone to clean up everything that was left behind.

When the number of arrivals dropped in spring 2016, the full extent of the environmental impact became apparent. The team decided to address the issue systematically, mapped all the affected areas along the eastern shore of Chios and started cleaning beach by beach. Besides reducing the environmental impact, the goal is to support the local population of Chios in dealing with the challenging situation and to help bring tourists back to this beautiful island.

The project is coordinated by CESRT, supported by the Basque rescue and medical team Salvamento Marítimo Humanitario and carried out by local, international and refugee volunteers.

Hundreds of kilos of recyclable material
Many dinghies were buried under seagrass and sand, entangled between rocks or even trapped under water. Getting them off the beaches required creative solutions like moving massive rocks, improvised rope hoists and even some freediving. The boats were then cut into pieces, washed and transported to the CESRT warehouse where the material was checked for damage, sorted and prepared for transport. By August 2016, the entire eastern shore of Chios was cleaned and a first batch of hundreds of kilos of recyclable material was sent to mimycri. CESRT continues to clean up after each landing and to collect recyclable material.

Seeing value in waste
When Nora and Vera first approached us with their ideas for mimycri in April 2016, we were immediately on board. We had just started the beach cleaning project and while we realized its importance, it was rather demotivating seeing all your work literally ending up in a landfill. That changed with mimycri – we started seeing value in what we previously saw as waste. The vision of it eventually becoming a useful and beautiful product kept us motivated to dig out boat after boat during the summer heat.

Personally, I’m very happy to now see this vision being realized. Just as for their former passengers, these boats are fraught with memories for me. mimcyri products preserve those memories and stories, but they also remind us of the possibility to start writing a new story.

 

Moritz first got involved with the refugee crisis in September 2015, taking part in several volunteer relief missions to Croatia, Serbia and mainland Greece. He then went to the Greek island of Chios and ended up spending most of the next eight months there. As a coordinator for CESRT, he was responsible for shore response operations and the beach cleaning project. After going back to Germany last August he became Operations Manager for IHA, a volunteer-based humanitarian organisation active in Greece and the Balkans.

February 25, 2017
Where it all began – mimycri’s origin

mimycri is born out of the experience that it is possible to start something good in bad circumstances. That it is up to you to make a difference. That things are not always what they seem by changing the way you look at them.

Nora and Vera, two members of our team volunteered on the Greek island Chios in the context of refugee arrivals. An experience that left us shocked by the visible inability of authorities, but also deeply touched by the enormous amount of love and compassion demonstrated by those meeting for the first time in the middle of the night at a dark beach.

It was a truly profound experience: sitting beside someone whose language you don’t speak, watching the sunrise over Turkey. Two people whose paths have never crossed before and whose paths are likely to never cross again. Yet, two people who feel so much better for each other’s company.

Before this experience, we knew what being human meant. On Chios, however, we felt what it meant to be human. A feeling so much stronger than any feeling fear could produce.

During our time on Chios, we had the idea to reuse the clothes that were left on the beaches after each boat arrived. By reusing items of clothing, we could save money, while also reducing waste.

We did not think. We just did. It was surprisingly easy.

With the help of amazing people we set up Rescued Laundry Chios, a project that is still running and by now has saved donation money and tons of waste.

Back in Germany we wanted to continue the work we have started – we wanted to create something real.

And here we are. mimycri. a change of perspective. a new story.