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.