Our Community
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The brains behind the Open Music Lab
Ben R. Osborn and Rachel are the pioneers of one of the Open Music School's projects - the weekly Open Music Lab -which takes place every Monday at Refugio Café. United by a passion for music, their goal is to share their musical knowledge with different communities.
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“You never forget where you come from”
Annick Repellin-Holzgreve is a long-serving GSBTB Open Art Shelter volunteer and long-time resident in Germany, originally from France.
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Meet the GSBTB summer intern Madeline, a Gender Studies & Art major from the US
Madeline McKay is GSBTB's summer intern. Coming all the way from Philadelphia, USA, she is currently studying Women, Gender Studies and Art at Bates College.
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From Lahore to Berlin – the Pakistani feminist who made her way to Germany
GSBTB Communications Intern Abeera Atif is originally from Pakistan. Hailing from Lahore, she came to Germany in 2013 to pursue higher education in the city of Bremen, where she was first introduced to the complexities of welcoming newcomers.
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Orla – improving her German through volunteering with disabled people
Orla Gill is a volunteer at GSBTB's partner organisation Dynamis, an organisation supporting people living with disabilities. Orla tells us how her experience volunteering has given her a broader perspective on life in Berlin and helped to improve her German skills.
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The Geoscientist running #BIKEYGEES on volunteering, start-ups and female empowerment
An interview with Dr Anne Seebach, co-founder of #BIKEYGEES, where GSBTB volunteers are supporting newcomer women to explore the city by bicycle.
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How Talal from Syria built a massive online network of 1 million+ newcomers
Early in 2015 we had just started organising our monthly Team Ups and at one of our first ones, two curious and energetic Syrian men turned up. "We want to do something! We want to get involved! Volunteer, work, anything!" they said. Talal had only arrived in Germany two weeks earlier.
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The Lindy Hopping photographer volunteering for GSBTB
Photographer Olga Baczynska has been covering GSBTB events, large and small, for the past couple of years. When she's not got her camera in hand, you'll probably find her at Clärchens Ballhaus dancing the Balboa!
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Letzte Zeit im Heimatland vor…
Amer Khlil is a regular at our weekly Sprachcafé, where our community gathers to practice their German skills. Amer has written this moving story about his journey from Syria to Germany, in German, after just a year of living in Germany.
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“We are all looking for our own voice in this world”
An interview with Aziz from GSBTB Open Music School band Wulaba - Refugees voice.
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Syrian Women in Berlin: Mona’s Story
"I had to leave everything behind, including my home and relatives. There were no words to describe how much I missed my family, even to this day I have not found the words."
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Syrian Women in Berlin: Hala’s Thoughts on Friendship
"In Germany, I have a new definition of what it means to be Syrian. I think Syrian people are very strong because we try to be happy no matter what our circumstances are. We take life as it comes and accept the life God gave us."