(Originalartikel in Deutsch HIER)    

As part of ongoing Unter Druck / Czentrifugas  Step Across the Border  project  activities , we teamed up with Rijn Ijssel school from  Arnhem,  who adopted  and adapted the SATB idea in order to sensitise their students to the issues of homelessnes and social exclusion, encouraging the students to put their creative skills  to a positive socio cultural use. Heres a rough translation from an article wriiten on the local town hall  news site.

Heres also a  fotolink  showing the workshop results.

How do people feel  having  to build a shelter for a homeless person from scrap and found things?

This issue was  addressed  by 50 visiting Erasmus students from the  Rijn Ijssel school in Arnhem, Netherlands in Lichtenberg. For two days, the 18-to 22-year-olds constructed 8 temporary shelters at B.L.O. Ateliers in Kaskelkiez, Lichtenberg  which was visited  from the district Mayor Michael Gruner.

In fact, this  international exchange should have take place in Kreuzberg, but the  new creative hub and hackspace  "Beton Insel"  featuring  an automated  robot band made from scrap metal and pneumatics, amongst many other D.I Y. projects,   was unexpectedly terminated by the  private landlord . "I am delighted that the Lichtenberger studios have simply stepped in to enable the project," said the district mayor.

Yt from Czentrifuga  explains: "It is important for us to show that you can make something usefull out of rubbish too". Stine from Czentrifuga added "In fact none of this should  be happening at all if the issue of homelessness was treated more seriously and socially excluded people were given a fairer deal" 

The Czentrifuga workspaces at  Ostkreuz on the Lichtenberg / Friedrichshain border,  is an initiative set up by  Unter Druck Kultur von der Strasse e.V. which is a small independent association for helping  homeless and socially marginalised people. The association also runs a  second location Unter Druck  in the Berlin Wedding district , which is a meeting place offering  free food and drink as well as legal advice and creative activities.

Czentrifuga offers workshops in  screen printing, upcyling plastic trash for costimes and deco, a music studio and also  2D and  clay animation, under the motto "Jekami": (everyone can participate). For the Erasmus Workshop, Czentrifuga organised  old signs, wooden beams, carpet residues and other material for the construction of shelters. In addition,Verena, a former homeless person working as volunteer at the Unter Druck  cafe, as well as Syrian refugee Wael,  talked to the young Dutch students about their hard life experiences . "They told us their sad story and we realized that everyone could meet," said the 18-year-old Britney.

Berlin Lichtenberg District Mayor  Michel Grunst & SATB Project Coordinator John Moulden a.k.a. "Coost"

"Most of our students in the fields of art, design, interior design, and room design come from very sheltered conditions. For them it is hardly imaginable that people have to live on the street, "says Ineke Sadée. She is a lecturer for internationals in the creative Industry Department of Rijnijssel University. "Through projects like these, our students learn what it means to engage in civil society," says Sadée.

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