The room is quiet, very quiet. Only now and then does a pencil scratch on the paper, a computer keyboard tinkle. 20 women are sitting at different tables, each bent over her paper or computer. They are all writing their stories, their migration stories. The women are so engrossed in their work that the workshop leader has to clear her throat loudly several times before the last of the writers awakens from their flow.

Writing workshops for Migrant Women

The Lüneburg Initiative für Vielfalt und Teilhabe has organized three writing workshops by and for migrant women in the last year. The group itself consists of women of different ages and with different migration experiences. Child of guest workers, just arrived or came here 40 years ago. This makes them a group with many perspectives on migration and refuge. “One thing is important to us: we are not an aid organization,” emphasize Clara* and Zeynep*, ‘we come together to work and empower ourselves.’

Writing helps them to do this. It gives them the space to reflect on their experiences. When they share their stories with each other, they often realize how much they have in common. “We older people often find ourselves in the stories of the younger ones. – And the younger ones often say, ‘What are you still thinking about? ‘ It helps with mutual understanding,” says Zeynep, ”and it helps us to overcome our shame. Because we often think we’re the only ones struggling with these problems.”

A performance is being planned

The next step is to perform the texts in front of an audience. At “Tales for Diversity” during the “Weeks against Racism” in Lüneburg. Last year, the women from LIVT performed foreign texts on flight and migration at this event. This year it will be their own texts. Writing them was not primarily about producing perfect texts. “Actually, we only wrote for ourselves. Not for an audience.”

Visibility for diversity

The fact that so many participants are willing to present their texts in public is another achievement of the past year. The group also organized workshops for this purpose, for example one on moderation. Again, it was about empowering yourself. Empowering yourself to give a speech at a demonstration. Empowering yourself to moderate an event. Because visibility is extremely important to women. They want to be visible with different faces and show how diverse migration and flight are. And on the other, they want to show how diverse their home town of Lüneburg is.

*Names changed by the author // Copyright for the Header: Lüneburger Initiative für Vielfalt und Teilhabe