Towards Integration

Welcome Home International launched in March and held its first highly successful, bi-weekly Café Lingua event in April.  The purpose of these events is to support refugees and immigrants acquire their target languages of French, Dutch and English and to introduce them to a warm and welcoming local community.  We even had a few locals join to learn Arabic. I really hope to see you join our event this Friday and participate in our conversations in the target languages. No teaching skills are needed, just a friendly open heart and a chatty disposition :)

We are rapidly planning  the launch of our second and third regular events: The Women's Circle and Kids’ Corner for the end of May (this might end up closer to mid-June :/ ). We are definitely moving forward, and forward motion is as exciting as it is laborious.

If there is anything I have leaned in my community work is that many hands make more progress and more fun. Connecting with people who share a common goal for a greater good and a shared enthusiasm for achieving it is as wonderful as the reaching of the goal its-self.

Perhaps this is why the area of integration attracts me so much. There is so much need for it in all our communities, all over the world, not just in Brussels, where I am living and working now. Not only culturally, linguistically and ethnically. Not only for refugees and immigrants who Welcome Home International has pledged to support. Also the need for integration lies between the generations, the income economies, the education levels, the political persuasions and the public-private and community sectors.

If you are at all interested in how we are trying to impact Brussels, and the world, come join the struggle and join us to make bridges between the spaces between us.

We are a small family growing fast and will welcome you with open arms. We need volunteers from all areas of society to help bridge the gap between us and make a better work for all of us to live in.