On Monday 14 December, a delegation of international women visited ‘De Orangerie’ (asylum seekers centre Eindhoven) to hand home-made welcoming bags to 130 refugee children.
The group of international women, consisting of the ‘Get in Touch Group’ (Indigo-Wereld) and migrant women of the ‘Ik Wil’ (I Want) foundation Eindhoven, visited De Orangerie yesterday to meet women refugees and to give the home-made bags filled with all kinds of goodies, for their children.
In response to the idea of a Colombian Get in Touch spouse to sew welcome bags for refugee children and fill them with useful and fun items, Carola Eijsenring from Indigo-Wereld/Get in Touch, started the ‘Kids Bags Project’. She invited migrant women foundation ‘Ik Wil’ to participate in this project to bring together this diverse group of multi-cultural women.
For the past eight weeks, together they have been working hard to get the bags ready. Some financial donations and gifts as well as their own contributions could fill the bags.
Apart from the good cause, connecting the three separate groups of women was also a focus of attention to Carola Eijsenring: "When you arrive in a new surrounding for whatever reason, the main need is a warm contact with people around you, as I’ve experienced more than once in my own to and fro migrating life".
This project has resulted in a unique meetup at the AZC Orangerie. All women knew from their own experience how important it is to have support to start you up and keep you going in a new and strange society. As one of the refugee women said: "I am so grateful for the warm welcome you all have given us and our children by creating those kiddies bags. I now feel less alone and more comfortable".
Helping and learning from each other – in this case while sewing for a good cause – is one of the main targets of Indigo-Wereld/Get In Touch and Ik Wil women: creating positive connections between people from different backgrounds.
