Zohre Esmaeli: doers in check

Zohre Esmaeli
This woman explains everyday life in Germany to refugees

At the beginning of March, Zohre Esmaeli left for the Ukrainian-Polish border with donations for Ukrainian refugees. When she saw the people there, everything was there again: the desperation, the exhaustion and the coldness that she had felt when she had to flee with her family at the age of 13. She also crossed the Ukrainian-Polish border on the long journey from Afghanistan to Germany. That was more than 20 years ago, but she hasn’t forgotten any of it.

It takes years for a new country to feel at home after fleeing

Just as little as from their first time in Germany. When she thinks about it, she sees herself sitting alone on the shore of a bathing lake and longingly watching the others frolic in the water – her father had forbidden her to swim. “I was so ashamed, I will never forget that,” she says today.

Crossing a border is not enough to become at home in another country. Such experiences made that clear to Zohre Esmaeli. When two cultures are as different as the German and the Afghan, it is a process that takes years. A thousand times, she says, she wished when she was young that someone would explain to her father that in Germany it’s not okay for a young woman to swim, ride a bike or go to the cinema. But there was no one to talk to. He hardly spoke German and had no job. The only Germans he had contact with were officials. But they didn’t explain to him how life in Germany worked either.

Cultural differences distanced her from her family

The father restricted his daughter to more and more rules and prohibitions until she couldn’t take it anymore and fled a second time at 17 – this time from her family. She went into hiding with the parents of her then German boyfriend.

When the many refugees from Syria came to Germany in 2015, Esmaeli wanted to make sure that things were different for them. She had meanwhile made a career as a model and used her fame to launch the “Culture Coaches” project with the help of the Berlin Citizens’ Foundation. The NGO trains immigrants who have been living here for a long time and are linguistically and culturally at home in two worlds to become bridge builders.

Zohre Esmaeli is the face of the organization today. She takes care of further development and financing, and she also lends a hand with some projects, such as the sewing workshop for Afghan women. “Culture Coaches” is financed by donations and subsidies, for example from the Federal Ministry of the Interior or the Körber Foundation.

Particularly effective support for the coaches through their own experience

Six full-time coaches now work for the NGO. For example, they offer orientation seminars in which they explain to refugees which family models exist in Germany or how to find an apartment as quickly as possible. Because the coaches come from the same culture as the newcomers, they know their experiences and insecurities. This makes it easier for them to gain trust. In order to get in contact with refugees, the coaches present themselves in collective accommodation, the workshops take place online or in the rooms of “Culture Coaches” in Berlin.

The NGO also organizes seminars for employees in German authorities. There they are explained about the cultural backgrounds of the immigrants, what the situation is like in their countries of origin, and the manners that prevail. Is it considered disrespectful to look directly at someone there? If you don’t know something like this, misunderstandings can quickly arise.

Over 100 immigrants and more than 400 government employees have already received training in this way. The focus of the organization is on Muslim countries of origin. But the doors of the project are of course always open to Ukrainian refugees, says Esmaeli. Just knowing where you can meet other people who share the experience of fleeing and being a stranger is worth so much. It doesn’t matter which country you come from.

Bridget