Art Helps Refugees with Transition

"My Life’s Journey" is a project initiated by Natalie Rudolph, a TeachBeyond Deutschland member working with refugees. It uses art to help the refugees come to grips with their feelings and to find a way to express them. An artist meets with them in the refugee house in Marzell for four to six sessions.

Helping refugees means not only provide housing and language courses, but also helping them holistically. Each has his or her own story that involves a great range of positive and traumatic experiences that are part of their lives. They are not an anonymous mass. Each of them has a face.

Natalie explains that she sees social work from a Christian worldview that embraces the whole person to give him back his dignity. This concept is grounded in our understanding of God. We want the refugee to learn to understand the image of God and find hope in the Christian faith. We believe that this value is of great importance if we are concerned with sustainable integration of refugees into their new home.

"My Life's Journey" tries by a holistic approach to focus on the psychological, cultural, and spiritual experiences through creativity, art, and community. Here, the individual human being is the focus.