RAD cultural center: let refugees exist and let all of us breathe together
RAD cultural center: let refugees exist and let all of us breathe together
Successful
RAD MUSIC INTERNATIONALMytilène
24
Contributions
11/24/2022
End date
€7,020
Out of €7,000
100 %
RAD cultural center: let refugees exist and let all of us breathe together
RAD Music International is a Cultural Club built from refugees, with refugees and for refugees. It aims to support refugees on the island of Lesvos and all around Greece. In various ways we are fighting for human rights and common ground values that should apply to every asylum seeker in Europe. We stand in unity with refugees to defend and demand respect for their rights as human beings. Rad Music International was created in June 2018 by Rouddy Kimpioka, a cultural mediator, humanitarian worker and an asylum seeker himself. We started with dance activities. People were living in the Refugee Camp of Moria searched for a way to forget their many problems, just for a little while. Dance is perfect for that, as it helps not only with physical but also with mental health issues and connects people in a creative way. After a few months, musicians joined the group and our music journey started. In 2020, the conditions in the New Refugee Camp of Kara Tepe/Moria 2 lead us to create the Community School of Rad Music International. Since then we offer weekly educational programs in our office.. In December 2021 Rad Music International became an official Cultural Club. In May 2022, we received our first donation in 6 months , with this support we were able to Rent our own space in the city Center of Mytilini. This space, open to everyone, where refugees are not only taking classes (of languages for example) but also giving some (music, danse...) allows us to go deeper in our aim. Since our creation, the integration of refugees in our cultural and musical activities had a huge personal impact on them but in the meantime also strengthened us in our mission. We believe we are strongly contributing not only to the creation of an open and mixed society, but also to the possibility of maintaining the world as a common and not as a globe destroyed by borders and walls. Thus we are supported by locals of Lesbos, by many associations and individuals in Greece and other countries in Europe and more. People sees in RAD not only the occasion to "help the others" but a unique chance for experimenting deeplys what being a citizen of the world means. The fact to have our space allows even more this cosmopolitan gatherings and, added to the different classes, we often welcome trainings, conferences, collective debate. This is an island of peace and freedom inside an island, Lesbos (as Samos, Chios and others...) that is more and more transformed, in a prison. But the island of RAD is part of an archipelago of resistance for beauty, equality and just that: life.
Allocation of funds
The cultural center in which we can propose nowadays all our activities is a rented space. For the first 6 months, we have been mainly supported by a german fondation Safe Passage but this comes to an end and we dont have means to continue renting the space. We need to give 1000 euros per month for the rent, without compting expenses for electricity, internet, notebook we give to children, materials for the class... We know that this center, since 6 months, is really important for refugees and for anyone who visits it and acts in it. For the ones in the most difficult situation, this is the only welcoming place they can find. Here they can rest (a resting room is always open), make encounters, learn, refind confidence in themselves. It will create a big hole in the already so hard life of refugees in the island if it disappears. We need your support, at least for the next 6 months, to stay open and continue opening windows in such a difficult and unbreathable time.