Build trust, forget everyday worries, experience community: IKJA e. V. (International Cultural Youth Exchange) arranges mentors for unaccompanied young refugees. The Karl Bröcker Foundation supports this important initiative.

Young people who reach Germany as refugees, alone and without family, hope for protection and a new perspective on life in peace and security. Many have experienced traumatic experiences and have been alone and unprotected for a long time. They miss their family and have to find their way in a new culture: with a foreign language and foreign rules.

These young people in need want to integrate, build a future for themselves and enrich our society – if they are given the chance. Sponsoring families or learning mentors make an indispensable contribution here.

Sponsor families involve young refugees in their family life and accompany them on their journey: open-minded, sensitive and reliable. The extent to which they allow the young person to participate in family life is determined by the families themselves together with the sponsored child. As a rule, the young people live in a supervised residential group, with distant relatives or in refugee accommodation. Learning mentors help once a week with learning German and with learning for school and training.

The mentors are professionally prepared and supported: with exchange meetings, further training, supervision and mediation if required. The initiative holds detailed discussions with young people and sponsors in advance to get to know each other, and organizes meetings and joint activities. An important building block – for the lives of refugees and for a tolerant and open-minded society.

Image source: IKJA e. V. Hanover