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Ali, a tailor, is working with non-profit
organization Mimycri to upcycle the rubber from abandoned
refugee boats found on beaches in Greece after often perilous
sea crossings via Turkey.
Since Germany received more than a million migrants fleeing war
and prosecution in the Middle East, Africa and central Asia in
2015, migration has become a major issue in Germany that is
testing Chancellor Angela Merkel's ruling coalition.
By making fashion accessories out of the rubber dinghies used by
refugees, Mimycri wants to create jobs for migrants and give
them a chance to show Germans their talents.
In Mimycri's Berlin workshop, Ali carefully measures out a large
piece of rubber on a workbench before cutting it precisely to
size and skillfully using a sewing machine to craft a bag.
Working with the disused rubber boats is not strange, he says.
"Yes, sometimes I think 'yes I came with these boats', but no it
isn't too strange for me," he added.
Vera Guenther, Mimycri co-founder, and her project partner Nora
Azzaoui came up with their idea in summer 2015 when they were
volunteering to help refugees arriving at the Greek island of
Chios.
"We want to process the plastic waste that lies on beaches in
Greece into something new," Guenther said. "We want to create
new job opportunities for the people who came newly here and
have great talents."
Environmental groups say the plastic garbage of life vests and
rubber boats left by migrants after reaching Greece in 2015 is a
forgotten dimension of the refugee crisis with no comprehensive
waste-management system on land.
(Reporting by Riham Alkousaa; Editing by Paul Carrel and Alison
Williams)
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