Leaning over his sewing machine in the
workshop of the small Berlin-based company called mimycri, Khaldoun Alhussain
concentrates as he stitches a piece of grey rubber.
A border of yellow thread takes shape on the material that he works with an
expert hand.
The grey material from rubber dinghies, abandoned by migrants on the
beaches of Greek islands, is finding a second life in Berlin.
It is transformed by refugees into different sorts of bags, sold on the
internet.
Alhussain, a 34-year-old Syrian, is familiar with the robust and
weather-resistant rubber that he now works with after being recovered in
Greece.
Four years ago, he climbed into a makeshift boat made of the very same
material to reach the Aegean island of Chios from the Turkish coast.
“There were many of us and the crossing was very, very dangerous,” says the
tailor, who learnt his trade in garment factories in Damascus before he left
to seek asylum in Germany.
Rafts to bags
mimycri recovers inflatable rafts, abandoned on the shores of Chios and the
nearby island of Lesbos, which both bore witness to the 2015 migration crisis
when hundreds of thousands of refugees landed on Europe’s beaches.
At the peak of the crisis, Greece recorded up to 7,000 arrivals a day.
While the number of crossings has slowed considerably since an agreement
between the European Union and Turkey in 2016, it still averages around 100
people per day.
On the spot, non-profit organisations recover the boats that litter the
coast, along with discarded life jackets and clothing.
“We recover 90 percent of the boats stranded on the coast,” says Toula
Kitromilidi, Greek coordinator of the NGO Chios Eastern Shore Response Team.
“The rest are used by the locals,” he adds, indicating how for example
farmers convert the boats’ rubber panels into tarpaulin covers.
Cut into large strips, the panels are sent to Berlin, cleaned and
transformed into useful bags.
Customers “buy these bags because they tell a story, because they are more
than just something you own,” says Vera Guenther, one of mimycri’s two
founders, in her bright workshop.
Unique pieces with a story
Heavy sewing machines hum in the background under shelves filled with rolls
of rubber.
Each segment is unique, sometimes with stripes or marks that often tell
their own tragic stories.
The company’s customers, who snapped up some 120,000 euros ($132,578) worth
of its wares last year, can indirectly learn “what is happening in Syria…
and how many people have died or are still dying there”, adds Alhussain.
His goal is to bring his mother to Berlin from Syria where she is sick and
alone.
As for the inhabitants of the Greek islands, “they are very happy (with our
work) because they do not want their beaches to be covered with plastic
waste,” says Guenther.
She gave up her job in the environmental sector to run mimycri.
In total, the company sells 11 products, with three percent of sales
donated to NGOs in Greece.
Its latest creation is a toiletry bag, which, like all the products it
sells on the internet, is also sold in some shops in Berlin and Munich.
Helping hand
Guenther, 32, was among the Germans who came to offer their help to
refugees as they arrived in droves at the country’s train stations in the
summer of 2015.
“I wanted to be part of this new Germany that welcomes people who have lost
their belongings, their homes and sometimes also their families,” she said.
During winter 2015-16, she left for Chios to help frightened migrants
landing on the beaches after often harrowing journeys.
With a German passport, she could make the crossing from the Turkish
coastal city, Izmir, to the Greek island in 30 minutes for 14 euros “while
drinking a beer and taking a little nap”.
She was profoundly aware that Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans were risking
their lives on makeshift rafts by paying at least 1,000 dollars to human
traffickers.
With her partner, Nora Azzaoui, she spent several months on the island and
returned to Berlin with a section of rubber in her luggage.
It was transformed into a bag and the business idea was born.
The two young women managed to raise 43,000 euros in a crowdfunding scheme
to bring their dream to life.
Now, the small company employs five people, including a Syrian and a
Pakistani.
“We want to change the way we look at refugees,” says Guenther.
“These are people… who want to have a job, a house, just like all of us.”(AFP)
Images: Tobias Schwarz / AFP
