Kites of solidarity campaign

In 2014, when Same Skies was just an idea, we remember brainstorming a name for the nascent organisation. Our ideas and imagery were all about freedom, equity, and hope, and the idea upon which we settled has seemed to resonate with people in the years since, acknowledging the universality of the human experience, and the things we have in common, rather than the things that divide us. One of the metaphors or symbols that we considered in those early days was that of a kite, darting, diving, and soaring overhead. There is a universality in kite flying too; a sense of innocence and fun, often associated with childhood.

World Refugee Day 2021 marked the start of our "Kites of Solidarity’"campaign, and in the lead-up to our virtual summit, we encouraged our friends and supporters to participate by building kites, writing messages of solidarity on them, and flying them in their neighbourhoods. For many of our refugee friends, kite flying holds a special cultural significance as a form of leisure and community spirit and competition. Kite flying was even banned under certain extremist regimes, and was widely celebrated when it was no longer prohibited.

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What we will do with your money

CHF 26,700.- will secure our operations until the end of the year. 

Transformative Leadership in Action has gone into its third edition in February 2021. Together with an amazing team of participants, we are in the process of co-designing a new refugee-led project that will enhance the access of refugee children in Pekanbaru, Indonesia, to education. We are currently providing online training, coaching and project mentoring through the programme until October 2021, and we are committed to continuing our follow-up support to the refugee team for an additional 12 months after that.

Our social enterprise Kneading Peace has been hit the hardest by the pandemic. This project is a café, shop, art gallery and community space built around a training programme for refugee entrepreneurs. During six intensive months, they receive baking, enterprise and creative training, and are coached to develop business plans. We are still committed to continuing with this project, which requires a lot of flexibility and  adaptability from the team in these uncertain times. Currently, we are only open for online orders. With your support, we will hopefully be able to enrol our next trainees as soon as we can re-open the shop. 

We have been supporting Jakarta Bersatu Project with two online training workshops every week, as well as with individual monthly mentoring sessions to each team member. In October, we will conduct an assessment of the team capacities, and jointly develop a new agreement based on the support needed. 

To our existing refugee partners, Refugee Network Center, Refugee Learning Center and Refugee Learning Nest, we will continue to offer individual monthly mentoring sessions, financial contributions, networking opportunities and needs-based training opportunities.