5th Arrival Cities Transnational Workshop

From the 16th to 19th of January took place in Vale de Marne the 5th Arrival Cities Transnational Workshop

The Arrival Cities delegation arrived in Val de Marne on the evening of the 16th of January. We received a warm welcome by the Vice-President of the Council Department Fatiha Aggoune, that accompained us during all the three days of workshop. Later the painter artist Fred Kleinberg introduced its last work named Odyssea, a painted story of migrants experiences that makes a parallel between the hope trips done by the migrants today and the Homer's trip.

In conclusion the associations Orienthé and S.A.I.D (Slums Actions in Dheli) played a theatre representation inspired by real stories about the prejudices and discrimination that migrants women experience in looking for a job.

On the 17th the day started with the presentation of four case studies (Amadora, Roquetas de Mar, Vaanta and Thessaloniki) in pareallel sessions, along with groups discussions on migrants participation in city life. In the afternoon the delegates divided in three groups and visited different Municipalites located in the Department of Val de Marne, where local initiatives to engage migrants in city life are taking place. The sites visited were: "The House of Associations" in Champigny sur Marne, the "CCAS (Centre Communal d'Action Sociale)" in Vitry sur Seine; and the "Centre Reberioux" in Creteil.

Later-on, Local Coordinators met for the 7th steering group meeting, where among other project issues, they discussed about the organization of the Final Network Event in Brussels. On the last day of workshop we had an interesting discussion with a panel of experts, artists, journalists that work in the field of migration in various ways, from the right Fred Kleinberg (Artist of Odyssea); Fatiha Aggoune (Vice President of the Department Council of Val de Marne); Souad Frikech Chaouih (General Secretary of FORIM - Forum des Organisations de solidarité Internationale issues des Migrations); Pierrick Bonno (Journalist of France Info - Projet Radio Al-Salam). The debate has been animated, the commitment of the speakers and the audience was tangible and made the debate a real moment of exchange.

During the afternoon we have been divided in groups and we visited different neighbourhoods of Paris guided by cultural mediators with migrant background, which participate in the Migrantour project. They shown us places that have a special meaning for migrant communities or represent migrants culture in the host country. In the evening we have been hosted in the Petit Bain restaurant and amazed by the music of Wael Alkak a Sirian musician that delighted us with his electronic sound.

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