Regarding our participation in Malaga’s Film Festival
Yesterday, as part of the 28th edition of Malaga’s Film Festival, we had the honor of participating in Espacio Solidario, a space dedicated to feature entities that carry out humanitarian projects. Asha-Kiran was invited to talk about its projects and activities within a highly prominent setting.
The venue was filled to capacity -80 people- as was expected. The city of Malaga answered our beckoning: many volunteers at Asha-Kiran, students (mostly Ukrainian), and the public were present, deeply moved by and interested in our work.
The event was presented by our director in Malaga, Dayana, who passionately highlighted the importance of raising awareness about the reality of migration and the role of Asha-Kiran in this process. Thanks to her dedication, the venue became a meeting point for solidarity and commitment.
One of the most impacting moments was the testimony of Amadou, who recounted his dramatic journey to Spain. As he spoke, a video was shown about the harsh reality of migrants before and during crossing of the Atlantic to the Canary coast. His story made the invisible visible, putting a face and a voice on those who, all too often, are just numbers in the news.
“60 migrants arrive to the Islands by boat.”
“50 people are missing at sea.”
Each one of them has a story, a family, loved ones they leave behind, risking their lives, often without knowing how to swim. And when they do make it, they wander through our cities like shadows, ignored, pushed aside, with no right to be acknowledged as part of our community.
Yesterday's colloquium had a clear purpose: to make these stories visible through Amadou, which is also Asha-Kiran’s purpose through Vínculos Project, whose name -Links- says it all.
We also heard the testimony of Vasumati, a volunteer who shared her experience, stressing that all of us who participate in the project are volunteers and that we do it with the utmost dedication. There is no greater reward than to see a spark in the eyes of those who have lost it all, even their dignity, after being forced to live on the streets with no one to look or smile at them while they lack the most basic things.
Yesterday was an important day for Malaga, for Asha-Kiran and, above all, for raising awareness about what happens in these hellish crossings, as well as what happens afterwards, when the migrants reach Spain.
Together, let's make a better, more supportive, more inclusive world. You can help, too.
We invite you to become a member of Asha-Kiran, donate when you wish, become a volunteer, donate things that you no longer need. We need computers (no matter how old), overhead projectors, school supplies, printers. All of this is essential for our literacy and Spanish classes, since you never love a language as much as when you teach it to someone else.
Project funded by Málaga City Council.