We’ve been busy at Migrantour Utrecht! In February, the newspaper Algemeen Dagblad featured our initiative, with senior intercultural companion (IC) Yetunde sharing about what Migrantour means to her. In the article, she explains: ‘I think that the Netherlands is shaped by migrants. Take tulips, for example: they originally come from Turkey. Migration is not just about people, but also about ideas and cultures. Many Dutch customs and traditions have been influenced by migration. By telling these stories, we hope to create more understanding and connection.’
And our community is growing! We’re currently wrapping up a 3-month training for 12 new intercultural companions, a learning journey that has closely followed the IC training programme developed in the scope of the Migrantour Sustainable Routes project and laid out in the network’s Migrantour Handbook. We’ve:
- Explored the delicate politics of representation, including how we choose to represent others and how we ourselves wish to be represented;
- Examined diverse drivers for migration and how they have shaped not only our lives but also the lives of our ancestors, the different communities with which we identify and people with migration backgrounds different from our own that are living in Utrecht;
- Personally connected with different people, places and issues in Lombok, the Utrecht neighbourhood in which we give our tour (e.g., the Ulu Camii mosque, the Ubuntuhuis day centre for people with undocumented status, and older people with migration backgrounds from Emigratie Generatie);
- Honed our storytelling, communication and group management skills. It’s been a powerful experience for many going through the training programme – offering them an opportunity to reflect on, share and dig deeper into significant feelings and experiences sometimes for the first time in their lives.
Coordination team members (Carol, Constanze, Meghann and Fiona) were accompanied by senior intercultural companions Negar, Anas, Bushra and Yetunde in offering the training and mentoring.
We have also begun the groundwork to develop our Lombok tour for schoolchildren by summer and to embark on developing a new tour in another Utrecht neighbourhood! Feasibility studies are currently underway with the support of international and local university students to identify promising opportunities in Kanaleneiland, a neighbourhood built in the 1960s in which many people with first- and second-generation migration backgrounds live today.