Fatuma Musa Afrah: Keynote

preroll music

Linus Neumann: My dear community!

Now the moment you’ve all been waiting for

without even knowing
what that moment would be.

As hackers we think a lot
about virtual gates

and how to overcome them.

But away from keyboard
our competence and resources

in overcoming gates
are maybe limited a bit.

So for this motto we had to find
a very special keynote speaker.

Somebody with experience
of overcoming physical gates

or borders, as some people call them.

Our keynote speaker has overcome
physical borders twice.

She was born in Somalia and escaped
to Kenya when she was still a child.

And just recently she escaped Kenya
to search refuge here, in Germany.

Carina Haupt: She hates the term “refugee”.

Instead, she prefers the term: “newcomer”.

She worked with international
humanitarian organizations

in the Dadaab Refugee Camp in Kenya.

So not only does she know
these camps as visitor

but also as an humanitarian aid worker.

Linus: We’re curious for her unique
perspectives and insights.

Please welcome Fatuma Musa Afrah!

applause

microphone does not work

Angel: You have to take that microphone, please.
Fatuma: laughing Oh, what’s going on?

For an hour, this! Okay.

I’m not used to this anyway,
points at headset mike

I’m friend more with this!
points at handset mike

But when I get tired,
I hope I will keep it somewhere.

Thank you so much, dear Linus
and the beautiful Carina

for this beautiful introduction.

I have no words to say. I remember
when Linus wrote me this long email

and asking me: “We would love
to have you here” and I was like:

“What is Chaos Computer Club?”
I just gave him a call

after I received the mail from him.
And he was like: “You will understand,

for now you don't know, but:
Can we please meet and discuss this?”

And I was like: “In the field of IT,
that I don’t know anything about?"

The only thing I know about it
is the basic use of my Laptop,

which is a compulsory thing to do
because of the world we're at right now.

And I would like to ask everybody
in the audience to give

a very heavy round of 'pplause
for the man who succeeded

in bringing me here because I can’t
say other things because of being

in front of you. Thank you
so much to Linus and the Angels.

Can we give a round of applause?
applause

I told him actually that time:
"You are a damn good business marketer!"

That’s actually the term I used.
And he told me:

“Oh yeah, I gotta try what it takes
to bring you here.”

And I was like: “Thank you so much for
having me here.”

Before I proceed to dip into – huh huh –

the one long hour which
I hardly did it, to be honest.

With other combination, yes,
as a motivational speaker.

But just one good hour talking by myself?
laughs

This is a beautiful experience,
and to be honest

I haven’t been in front of this huge,
larg..., damn big audience.

I’m used to maybe … heh, is it strange
to say 2000?

laughs
Ya, I don’t know.

I’m just so grateful, feel so honored,
humbled to have me here.

And the majority of you being hackers.
I don’t know what “hacker” means,

but somehow I understand what
it means after the long discussion

and several meetings that I had
with my dear Linus.

I don’t know, sometimes I pronounce the
German names wrongly, don’t get me wrong,

like I remember Carina telling me:
“The English speaking people and other

people have a problem with my name
the way it’s pronounced." And I was like:

“Okay, how do they pronounce it?”
– "Carrrina" (German rolling “r”)

And I said: “I know that: Carina”
(perfect pronounciation)

I have the German-typical “r” with me.

I’m just very shocked here
in Deutschland (Germany), like,

one year and eight month soon
graduates into two complete years.

Und, mein Deutsch ist kaputt, aber…
(my German is broken, but…)

laughter, applause

Vielen Dank!
(Thank you!)

Ich spreche ein bisschen Deutsch.
(I speak a little German.)

Ich bin in die Schule drei Monaten,
(I am in school three months,)

aber ich verstehe nicht so gut Deutsch.
(but I don’t understand German very well.)

Warum?
(Why?)

laughs

Deutsch ist schwer.
(German is hard.)

Aber habe hier andere Menschen oder Leute,
(but I’ve got other people here)

nicht die sprechen Deutsch?
(not who speaks German?)

laughing Aber ich viel besser auf Englisch!
(But I much better in English!)

Did you understand my Deutsch (German)
from that practice? applause

Thank you.
applause

I gotta practice my Deutsch whenever
I go in public, otherwise

I will stay forgotten in my language because
I consider it my language right now

because I belong to this community.
I’m a German!

Some people will ask me: “You are a German?”
shyly: “Aha?”

You understand, obviously, when you tell somebody
"I'm a German" in THIS! points at her clothing

You understand what I mean?
I don’t have to explain (laughs) in detail.

And I remember one guy told me: “Hey,
how are you?” – I met him in an event

And I said: “Cool.” And he said: “What’s
your name?” And I said: “My name is Fatuma.”

And he said: “Where do you come from?”
I told him: “From a human world.”

And he said: “Huh, human world?”
applause

Thank you!

"What did you expect me to give you
as an answer?"

And he said: “Yeah, well, I don’t
know, this is a typical question,

as Germans we ask everytime.”
And I asked him: “Don’t behave

like the Germans behave,
behave as who you are!

Don’t bring me like I’m a dumb and I’m
a

Somalian this, and... I don’t believe in
that!

I believe in an individual choice,
an individual decision

and an individual mind for love.
That’s what I believe in.

sternly: Don’t follow what
other says because they say it

or you found it there. Be creative
and find a way to change things

And how we do it?
Is within us.

applause

Thank you!
Going directly to the concept today,

Gated Community,
I wanna be honest with you.

When Linus came to me and asked me:
“We want you to be our keynote speaker,

do you understand what a Gated
Community means?” And I told him:

"Obviously, yes.”
And he said: “What is it?”

And I told him: “Coming together.”
laughs I wanna be honest!

And today it’s so funny after the long
explanation he gave me

I gotta be standing here,
in front of this big, beautiful audience,

listening to me about Gated Community,
a topic connected to Gated Community.

So, learning is a process.
We don’t know everything

and I wanna be honest I didn’t know much
about Gated Community until

he brought up the topic and he said:
“I believe you can do it.”

Thanks Linus for giving me the belief
to be here

and make it happen in a possible way.
Thank you so much

for the deep explanation. And thank you
so much to everybody in the audience

for taking your beautiful time.
The Angels – I’m part of them,

you see what I have?
I’m part of them. I didn’t do much,

I was just feeding myself with my
small belly.

But I tried, somehow. I want to connect
the concept of Gated Community

through a simple… and funny story

while my stay here in Deutschland.

I’m usually a quick speaker
but today I gotta slow down

for everybody to understand me
and also to kill the one hour.

Don’t you think it’s too long to be here
for one good hour?

I’m already damn thirsty so I gotta have
some water in the process

before I start my funny–

I’m not used to gassed water, is this with
gas? Don’t make me vomit on this stage!

laughter

louder: Can I have water without gas?
I had already some problem with this.

Sorry.

No, I can’t take this, sorry.

I can’t shake it! Shake it yourself.

laughter

So, going to this funny story
about Deutschland;

what a beautiful children
that I worked with.

This will be part of my deeper story later.

I taught a German school as an
English assistant teacher because

I was not a professional,
annoyedly clears her throat

I was not a professional English teacher.

Neither do I have any
experience in teaching.

But I just wanted to contribute
and give something back

to the German community
since they where trying their best

to give us something, you know?
And I went out,

I remember, to our manager and
asked him how – which I will go back

to this story later in deep – but the
funny story about it is that the children,

they saw me in this outfit
– from head to toe –

and I could not speak German
most of the time.

I had very nice teachers who were translating
hand-to-hand with me all the time

because this school had almost three
hundred and sixty-something children

and all of them were in this Brandenburg
– you know Brandenburg?

The beautiful Brandenburg? –
...Most of them were blonde.

And then one of the child told me:
higher pitched: "Frau Fatumo..."

I said: "Yees, bitte??"
interrupts

to Angel on stage: Thank you so so much!
I honestly appreciate it!

Thank you so much!
applause

You give applause to the man
who feeds the Poor People!

Thanks! laughs
thanks!

So this child asked me...
The children were wondering all the time

– because of how I'm covered –
if I have ears;

they were doubting if I have hair. You know
that like the normal human functionings.

laughs

And then these children all the time busy
touching me if I'm really a human,

everywhere, you know?
Another problem was this: that skin color.

And one of the children asked me.

She was so intelligent, she
was so in love with me, that...

she was so nice and kind, you know?

Love and kindness doesn't come with
the language, it comes from the heart.

And this child was all the time
bringing me drawings with love

from her family and everything...
bringing it to me and say:

higher pitched: "Ha, da, warte mal,
ich hab' hier DAS, ich hab' hier DAS!

And I am like "Okay, thank you so much!"
and then I kept piling these stuffs

from the children, actually I didn't wanna
throw because they were my first family

when I was just 4-months-old in Deutschland,
when I felt my life is over,

I have no more family, I'm all alone.

My life is completely different again,
I got to struggle in this lifestyle.

So... this lady took me to the wash room.

And she said: higher pitched: "Yeah, bla bla."
I didn't understand, I asked the teacher

and the children like: "What... where do
you wanna take her?"

...to the wash room and then she did
immediately higher-pitched: "feeeee!"

...to confirm the hair is there
She did peek to confirm I have ears.

She left me alone. So another child
asked me, because of the skin color

because it was different from the whole
school: if I become white during night!

laughter

And I said: "Come again!"
Honestly!

If something keeps my day going,
laughs

Whenever I remember this, whether I'm
alone or whether I'm with somebody,

I just laugh, because this explains
about the world we live in.

And the answer I gave the child was:
"I'm black always."

high pitched: "Was?"
And then they were concerned why here is

points at inner side of hand
different from here.

shows outer side of hand
To go to the point this is apparent failure

and this is the meaning of a
Gated Community. As a parent

it's upon our responsibility
to educate our childen

about what kind of world we live in.
Educate them about EVERYTHING!

applause

Thank you!
Thank you so much.

I don't think these children will
be so busy about all of THIS

if the parent would have given them
the proper education they needed

by just showing them at least
something about it like we exist

in a world of diversed communities
in terms of color,

in terms of eyes appearance in terms
of height, in terms of everything.

So I hope from there those
children have learnt something

– I never hold any grudge
against innocent children –

They are so beautiful, so kind,
they're just curious, you know?

When they're growing up they're so beautiful.
I'm hoping to have five kids soon,

and... Hopefully, too, they'll be beautiful.
I want to have my own choir,

my own community in my own house.
But I,... yeah!

We'll light for these 5 kids,
hopefully, one day.

And, that was the story
about the children.

And now in connection with "Gated
Community" like I said previously -

I don't wanna do a lot of repetition:
Let us stand up for change!

Let us stand up for information!
Let us stand up

for connecting each other to reality!

Let us inform each other what's there!

Find a way to communicate!
Find a way to open these gates!

And how you open these gates
everybody has the key in the own hand,

in their own mind, however you
describe it. It's a responsibility

that it is within each and
every individual within us.

I remember educating my Mom -
'cause I grew up,

as you can see, the description from me,
a religious family.

And I'm not doing this
because they forced me to

but this is me what I wanted to.

Just to have a point of clear understanding
about what I'm explaining.

My Mom, I remember
educating her everytime:

"Mommy, ... !". Because I had a lot of friends
when I was in the university

who were Christians and I used to tell mama

"We got to open our arms for everybody!"
She was so kind and generous, definitely.

But they're these kind of levels of
helping each other that we need to.

And failure to do that: nobody else will.

We have to respect each other,
regardless of who we are.

Personally, I don't care about stupid color,

this plays no role in my world whatsoever.

I don't care about THIS,
this is an individual belief.

That's up to YOU. I don't discriminate
people against their social status.

I believe in a world of respect.

I believe in a world belonging to
people with respect and peace.

And that's all I go for. No more, no less!

Just respect, passion, based on the heart
That's what I go for.

As long as you can respect me and we can
understand each other

what else do I look for, more?
Absolutely nothing.

I just respect you, who you are.
The good respect and connections we have,

and that's all I go for. The rest is bullshit.

applause

They call it "Cheers!". This is my alcohol,
I've never drunk alcohol...

and will I ever!
small fraction applauding

surprisingly shouting:
Aaah! Applause for my alcohol!

Can we have applause for my
alcohol drinking!? laughs

This is funny!
laughs

And the other funny story
I would like to share

– but this has nothing to do
with Gated Community -

is, you know, the developed world.

It will have something to do with it
in the Gated Community section,

depending on how I explain it.

When I was new in Deutschland,

where I come from there are no trains.

I'm not used to trains, honestly.
I'm used to planes! descending whistle

They are easy, yes. But trains: NO!

So, laughs one of the drama thing
that happened to me when I came to German'

the first time I came by flight then the next
I remember I went to Frankfurt the first time.

And then I asked. I was told: "Go to the train!"

Now the problem was: chuckles
I see this LONG train! chuckles again

This has nothing to do with education.
No matter, how you're educated.

Some things don't need multi education
but needs to be used to that.

So I remember going to the train.

The first train left me because
I didn't know how to open!

And I was a newcomer – don't call us
refugees, a point of correction.

Call me by my name!
If that's not enough,

call me any other more beautiful name,
choose! I don't restrict, I believe

in a world of freedom. But as long as
it's beautiful and not insulting

then I give you the freedom.

So, the first train left me, so
I had to stand there in this cold.

Luckily enough I got the help from a woman
that I even didn't know.

But God knows what was going in my head.
I thought like, because I had a bad information

about Deutschland until I discovered
slowly by slowly by myself

that: don't listen to what others say,
listen to your heart!

I went with this woman,
she saved me.

We will come back to this
bigger story later.

raising voice again:
So, what did I had to do to open the next

train

which will be coming in 40 minutes?
I stood there trying to calculate,

and I didn't want to look ignorant,
you know? This is the worst thing!

You better ask than pretending to
know something and you don't know!

This is the worst thing a human
being should ever do.

So I stood there, I said: "Next time
when the train comes...",

because I was in the end and then I came
in the middle, where there're some people,

so that I stand next to the people.
When they open I go in with them.

I look where they open, and then I stand
behind them and then I get in there.

Otherwise I'll end up in a ship, (?)
left again by the second train.

So educating yourself in a culture,

in a very developed country
that you don't know

is a big risk and it's a big challenge.
Anyway,

the second train did not leave me
because I folled the followers.

And she pressed, she got in another person
– that was an old man –

I was so kind to give him a way because
I got to get in anyway.

So I got in! I was safe!

The next step: using the toilet.
How the hell do I use the toilet?

chuckles I wanna be honest,
I don't wanna hide anything.

I got in the toilet!
I saw a woman comin' out, I got it,

and this toilet were Automatic Toilet!

chuckling, losing words by that: And I
got stuck there .. for toilet .. five minute!

I tried to open, it doesn't open,
I tried to open.

The next time I didn't miss the...
try touching the Alarm.

imitates alarm sound:
WEEE OOOO WEEE OOOO WEEEK

I was like: "Why the hell is Polizei coming
!?"

chuckles

Anyway, they're kind they helped
me while I sweated too much

thinking "My life is...", "What the hell
is going on?" "Where did I...?"

"Where am I?" I didn't know, honestly.
And this was so hard for me.

So, in connections that this what
I wanna say is: Please give information

to the newcomers when they're coming.
Try to sacrifice a little bit of your time.

It's similar to you guys when you come
to Africa, we have these beautiful toilets,

that inside whatever you put
from behind inside, you will sit!

So if you go to these big holes and sit there
you will be shocked, as well!

Like: "This might... I might die inside...
The toilet is looking at me!"

This is a reality, that's where we are from.
Can we give the beautiful toilets in Africa

a big applause?
applause

Thank you!

Going to the Gated Community issues,
please, if I'm too fast, you don't understand

the little English that I've learnt kindly
raise your hand, I give you the freedom

to ask me "Please slow down!", or "Please
use very simple terminologies!"

It's a gift, I give it to you. So, if I'm
too fast also that will be a nice idea from

you

because we have to kill the 1 hour together.
Just tell me. It's not a necessary thing.

So anyway, the developed world

– I don't wanna point any specific country
–

not only the developed world, even the
developing world, we have all these different

kinds of gated communities.
Whether it's in a profession, whether it's

just

a small settlement of communities.
In all directions, these exist.

It's a fact which is there. And I always
hoped for a perfect world

which is never gonna be so soon or it's
gonna be there at all. I don't think so.

You'll always dream of this perfect world
which there is no killing, no war,

no disrespect, no racism or whatever.
But this will be a long jouney!

And the journey belongs to all of us.
How we view it, how we wanna make a change,

it's a decision that belongs collectively
to all of us. I don't know how to do IT,

but before the... I will be here for 4 good
days, I hope I'll have some basic

– I have basic, of course, computer usage,
I have some – but the bigger one, well,

everybody: what is wrong with that IT
experts? They're always like this...

You're sitting next to them like I was
yesterday, yeah, sitting next to people...

People are busy: pop-pop-pop-pop-pop-pop!
And I was like: "These are machines or

human beings?"

Sorry, I don't meant to disrespect
or insult, sorry.

But you got to raise your head a bit up
and see the next person sitting.

Some people are looking at me very strangely,
wondering what kind of a hacker is this woman?

Honestly, I had a lot of looks like this until
I was asking people next to me what's going

on,

is there something wrong with me,
check me out!

And it was like "You are perfectly fine,
maybe... these are hackers, they have

never seen a hacker like you".
And I said: "The world is changing,

I got to be one, one day".
applause

Vielen Dank, mit Deinen 'pplaus
(Thank you, with your applause)

Is that how it's called? Is that correct,
the German way?

Vielen Dank, mit Deinen...
(Thank you, with your...)

You said this! *thumbs down"
This means wrong! ... He?

fuer? für? ...
Oh, that's a typical German...

Say "für euren" !!
("for your")

That's a complicated German term!

Anyway, thank you so much!
Now, I want to go ... next ... is ... coming

up...

is my personal story in connection with
the gated community.

I'm sure you received this surprise!
Well connected, and a newcomer in front of

you

and explaining how gated community affects
us, and now I hope I will try to figure out

everything in a beautiful flowered manner
to fix the context and my story together.

Can I go next story I don't know IT?

Hey, you got to help me, I'm honest,
I don't know...nothing.

What is this?
audience amused

Hey, hey-hey-hey-hey.
Linus, come over please!

Fix this damage! Now you are ruining
my speech, what is this?

audience amused

This is bullshit, my Italian friend said,
this

is bullshit. Now we... this is, that's the...

another problem, they just come here and this
is

what they do, this is bullshit...

THIS is not bullshit, this is beautiful!!
audience amused

Thank you! That's my beautiful Italian friend,
I don't mean to disrespect the language

but it looks so interested...

No no, don't go too high! Leave it to me!
I can control!

Just leave me like "Next, next, next!"
and then I can take care of it,

thank you so much! You don't have to do much
work. Free! You're free!

Thanks!

I 'came two times a newcomer in my life.

The first time I was a newcomer
in my own continent.

Next... the neighbor, next to
my country, that's Kenya.

I grew up in Kenya. I don't know how it feels

when my mom went through all this pain.

When she took the five of us – one was
inside.

When she took us from the war country,
bringing us to Kayner???

And the main reason was my father was
killed, I wasn't lucky to see my father.

And 'til that nobody knows who killed him
and where his dead body is.

Til now we don't know. But I just wanna say:
"I love you, daddy". I don't know much about

you,

but I love you, whereever you are. And rest
in peace!

When my mom came to Kenya, she always
told me how hard it was,

but I could not understand! Because I didn't
go

through the pain she went through.

It's a different story when you have a
feeling about a problem

and you're telling me the story. I don't
have... we can have much connections here.

Of course the connection will be there,
but how you have felt and how you're feeling

is never the way I'm gonna feel! It's just
like

"Oh, sorry, you went through this, poor."

"I'm sorry, it's so painful, it's so hard."
It's just difficult. And this is how it is.

So we grew up in Kenya, my mom
did everything within her power

to give us the best she could
including education.

And the culture I come from,
cultural education is not a priority.

But my mom was a complete
woman that was standing

for the true meaning of change.
I had the same benefit

and equal respect to my brothers
and thanks to my lovely uncle

who also paid my highschool fees and
everything because mom could not raise

all of us with all of this money because
where I come from in Kenya

is not similar here where education is for
free. You got to pay there highschool.

The primary: yes, but highschool you got to
pay. And the schools are not good quality.

If you need a good quality school, you got
to

pay for it. You have to make an earning

to make this. To call your children very
intelligent and then they have this good life.

But luckily enough I'm here in
front of you to at least make

some languages that I can communicate
with other people. I learned English

and hopefully, next time, I will speak in
Deutsch. No more English Drama,

and I hope I will be confident in my
Deutsch speech because I am not sure...

Deutsch is... I don't know. My Deutsch
somewhat disappeared.

But I belive one day – I never lose
my hope – I will come here

hopefully, one day. Not here necessarily
but somewhere to speak in Deutsch.

And all my speech will be fluent:
"Pa, pa pa pa pa!"

No audio 31:19 - 31:56

...and what happened? Polizei flies you
into the jail

or you pay or give me your documents.

And it's not a good easy life when you
end in a different country.

You got to accept all the challenges that
you go through. Stand for it,

alit, move forward, find a way to
help yourself and others.

And then one day you got to be flying
somewhere and be happy at least!

Try to be happy.

So my mom went through all of
these problems

and I went to school there, everything,
and I worked in a place called Dadaab.

Can you identify me from those photos?
You can see somewhere...

I worked like I said before in introduction,
with

different humanitarian international organizations,

one of it being "Save the children International",
others being "Terre des hommes".

I also worked in Somalia partial time
because I wanted to see what it feels like

to go back home and see my own country.

But I don't believe in an own country things,
I believe in a world of no border,

get that one right.
applause

applause
Thank you so much!

When I was working in Dadaab, did I ever
knew I will be another newcomer

for the second time. I used to feel the
pain that people are going through.

All the damages I could see that and
when I was new working there

I hardly had lunch because you have
these big UN security staffs

and lines and everything is there.
But I could never comfort myself

and eat properly because
I could always see mothers

who lost their children on the way.
She had 6 children for example,

2 or 3 died on the way. And she
has to move on with her life.

And that life was so hard, and I chose

to work in the field of child protection.

The way I say it some people don't understand
louder, pronounced: CHILD PROTECTION.

Here, you don't know much about it
because the government takes care of it.

But this is one of the biggest refugee
camps in the world, Dadaab refugee camp.

And I'm happy, I remember this
memory and I kept it with me

because I was not so much into making
the children play with them or this, (?)

but I was more of a case manager.
But this was the universal Children's Day.

And I was like I just wanted to make them
happy and it happened I have this memory with

me still.

Can we give applause for these beautiful kids?
applause

applause

computer "dong" sound

I touched in between, sorry sorry, you
told me this. You told me, don't touch.

You know, I told them, the first time they
gave

me this: "You got to show me how to use this,

are you stupid or something?"
And he said: "No, just use it"

and then the first time I did it he said:
"You see? You said 'I know it',

why did you do the mistake?" And this is
how it goes back to the memory of exams

you say this exam was so easy and then you
fail. And the [credit] points you expected

is not there because we just take things so
easy.

So I will not take next time things for easy,

I got to be careful.
And this was still part of Dadaab...

audience amused

Damn! What's up? Your computer is virus!

I have a beautiful laptop there. Get mine!

Helper: What for?

Fatuma: Okay. Gut! Thank you.

And these beautiful ladies there... we were
doing a lot of different

work with children. I was more in the case
management and

dealing with child abuse, neglect, exploitation
and violence.

There are a lot of children who are sexually
abused

and you got to stand there for them, take
them through the process

because the parents are psychologically
traumatized. They have no energy at

all whatsoever. To do anything. And this is
what's called girl child empowerment.

I tried for my own level with my colleagues
and everybody. To help the girls

speak out and say something. Because
if their voice is not heard,

nobody will make them raise their full voice.
(?) Because voice is power.

Voice is the key change to everything.

And these girls were always shy I remember
them putting... hides face you see her hand

was already there.

They do this... my cloth is far... (?) They're
so shy and they can't say much.

And it's not their fault. It's what's called
culture setup.

This is how we were brought up. As a woman.

This how we behave. But I disagree.

Everybody should be equal. Everybody should
have equal freedom.

Of speech, of saying whatever they feel like,
letting it out.

Respect it. Be part of their change process.

Because these are expected to be the leaders
of tomorrow, today.

But if we don't empower them if we don't support
them

they're not going to be anything.

[In my case] It's hardly to see. From-the-culture-I-come-from-woman
standing in front of

the majority-dominance-men here. Hackers,
hehe and women.

And speak to them. It's something rare because

this is not how we are brought up. You got
to be shy, sitting somewhere.

Not speaking here like notorious, this is
not a good woman.

Standing in front of men and talking you're
not a good woman. This is what it is.

But I say that good women should be standing
in front of people and speaking up.

applause

Thank you so much. There're a lot of problems.
That I saw.

I want to give a comparison between what I
saw in Dadaab and here.

But sometimes it's hard to give the comparison
because I was working there

earning my own money and doing my own stuffs.
But now here I am

and opposite. Somebody has to work for me
and help me.

But generally some of the key problems that
were there in Dadaab refugee camp: education.

Education was a key problem.

Girl child education was a key problem
as well. There were highschools,

there were over 40 international
humanitarian organizations

and some of them were responsible
for education. But you know they

can't do everything, they don't have
support from the government.

And there was a lot of... poor
educational infrastructure.

There was no clear support in erms of
education. There were no class rooms.

There were not enough teachers. The
resources was completely not enough.

And these people there was
restrictions of freedom.

People could not cross the normal way to
go to the cities or other part of Kenya.

They were restricted in that Dadaab
zone. If you wanna go out of Dadaab

you gotta ask for permission.
Go to the UNHCR,

ask for permission to go out and
state why you wanna go there,

outside of this camp. So it was not easy.

It's similar to here some months
ago, in our country here.

We were not allowed to travel out of – like
I come from the beautiful Brandenburg.

You're not allowed to travel
outside Brandenburg.

But then so much to the leaders now
they're making a change.

And they're trying something at least.
It's not perfect. But they're trying.

Can we give a round of applause to
our leaders who're at least trying,

I like to appeciate those who are even
trying. Can we give applause, please?

applause

helper approaching speaker's desk

Sorry, Linus! I'm so sorry.

I think the mistake comes from here!
Just to stand there...

No, this is not the mistake. Okay, cool.

I know, in every country there
are a lot of newcomers

and similar problems are there. But one
good things I discovered from Dadaab

is that the people are still within their
culture. At least they are within a language

they can understand. Basically
things they're used to.

But here you come – it's completely
the opposite. So what leads

to these big refugee camps? It's poor
management of responsibility.

If the developed world would
support the developing world

and the problems they went through I don't
think we would have been in the direction

we are right now.
I just wanna go back a little bit to History.

When colonisation was happening
in this developing world

no person was asked why they
came to those countries.

Nobody asked them [about their] permission
to

get in. They didn't ask anybody permissions

to get in. Now my big question is: Now that
we need the help of the developed world

why are we called "Illegals" – number one.
Why are we called

you need to come in with a permission.
Why?? The permission on us

and YOU never asked for permissions before!
Ever! Why?

applause

Thank you.

These are the good examples
of gated community.

Sorry.

If leaders would forget about the
past because what your parents or

your leaders did in the past you don't
have to do and repeat the same mistake.

You need to correct that mistake.
And make a difference.

applause

We are not perfect in any way. And I
always call politics is a dirty game.

But I want to send a message to all the
politicians and leaders in the world.

Please... stand... for human rights

and respect it!
Don't put your political interest first,

put the human life first! Then the
rest becomes number two!

applause

Thank you.

I love this woman called Claudia Roth.
I had a panel discussions

once with her in re:publica.
And I loved her approach.

She's at least a very mentoring woman.
She's a role model to me.

And I remember her telling me one time,
I said thanks to the German government,

"at least they're trying to do something".
And she told me: "No no no no no no no no!"

And I was like: "What?" – "Don't say
'Thank you'! What for? Haa?"

And I was like: "Yeah, at least they did
something! At least they give us a shelter,

somewhere to sleep, something to eat!" For
me, I would grate that. When if everything's

not perfect, I will say to that little thing
"thank you". And something very imoportant.

But thanks to Claudia Roth and her team,
they're really trying to do a beautiful job.

And the rest of the leaders whatever they
are,

not only them, everyone who's doing nice job.

So that was the life in Dadaab.
It's very tough and hard.

I came to German'. And I was in
Eisenhuttenstadt first time.

And life is so hard and horrible.

I can tell you here all of this in
words. But believe me,

you can never understand unless
you're in that situation yourself.

You can not understand.
The rest is just a story.

You will just say: "OK, oh sorry it's
a painful pro... oh sorry, yeah,

I understand." – No, you're lying, you're
not understanding. Be in that condition

and then you got to tell me what it is.

There's a lot of health problems.
The people are overcrowded,

There're a lot of outbreak of
diseases at different times.

And people are congested in
containers and in other

not-deserving human shelter areas.
I understand them on one side

but on one side I refuse
to understand them.

I mean this is a very well developed
countries. Not only I don't point fingers

only,

because I wanna avoid pointing fingers on
specific countries because this problem

is a global concerned problem. Gated
communities everywhere in the world

and it's not only here in
German', it's everywhere!

So this message I'm sending
is going to everywhere.

And I remember, in Eisenhüttenstadt,

you're put in 5..10 people... 20 people
– not 20, I don't wanna lie –

but at least 10 people could be in one room.

And you can't say anything about ist.
You're from different country. We don't

understand each other culture-wise, language-
wise, everything. But you still are forced

to live together. There is no freedom
of education like I wanted,

to further my education. There is nothing
like

that. The bureaucratic is another story.

Leave it aside. But so complicated that
you can't be who you wanna be!

And my question was all the time: When this
difficult condition where you're not allowed

to work, you're not allowed to go to school,
you're not allowed to function like a

normal human being! You're not even
allowed to go out and visit Berlin,

the first time you are...
I asked myself is this a perfect Welcome

in German'? Keep in isolated, damage,
and not giving us

the freedom to move out and see
people. Everybody is like this:

tired, sad: "You go to the office, you ask..."
Not everybody! Some people.

I remember the first time I visited
there, I went to a woman and I said:

"Is this true? Is this where I am? Is this
really true? Is this happening to me?"

I was like: "In a moment I don't
know where the hell I was!"

I thought my life was over!
– No, it wasn't over,

it was the beginning.

And I asked her – Thank you –
and I asked her

"What's going on? Can I go out?" And she
said: "Was??" – "Do you speak English?"

–

"Was?? Deutsch, bitte!" And I was
like: "I can't speak Deutsch!" -

"Was?? Raus, bitte, nächst'..."
– "Can I please have a permission

to go out at least see the city or
something, because I'm not having

a contact with my family, no relation
whatsoever, I'm really dying

of trauma here!" – "Was?? Raus, bitte!
Nächst', nächst' bitte! Nächst'!"

You have no choice! You have
no voice! You got to leave!

That was some of the difficult
moments I remember.

But there were also nice people in the same
Eisenhüttenstadt. Working as a social worker.

Very kind generous and very supporting.

But all of a sudden life wasn't easy
basically. I remember there was

this small internet area I don't think
it's their fault that's the only space

they were given. Refugee inspection (?)
where you can just go and google something.

And I would like to ask everybody in the
audience to give them a big 'pplause

because they're doing
a beautiful job there.

applause

Thanks. So the life in Eisenhüttenstadt
was completely a very...

problem with slides projection

helper approaching again

Yes, so out of my transfer
in Brandenburg,

still in Brandenburg I went to...
Life wasn't easy and blabla...

everybody knows how hard it is and
not everybody can understand this.

I went transfered after 2 months or 3 months
of... When you are new in German'

you're transfered to another refugee camp.
Then I was in Bestensee.

And I was asking myself: Back
home I was somebody,

I had my own dog, I had my own little
money, I had my own life beautiful.

Here you come you're nothing! I wanted
to find a way I could help myself

get out of this terrible situation. Put myself
at least somehow at distance (?) out of it,

then help others get out of it.
And then I asked the manager

how I can help the community and I was
an English assistant teacher in this area.

The beautiful teachers were very supportive,
many of them could not speak English.

But the beautiful heart was there. So
kind, so generous. Very supporting

and loving! I could not ask more.
They were so kind and nice.

Can we give them a big round of applause,
to my beautiful teachers!?

applause
If you don't mind!

And I encountered a lot of problems while
I was working in the school because

if you work there they said the socials said
(?)

the school wanted to pay me

but the socials said "No, we can't."
And the socials said,

I can only work 1 hour 1 Euro.

A whole hour you are paid 1 Euro,
Schilling...

Do you understand the meaning of 1 Euro!?
Can somebody give me 1 Euro?

Each one of you give me 1 Euro.
And then we see how much it is.

Smiling amused

So this was... But they made it a difference
and they said: "We wanna have you

and do everything possible within our power
to

support you. Because you are supporting us."

Because, I wanted to do something useful
with my life because in the refugee camps

all that we do is either drink, fight...
It's not our choice.

That's where we are put in. We're so much
isolated and outside of the community.

The community is completely gated.
And then we are put in a very complete

isolation situation. We need to stand up
together and make a difference

by breaking these gated community. Each and
every individual of us, we have to.

And find a way to.
applause

Thank you, Vielen Dank!

And then, well I was in Bestensee.
This place is called Bestensee,

some of you might come from here
I don't know. I was also part of a...

a sport club because I love sports.
And I remember them giving me...

Nee... Nooo!

I'm sometimes Clown so that's why
sometimes I behave like this. chuckles

This was a beautiful picture from
their T-Shirt and the sports club,

they bought me. And... "you are nobody you
have nobody but somebody's there for you

loving you supporting you and doing
everything for you." I was so lucky.

And I wanted to do something for
the community. And I was like:

"What can I do to help people?" And the
children I used to love wherever they're

in the world. And these are some of the things...
10 minutes left sign – Thank you –

...these are some of the things I was
trying to do just to escape from stress.

I didn't wanna drink, I didn't wanna do bad
things. I just wanted progress with my life.

And these are some of the things I tried to
do.

chuckles on next slide

So please let us get used to
the name newcomers,

not refugees. And these were my
beautiful communities I was doing twice

in the whole of German'. And if you want
to invite me in some of the cities

I have never seen, do that
and give me one bread and

I was... I'm basically an international speaker
and I have been going to different places

talking to the people and trying to give
them some hope together with the support

as there are a lot of nice people in Deutschland,
for example. I can talk about German',

not elsewhere. There are a lot of nice people
who wanna do something but they don't know

how.

So I don't like to generalize. And for those
of

us who are defined as racists I don't belive

in the word racism. I think it's about lack
of

information. When people understand

who we are where we come from and
what problems we went through

I think they will be kind, nice and generous.
To understand us and support us.

So if we continued that those people
who discriminate us and that then

we discriminate them I don't think we
are going anywhere. The best way...

If a killer kills and then you kill this is
not the best way to move forward.

It's about trying to figure out how best
can we try to make both sides together

and I'm doing a project called, a program
called "United Action". And the idea behind

is

visiting refugee camps, creating events,
bringing the community

and the newcomers together because
I don't wanna only say: "Support us,

newcomers, newcomers." There are
people in the community who are vulnerable,

who are poor and they need help. And
that's the reason why they don't want us.

They feel jealous and it's their right. I
mean

they're human beings, they're not perfect.

So we got to find a way to fit both
sides together, to come together.

And support each other. And that's my
idea behind "United Action". I believe

when we all of us come together,
do things together, eat together,

the rest of the bridge will just slowly
fall down, like the "Berliner" Wall.

applause

Thank you!
applause

This one of the photos when I was in
Neuhardenberg. And these are

part of the friends that were helping
me going there taking food and drinks

and stuffs and just having a good time
with the people. And trying to figure out

what we could do together. I have a
Facebook page called... I don't want this

keynote speech to be my
own advertising thing,

but I just wanna give you more information
about myself so that you know

who you're talking to and if you
need more questions or you have

anything to tell me you better
meet me outside later with 1 Euro.

audience chuckling

Joking, don't give me any Cent!

And these are still some of the events
and I love being happy. I mean

happiness is my family. And hope
is my family. Without losing hope

and happiness we can be somewhere.

And this was still Neuhardenberg with
the team and we were doing a wonderful

amazing thing. This was a group I've been
supporting and they won some awards.

And this is my beautiful visit to
the beautiful German parliament

with my Coca Cola.

Please! Stand for Change! Please

call us our names or any other beautiful
name or our personal names!

And we got to find a way to figure
out how best we can call each other.

We don't have to call ourselves Refugees
anymore. Because this word

has been used in the wrong way. We
are meant to be very vulnerable.

We are meant to be nothing! We are
somebody just like anyone of you!

We only lost our home and family.
We are human beings

just like anyone of you! We can do
something. Don't look at the word!

Look at us as a human being. As a person,
as somebody in a capable position

to do something. Don't you believe we
are human beings? Then get rid of this name!

applause

Thank you!
Situations should never define us.

What should define us is
the name "human being".

And the respect we label to each other.

And I would like to send a message to the
world: These Gated Community issues

is a global issue.
Please let us try to promote

Peace, Love, Unity. Break
the isolation. Come together!

Support each other! Love each other!
Love each other! Love each other

and love each other again!
And be there whatever possible.

I can't say more words than
this, I just wanna say:

Thank you so much to everyone of
you. And I want you to go home...

Not you, you are the wrong audience,
I think. You know what's you doing already.

Thank you so much to that! But for those of
us who don't know what Gated Community

means and how we can break the
silence: take the responsibility,

go out, do a lot of awareness campaign
and find a way to kill and delete

this gate. Let us open the gate
with open arms for everybody

regardless of who you are. Let us stand
with one name as human beings.

Don't believe in the name of a nationality.
Don't believe in the name of stupid colors,

always respect the human dignity.
"Don't lose hope in the name of humanity!"

This was a word Linus [Neumann] told me
several times and I loved it and that's why

I wanna say it right now with you all.
And...

the first question says: "If you
were me what would you do?"

Imagine, you are this.
pointing at her face and clothing

Pointing at someone in audience front row
What would you do?

I don't know, it's a decision you're making,
answer belongs to you.

"What would you wish from the Hacker community?"

What I wish from the Hacker community
is that you're doing a great job.

Keep the good work. Give us more internet,
in the Heims, we don't have this.

Do this for us everywhere
in Germany, everywhere!

applause

Please visit all the refugee camps
next to you, whereever you live!

Find a way you can make a difference
by helping these camps and

some of the excuses that politicians
use why they don't give internet

to us is: They said we
might watch Porno.

shouting:
Whoo hooo!

What a stupid excuse!! Shame!!
Shame Shame Shame Shame Shame!!

Thank you so much, everybody! I will be here
for 4 days, I will be having 2 workshops

and if you're interested more,
kindly let us make together and

love you so much!! And I hope
everybody enjoyed the speech

and no more words to say! Just say again
Thank you and Thank you to the Angels

Thanks to all the people who are trying
to do this beautiful congress as successful.

Stay Peace and I wanna be the first person
– I don't know if I'm the first person –

I wanna say "Happy New Year!". Maybe we don't
know each other and we hopefully will meet

again.

Happy New Year to all of you.
Big love! Be Peace and Unity!

I salute to you all!
Thank you so much, everybody!

huge applause

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