The partners

VIRGINIE KREMP

Connecting books and languages, creating books in several languages, valuing the people who speak them, welcoming, recognising and respecting foreign and minority languages - these are the aims of Migrilude, the independent publishing house I set up in 2006.

I have devoted my professional life to preserving and promoting books and languages, working in libraries internationally and teaching French as a foreign language to migrants from all over the world. I see books as a meeting place for cultures and an invitation to dialogue and exchange.

In 2015, I carried out research into the perception of multilingualism in nursery schools in France and French-speaking Switzerland, and since then I have dreamt of creating a tool to mediate between migrants and the people who welcome them. I was lucky enough to bring together the Euphémé team to work on this project, which aims to promote intercultural dialogue to build a society that is more open to diversity and otherness. A utopia? Let's say it's our contribution to creating a welcoming, more open-minded, more humane world.

ATTIKA DAHRI

My name is Attika Dahri and I am a versatile and empathetic person. As an abstract painter, Dutch teacher for refugees and project manager, I strongly believe in our project to convey information about integration in a fun way. This innovative approach will make the process less cumbersome for refugees. As an artist, I am able to express emotions beyond traditional boundaries, while as a teacher, I adopt an engaging and interactive approach. As a project manager, I recognize the potential of this project to promote integration.

Thanks to my diverse background and my deep belief in education, creativity and entertainment, Welcome Home International and I are the ideal partners for Eupheme. My commitment to making integration information accessible and fun demonstrates my desire to improve the lives of refugees, foster a sense of belonging and encourage their empowerment. My contributions exemplify my ability to inspire others and effect positive change. Determined to continue to work with passion to create sustainable integration opportunities, while supporting refugees on their journey to a better life.

POPY MELLIOU

My name is Popy Melliou and I am from Greece.

I have started to work on refugees issue in 1991 when the border with Albania opened and a lot of people came in Greece. At that time I was working as a photojournalist and I travelled to the border to take photos of them and after I followed them for a short time how they were living in the city of Thessaloniki.

After it in various cases I have worked as a photo journalist or as a volunteer to help them to feel welcomed. In my country we have received a lot of people that wanted to live in Greece or they just wanted to cross our country finding their way to Europe.

In Erasmus program I am trying to use all my previous experience so that we can have a good result on what we want to create. As a photographer I will take  photos and I will make a short show reel. Also because I am living in the center of Athens where we still have a lot of refugees I have the opportunity to interview many of them and to test the tool that we will create.

ISABELLE BARTH

As a practitioner in ethno- and socio-linguistics, Isabelle advises binational, migrant and expatriate families in the implementation of strategies to pass on all the languages of the family to the children. She also advises and trains teachers and educators so that they can welcome the linguistic diversity of the children they welcome. She helps in the setting-up of multilingual practices in any organizations. All advice, training and workshops are tailor-made according to needs and requests. Isabelle continues to do research and more particularly on the plurilingualism of children in mobility.

In June 2010, she founded the association Multilingual Café, now known as the Association pour la Promotion et l'Avancement du Multilinguisme (APAM), which works to defend people’s language rights while helping and advising families, educators, and professionals. It was in this context that she was invited to participate in the Eupheme project. Her socio-cultural knowledge, her work with binational and mobile families are assets for this project reaching out to migrants and their reception, welcome, as welcome is being done through languages.

APAM also supports the creation of newsletters and the setting up of the site.