On February 21st 2014, the first official information event of Desert Rose e.V. took place in the Allerweltshaus in Cologne. . Our aim was to draw attention to the topic „Human and organ trafficking in the Sinai“. With the help of experts we promoted our project and explained the topic in detail with the aims of making the public more aware. We invited guests who have been dealing with this inhumane phenomenon in different ways in the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt.
Introductory words to open the event by Ingo Steidl, a member of Desert Rose.
The first guest speaker of this evening was the human rights activist Dr. Alganesh Fessaha, an Eritrean woman who lives in Italy. Not only does she have a charity organization for refugees in East Africa, she is also often in the Sinai to help victims of torture and trafficking.
Dr. Alganesh Fessaha about the situation in the Sinai.
Our second speaker was the human rights spokeswoman Annette Groth of the „DIE LINKE“, a fraction of a German party. We wanted to know what role human trafficking in the Sinai in German politics had and what she had already done to put this topic on the political agenda.
Annette Groth about her political activities to draw attention to human trafficking in the Sinai.
We invited Meray Bat-Gil and Miriam Meyer from the Israeli charity organization ASSAF to show our audience that you can help people who became victims of trafficking in the Sinai in spite of the difficult political situation. This organization takes care of refugees and asylum seekers in Tel Aviv, Israel and it launched a special program for torture victims from the Sinai some time ago.
Merav Bat-Gil and Miriam Meyer about the hep from ASSAF for the torture victims in the Sinai.
At the end of the event the head of Desert Rose e.V., Rahel Woldemichael says a few words to the audience and explained how the information event could be achieved and what their future aims are. After the event the visitors could see an exhibition that was prepared in the hallway. By seeing anonymized pictures of Sinai victims, they could learn about their painful story.
Rahel Woldemichael about the aims of Desert Rose e. V. and why we’ve organized this information event.
We could welcome about 100 visitors to the „Allerweltshaus“ in Cologne to learn more about organ and human trafficking in the Sinai at first hand. Here you can see a few pictures we took before and after the talks of the event of February 21, 2014.
Author: Ingo Steidl
Translation: Nicole Freibott/ Diana Köth/ Melanie Martin
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