{"id":163571,"date":"2018-02-16T10:14:45","date_gmt":"2018-02-16T10:14:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?p=163571"},"modified":"2018-02-16T10:14:45","modified_gmt":"2018-02-16T10:14:45","slug":"berlin-ngo-empowering-refugee-women-cycling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/02\/16\/berlin-ngo-empowering-refugee-women-cycling\/","title":{"rendered":"Berlin NGO Is Empowering Refugee Women Through Cycling"},"content":{"rendered":"

Back in 2015, following the huge increase in refugee arrivals to Germany, Annete Kr\u00fcger and her partner decided to try to teach the female migrants how to cycle. When they founded the NGO Bikeygees, however, the demand this scheme was met with took them by surprise. Hundreds of women have come to Annette, and the numbers are still rising.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIt could be -10 \u00b0C, and still after each class, the women would ask us to come back,\u201d Annette remembers the very beginnings in the Moabit borough refugee camp. \u201cWe could see the fun in their eyes \u2013 language is not so important. When you move your body and achieve something, like when you play sport, adrenaline comes rushing in. And you can also feel that someone is physically holding you, which is important after some of the women have experienced trauma.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

However, Bikeygees lessons were not always welcomed by everyone because some cultural and religious norms dictate that women shouldn\u2019t cycle. But as Morvarid, a 20-year-old translator from Kabul explained to The Guardian, even these prejudices were forgotten after a while.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople come to another country to change their lives, but then you find that they revert to the way they lived before. Some men in the camp keep saying women should cook, wash. It\u2019s been so nice to see this all-woman organisation manage to exude a sense of trust, so that those men got over themselves and allowed their daughters and wives to come.\u201d<\/p>\n

Emily, a 21-year-old Afghan refugee, even regards cycling as her best experience in Germany so far. And a note of thanks she wrote to her teachers is full of positive outlook on life: \u201cIt gave me the feeling of freedom and self-confidence. I mean, it was just such a beautiful experience, being able to be in control and concentrate on just two wheels. I felt like a bird in the sky.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The founders of Bikeygees want to continue with their work, now focusing on the female refugees living in the outskirts of Berlin, where public transport is harder to come by.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe learn to cycle or we learn how to help,\u201d Annette says. \u201cWe are all learning something. The idea has always been to show the world that it\u2019s not so complicated to effect change. Most people say: the government are evil and I can\u2019t do anything. You can! This is the evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Back in 2015, following the huge increase in refugee arrivals to Germany, Annete Kr\u00fcger and her partner decided to try […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":163572,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[334,330],"tags":[1730,1729],"global-categories":[],"class_list":["post-163571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-socialising-and-culture","category-urban-cycling","tag-annete-kruger","tag-ngo-bikeygees"],"yoast_head":"\nBerlin NGO Is Empowering Refugee Women Through Cycling - \u0160koda We Love Cycling<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Back in 2015, following the huge increase in refugee arrivals to Germany, Annete Kr\u00fcger and her partner decided to try to teach the female migrants how to\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/02\/16\/berlin-ngo-empowering-refugee-women-cycling\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Berlin NGO Is Empowering Refugee Women Through Cycling\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Back in 2015, following the huge increase in refugee arrivals to Germany, Annete Kr\u00fcger and her partner decided to try to teach the female migrants how to\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/02\/16\/berlin-ngo-empowering-refugee-women-cycling\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"\u0160koda We Love Cycling\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-02-16T10:14:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2018\/02\/8478487478423156.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Monica Buck\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/02\/16\/berlin-ngo-empowering-refugee-women-cycling\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/02\/16\/berlin-ngo-empowering-refugee-women-cycling\/\",\"name\":\"Berlin NGO Is Empowering Refugee Women Through Cycling - 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