The nationwide Intercultural Weeks also took place in Chemnitz. With its own booth, one of the Islamic communities of our project participated in the opening event at the market square.
Despite rainy weather, a lot of guests found their way to the booth. They were happy to have an artful henna painted on their hand or to be shown how their names can be written in Arabic. Also, the quiz about Islam which the community prepared together with our project team provided fun and enlightening moments for the booth visitors.
Parallelly to these activities, the representatives of the mosque got into conversations with the visitors. Quite often it became apparent that this was the first contact for the visitors with an Islamic community. And since encounters dismantle prejudices, a lot of mutual understanding could be accomplished.
With its participation in the Intercultural Weeks, the community was able to show that it is and also will be an active part of the city’s society. The representatives of the community also engaged in conversations with other associations and it seems that this resulted in one or another possibility for cooperation.