Get involved
An association is what people make of it.
This work has been carried by volunteers since 1987. No staff, no project end date, no budget in the background. Which means: every hour, every contribution and every contact makes a measurable difference.
Smallest useful amount
Two hours a week
Three ways
Membership · volunteering · donation
Prior experience
None needed
Supply and demand
What is needed — and what you bring.
What is needed
What you bring
Needed
Someone who can explain a Jobcenter decision in Dari
You bring
Dari or Pashto and German — nothing more is needed
Needed
Accompaniment to appointments at authorities, during the day
You bring
Two or three mornings a month and patience
Needed
Hands for setting up Nauruz and other festivals
You bring
A free Saturday, a few times a year
Needed
Homework support for children and young people
You bring
School knowledge and the ability not to sigh
Needed
Someone to look after Instagram and the website
You bring
A phone and the willingness to enter dates on time
Needed
Order in papers, applications and funding documents
You bring
A feel for forms — and discretion
Needed
Contacts to schools, authorities, initiatives in the neighbourhood
You bring
Your network. One phone call is sometimes worth more than a donation
Needed
Members who carry the association and help decide
You bring
An annual fee and your vote
Become a member
The association belongs to its members.
As a member you vote on where the work goes. You are invited to everything that takes place, and your contribution carries the running costs: rent, tea, printer paper, technology for festivals.
Your vote
At the general meeting you vote on which festivals take place, what money is spent on, and who represents the association.
Your contribution
The annual fee carries the running costs — rent, tea, printer paper, technology for festivals. There is no funding body that covers this.
Your invitation
Members hear first what is coming up: Nauruz, readings, panels, the general meeting. In German and in Dari.
How high the annual fee is, is set by the statutes — and nobody is turned away because of it. Call or write and we will tell you the current figure and send you the membership form.
Volunteering
Six ways to be useful right away.
You do not have to be Afghan and you do not need anything you would have had to study for. Two reliable hours a week are worth more than grand plans.
Language
Interpreting at consultations, doctor's appointments and parents' evenings. Dari, Pashto, Urdu or English — every language helps.
flexible, often at short notice
Authorities & paper
Filling in applications, reading decisions, drafting objections. Anyone who has worked their way in once is worth their weight in gold.
2–4 hours a week
Festivals & culture
Setting up, kitchen, technology, clearing away. The most visible part of the work — and the one that is the most fun.
single days in the year
Children & young people
Homework support, reading circle, practising German. For many families this is the reason they come at all.
1–2 afternoons a week
Public relations
Instagram, website, photos of events, writing texts. So that the work does not stay invisible.
1–2 hours a week
Board & organisation
Members who want to take responsibility: meetings, applications, cooperations, bookkeeping.
by arrangement
Motif: a hall set with chairs for an evening · generated image
Support us
Money is one possibility.
We have no paid post and no permanent budget. So almost everything helps: a contribution, a shelf, a laptop, a room for a festival — or the phone number of someone who can help further.
- Chairs, tables and shelves for the group room
- A working laptop or printer for the office
- Books in Dari, Pashto and German — especially for children
- Musical instruments and simple technology for events
- Tea, crockery and everything an open meeting place uses up
- A room for a larger festival, once a year
Money donation
We pass on the bank details personally — write us a short message or call, and you will get them together with everything you need for your own records.
Here we go
Tell us what you want to contribute.
Three short steps. After that we get back to you — in German or in Dari, exactly as you tell us.
What membership, volunteering and donations mean in practice is set out in the frequently asked questions.