Project Life Jacket: Time to make refugees human again

Zurich – refugees, their flight, their lives in the camps. That is all the world talks about. That they are human beings, just like you and I, is all too often forgotten. With www.projectlifejacket.com, over 20 European NGOs shift the focus to these human beings and depict their life stories on life jackets. Those very life jackets that have become the symbol of the unnamed refugees. The project intends to catapult the refugee crisis back on the agenda of politicians, the media and the European public.

Quick Links

Short documentary: https://youtu.be/lAt-8zW_eIc

Video, image and audio download: http://share.jvm.ch/file/7rzH5/

Currently, an estimated 60 million people globally are on the move. Human beings, stigmatised by a single word: refugee. Often associated with criminal behaviour, violence and poverty, it is all too often forgotten that these people led perfectly normal lives before they had to flee. That is why the Swiss NGO "The Voice Of Thousands", supported by over 20 European NGOs, has initiated Project Lifejacket. "We visited refugees in camps in Greece and drew the life stories of nine individuals onto life jackets", says joint initiator Michael Grossenbacher. The drawings bear witness to their lives before the war, before they had to put on a life jacket and become 'refugees'.

Nine life jackets, nine life stories

Ismail Nerabani, a 36-year-old father of two was born in Aleppo and studied French literature. "We were very happy with our life; we lacked for nothing", Nerabani remembers. On projectlifejacket.com everyone can experience the life stories of Ismail and eight other people first-hand. The initiative also provides opportunities for meaningful support with direct impact: donations of money and goods and the opportunity to get personally involved.

Cross reference: Picture is available at AP Images (http://www.apimages.com)

#projectlifejacket

https://www.facebook.com/ProjectLifeJacket

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXyYyUwFRxQaPWRyazY6ohg

https://twitter.com/ProLifeJacket

CONTACT:

Michael Grossenbacher

phone +41 44 254 66 27

e-mail: projectlifejacket@jvm.ch