New Website Aims to Bring Germans and Migrants Together

A new match-making site is not geared toward getting a date, but enabling conversations between refugees and natives in Germany.

Let’s integrate! is being rolled out in Berlin to facilitate connections between Germans and the refugees pouring into the country from Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan among other countries.

The project is the fruit of a collaboration between Lasse Landt, a 36-year-old startup consultant from Berlin, and Khaled Alaswad, a “25-year-old Syrian he met at a computer coding class for migrants in Berlin,” according to the AP.

Alaswad said his friendship with Landt has helped him land on his feet in Germany.

“If the refugees never talk face to face with a local person, they will never know anything about the culture here,” he said. “There is just such a big difference between our culture and the German culture.”

[…] Let’s integrate! was launched May 1 and so far at least a dozen meetings have taken place. More Germans have signed up than migrants, so organizers are putting up posters in refugee homes to try to even out the numbers.

The service is free but only available in Berlin, though there are plans to expand it to other German cities soon, including those where migrants have received a less-than-enthusiastic reception. Fears about migrants have been stoked by far-right and nationalist groups, who have staged hundreds of rallies near refugee homes or planned shelters

[image: Let’s integrate! Facebook page]

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