Teddy Tewelde (He/Him)

My name is Teddy Tewelde and together with my partner Fetsum Sebhat I have been running the association PxP Embassy e.V. (PxP stands for Peace-by-Peace) since 2016. Our primary goal is to provide young people, children and youth with perspectives and hope. This commitment began against the backdrop of the refugee crisis between 2014 and 2016. At the beginning, we saw it as a one-time thing, driven by a certain activism and our personal history.

I came to Germany in the early 1980s as a refugee child and was lucky enough to hardly notice the challenges of my situation as a child. I grew up in Swabia and was integrated into German culture. Nevertheless, I was taught early on that I was different because of the color of my skin and my roots in Eritrea. In a society like the German one, external appearance is often the focus, yet external characteristics should not be so decisive when it comes to judging abilities and talents. Therefore, I was confronted with prejudices already in school, later during my studies and in my working life it was no better. However, I have never seen the prejudices with which I have encountered people as a disadvantage, but rather as an opportunity for enlightenment and dialogue. My goal is to bring people closer together. Personally, I feel curiosity as a natural reaction to the unknown, and I try to transfer this attitude to others as well. These experiences form the basis of who I am today and what I stand for.

With our PxP Festival 2016 at Berlin’s Waldbühne, we called for people, including artists, to raise their voices for young people in war and on the run. Our goal was to send a strong global signal from Berlin. We wanted to emphasize that we not only welcome people, but also show that we are not indifferent to the fate of those who die in the Mediterranean.

As a rule, no one flees voluntarily. Escape often happens out of necessity, be it due to war, hunger or natural disasters. Most people are simply looking for a better life. Anyone can look into their own family history and will probably find that escape has always existed and will continue to occur in the future. Sometimes it is a voluntary movement for economic reasons, but often it is done out of desperation.

Around 23,000 people responded to our call and the festival was sold out within three weeks. This was an unexpected success and a strong signal to society and the world. It was a turning point for us. We realized that our calling is to be a voice and a face in society for those who are less seen and heard. It wasn’t just about refugees, but especially about children. We quickly realized that we needed to focus on education to bring about real change in the present and future. In our opinion, educational opportunities make a decisive contribution to the quality of life of each individual and to the future prospects of a society.

Our association activities focus on designing programs during the vacations and directly in schools, where we teach young people skills for the future. This includes technical skills like coding and robotics, as well as critical skills like creativity, collaboration, and critical thinking. These skills are quite versatile and prepare them for the future. We recognize that many schools simply lack such offerings, especially schools in disadvantaged neighborhoods, and we believe this is a great and necessary starting point for more.

Once a week I get involved in a school in Reinickendorf (Berlin). My main goal is to instill optimism and hope in my students and give them space to explore new horizons. This task may sound simple, but unfortunately it is not the norm in many schools. Usually, students are overloaded with information at school and asked to memorize it. The actual process of getting to know young people and highlighting their individual strengths often gets far too little attention. Especially in schools in socially deprived areas with many students with a migration background, I see the opportunity in the diversity of cultural differences and multilingualism. I try to convey to the young people that this diversity is a valuable asset and not a limitation. My teaching also aims to provide insights into future careers and key skills that are tailored to their everyday lives and individual challenges.

First, I strengthen their basic skills such as communication and giving feedback, bringing in topics from their own lives. One notable example was that about a third of my students are from Turkey, but they are all of Kurdish origin. Surprisingly, no one in the class knew anything about Kurdistan, neither where it is nor what it is. I then encouraged them to give short presentations about Kurdistan. The students were enthusiastic and motivated because they were able to talk about a topic that was close to their hearts. In this way, they not only learned about Kurdistan, but also how a constructive feedback culture works. I also make an effort to involve companies in the lessons. I look for companies that can provide forward-looking skills and insights into the world of work and try to invite them into the classroom.

A notable example was the visit to a department of a large publishing house, which taught the students the basics of programming. The students were also allowed to visit the company to learn about the various professions and the working world, as well as to find out whether they were interested in one of these professions and what qualifications are required for it. For many of my students, who come from Reinickendorf, this was their first encounter with Berlin Mitte. They had never visited this district before or had the opportunity to experience a company and its operations firsthand. This highlighted how limited their perspectives had been until then. As a rule, children receive information and inspiration mainly from their parents and school until they reach puberty. When these two sources do not provide sufficient opportunities, whether due to lack of funds or other barriers, students face enormous obstacles.

It is amazing how easy it can be to change this situation, and at the same time sad that many children are denied access to a broader perspective. While integrating business and education is a complex challenge, I extremely welcome it. Children and young people need a hands-on insight into the world of work to inspire them to learn and actively shape their future.

Barriers and invisible boundaries seem to be forming in our society, the so-called “bubbles” that create a clear demarcation between “inside” and “outside.” We must neither erect nor accept such barriers. They are not created by nature or architecture, but in our minds. The fewer direct encounters there are, the greater this divide becomes – but we simply cannot afford it:

Almost 20 percent of young people who attend comprehensive schools leave school without a diploma or drop out. This untapped potential is then missing from the labor market. So we need to ask ourselves why we are losing them at this point and what we can do about it. One key aspect is access. Many of these young people do not know what opportunities are open to them. At the same time, there is a lack of a welcoming culture that values and promotes their talents.

Young people need support and encouragement to recognize and use their potential. In a globalized working world, diverse skills are a great advantage, be it multilingualism or cultural openness. These should not be seen as disadvantages but as strengths. I see a great opportunity here, not just a problem. The young people I see at school are motivated and have the will to achieve something.

This is quite a complex issue. Parents also often feel powerless, which can have a negative impact on motivation. Particularly in the case of adults who have been unemployed for a long time and see no prospect of success in the measures in which they participate, hopelessness can get the better of them. They often transfer this pessimistic attitude to their children. The children are told it’s not worth trying and that they can’t make it anyway.

Interestingly, people who are new to a country often show a very different attitude. They tend to see the situation as an opportunity and have a desire to integrate, become a part of society and get to know both the country and its people. However, if these people are denied access and opportunities, whether due to language barriers or other obstacles, an important opportunity is denied to a group that is often present in the media.

Currently we are mainly active in the Berlin area. However, we are thinking about how we can make our work and our teaching modules available digitally, based on our experience and proven teaching methods.

Our goal is to make these resources available in other regions of Germany. This process requires support, both financial and in terms of expertise. In the past, we have also operated internationally in cooperation with emergency aid (Unicef), especially during the refugee crisis.

We have been active in countries such as Syria, Uganda and Somalia. In 2024, we are planning an education project on the African continent. In doing so, we want to bridge the gap and highlight the importance of the labor market in Africa, where a high percentage of young people live, some with an average age of only 17. This demographic reality requires a rethink on a global level, and the qualification of these young people and the exchange with Germany are important aspects that we would like to devote more attention to in the future.

One issue that we are very concerned about and have already discussed with various partners and organizations is the abolition of grades. We recognize the need for assessments, but we believe that we should move away from the outdated and stressful grade-only assessments to competency-based assessment systems. It’s hard to see who pure grades actually help, whether it’s companies or colleges. After all, we interview people to get to know the people behind the grades. Therefore, we could remove that first hurdle in the application process where people are rejected based on their grades. Let’s think about these young people who may not only have difficulty writing a resume, but whose grades are not very meaningful. This may discourage them from even applying. An alternative approach might be to present applicants’ competencies and skills in a more medial way, without focusing on grades.

On the other hand, we see challenges with privileged young people in terms of their independence, as they have often been overprotected. Internationality may be a given, but it consists not only of mastering a foreign language, but of experiencing and dealing with different cultures in everyday life. If young people have already had such intercultural experiences in everyday life, they are better prepared for the demands of the modern working world.

It is not that difficult to bring about this change. Times are already changing and we are seeing positive developments in society, including at the political level. The pressure on the labor market is forcing us to adapt our education systems. Now is an opportune time for change, and it seems that many forces are joining forces to bring about long-term changes in education and draw more attention to this important issue.