"If you are not at home, you are a foreigner.
If you are a foreigner you are looking for a place you can call home."

Thomas, Founder of ICoI

International Community
of Integration

our vision

Our goal is to connect people worldwide as to overcome boundaries of Faith, Religion, and Culture to have a peaceful life together.

We address the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) through a multidimensional perspective with an intercultural understanding of global challenges.

our values

Our work is based on christian values and thus offers many opportunities to have community between religions and nations.

For us, this means to act in a socially responsible manner, to learn to live unselfishly with fellow human beings, dissidents, and enemies, as well as sharing skills and possessions.

who are we?

We are the non-profit organization International Community of Integration (ICoI) e.V. that supports refugees in Germany in their integration.

In the home countries of the refugees, we try to minimize the causes of flight by relying on trustful local partnerships so that help for self-help can become a reality.

The NGO is politically, ethnically, and denominationally neutral.

what do we do?

In Germany, we want to help refugees find orientation, safety, and a new feeling of home. Therefore, we try to give comfort, encouragement, and new hope to those people, who have gone through difficult situations.

In the home countries of the refugees, we initiate sustainable projects to fight poverty/hunger, create jobs and clean energy, improve agriculture, as well as offer seminars on the correct use of medical plants.

These projects aim to give the local people a meaningful reason to stay in their home country in order to strengthen the local economy and take over social and political responsibility.

Donations

Thanks a lot that you want to support our work with your money. At the beginning of each year you will receive a donation receipt.

Bank account:
Name of the bank: VR Miba
IBAN: DE60 6656 2300 0075 6500 00
BIC : GENODE61IFF

our help in desaster areas

Earthquake region Morocco:

On 08.09.2023 there
was a severe earthquake in Morocco.

This time we were ready to go within 2 days and were able to start our
work in Morocco on 12.09.2023.

4 days medical help in the mountains / partly 8 hours drive and 1 relief operatiom
2 days in Marrakech / more than 500 people medically treated

The contrasts to the first 4 days and the last 2 days could hardly have been greater.

In the beginning we often had very long driving times to get to affected mountain villages.

Partly the villages were almost completely destroyed and many people died and partly the

Houses “only” no longer habitable, but there were fewer deaths.

Since the Moroccan people have a very great connectedness, it was a great pain for many to
experience this loss. Many were very traumatized, others, on the other hand,

set out from very far away to Help people in the isolated mountain villages in

every way.It was amazing to see how quickly the roads were cleared of the rubble.

Often it was kilometres of rubble descended from the steep slopes.

The basics, like donated goods arrived very soon thru privat people and initatives.

The people know the partly unreal terrain very well and many people with the

backpack started to bring help to the places inaccessible by vehicles.

We have seen quite a lot of medical professionals, so our actual work

in the mountain region as MMT was not that much needed.

Marrakech: more treatments than ever before

Although we were only 2 days in Marrakech, we treated more than 500 people,

thanks to our headlamps we were able to work late into the night.

The gratitude of the people was sometimes overwhelming.

We were surprised that so many people in the city needed our help,

as the destruction there was not as great as in the mountains.

The mountain area (Atlas-mountains)

After the 06th of February 2023 it was almost impossible to get past the news about the devastating earthquakes in Turkey and Syria. We were also affected by these news and finally decided to become active there. We made 3 trips to turkey (2 months on side) we unfortunately hardly managed to meet people in the affected areas who had not lost any relatives or friends due to the earthquake. Nevertheless, we experienced an indescrible gratitude and friendliness.

Medical help is needed

We arrived with the vision to help the people who have been unreached by help so far. This was not always easy. Of course, the situation is new and no one has a complete overview of the hundreds of square kilometers of earthquake zone. We eventually teamed up with several locals to target the right areas and help effectively. Whenever we set up our mobile hospital in remote mountain villages, on the side of the road, or even in larger camps, it didn’t take long for 50-100 people with all kinds of medical problems to ask for help. We had a nurse on staff for the bad cases and three hobby doctors to assist, prioritizing the cases (e.g. children, elderly and especially acute cases first) as well as helping out with wound cleaning and care, mixing medicine for diarrhea or cleaning and creaming dirty skin. Some doctors have died. Here and there doctors and hospitals are still available, but they often “only” give medicine and concentrate on the really bad cases. The wounding of injuries is missing. In total, we were able to provide medical care for about 300 – 400 people.

Hygiene articles are needed

It was food in the first days after the earthquake, now it is the hygiene: often not available. In many areas there is no running water, supermarkets have been destroyed or are faraway and money is also rare to stock up on everything. Underwear, for example, cannot be washed and gets thrown away. In addition to medical aid, we have also distributed relief packages. We bought various items in local supermarkets and distributed them to people in need in areas that are not so well reached. Many thanks to all the financial donations! As an example: We were able to buy and distribute quite a bit in the first 2 weeks of our mission alone:

Underwear (1000x), toothbrushes (600x), toothpaste (300x), shampoo (100x), shoes (40x), hand and skin cream (50x), diaper packs (30x), baby powder (30x), wet wipes (3 boxes), children’s toys (2 big bags), sanitary towels (4 boxes), soap (20kg + 20l), nail clippers (200x), lentils (150kg), flour (60kg), oil (30l)

treatment of people on the street or in their tent

This flood has brought a lot of suffering and hardship to the people in the Ahrtal.

At first, we were very involved in setting up and operating a helper center. There, a field hospital, a soup kitchen and a huge relief supplies warehouse were set up in a school in a very short time. Up to 1,000 meals per day were distributed, up to 150 people were treated in the hospital every day (24-hour operation). And 300-500 people seeking help/day were helped with emergency services, tools or heavy equipment.

This was due to the up to 80 volunteers from all over Germany, who were working around the clock, and the overwhelming number of donations from private individuals and companies.

Then we shifted our focus to the MMT (mobile medical team) and we were able to treat over 1,000 people on the road in 54 days.

our cooperation in the large helper center

Germany: Work with refugees

Over the years we have been able to build up friendly relationships with around 500 refugees from over 15 different nations. We could deepen these relationships in countless activities:

Visiting refugees in refugee houses as well as private homes
Organizing KidsGames
Offering creative workshops, soap workshops, and cooking events
Offering German language classes
Supporting in dealing with the authorities, visiting doctors, and finding jobs
Helping with moves
Support through counseling

Thanks to the good cooperation with authorities, integration officers, Christian churches and other partners, we were able to implement these diverse activities. We are supported by regular private donations as well as funding from “Aktion Mensch” and “ptble (Federal Agency for Agriculture and Food)”

Upon invitation of "Cafe International Bühl". Event with Roberto, Artist from Brazil

Africa: Gambia/Sutukoba with BMZ

Project information

This project consists of the construction of a stable boundary wall (approx. 550m) made of cement blocks with stable iron posts and cement foundations as well as the construction of a removable wire mesh fence (approx. 70m) in two sections around the largest vegetable growing garden in Sutukoba (approx. 3.3ha with 1,000 women for cultivation).

The aim is to increase productivity, protect the garden against animals, minimize maintenance costs and generate savings for new projects. Furthermore, the continued existence of this vegetable growing garden should minimize the causes of flight that currently exists due to the prevailing poverty.

The village community has produced about 12,000 stones itself, from 70 loads of sand, about 15 loads of gravel and 680 bags of cement. They also dug 550m of foundation by hand and created the foundation with iron and cement, oft in sweltering heat.

Now the garden is protected from the animals (cows…) which have often eaten a large area in the dry season and thus the laborious work of the women was in vain. There were also 150 orange trees and 50 papaya trees planted. As shade and the sale of the harvest improves the income.

Project information

This project was used to establishment a reliable water supply on two vegetable fields in the village of Saba (3.1ha area).

The resulting more efficient agriculture offers the approximately 300 women and men on site a secure livelihood and a significant reduction in workload.

Detailled project information (24 pager / 14 MB; sorry only availabe in German):

Project_info_part_1

Project_info_part_2

Project information

In this project, we held a seminar in Gambia which was used to learn about the effectiveness of tropical medical plants, to create gardens for medical plants, and to produce natural medical products.

One of the most effective medical plants in fighting e.g. malaria is Artemisia annua, which can be grown and cultivated particularly well in Gambia due to the climatic conditions.

Anamed_Seminar_Infoflyer

Project information

We have traveled to Gambia several times to learn first-hand about its culture as well as the real needs and concerns of the people.

This helps us to involve local people and their needs into specific projects. Among other things, we were able to have many talks with MPs, business people, university staff, heads of NGOs, ministries and friends.

These friendly and strategic partnerships help us with the implementation of projects. Our goal is not only to use “sustainability” as a buzzword, but also to implement it in reality.

In Parliament Deputy Speaker Hon. Momodou Sanneh

FHI Conference (Food for the hungry international)

Project information

We have traveled to Iraq/Kurdistan several times to learn first-hand about its culture as well as the real needs and concerns of the people.

These friendly and strategic partnerships help us with the implementation of projects. Our goal is not only to use “sustainability” as a buzzword, but also to implement it in reality.

Parliament Deputy Speaker Jaffar Ibrahim Eminki

Project information

We have traveled to Afghanistan to learn first-hand about its culture as well as the real needs and concerns of the people.

These friendly and strategic partnerships help us with the implementation of projects. Our goal is not only to use “sustainability” as a buzzword, but also to implement it in reality.

Projektinformation

We have been three times as volunteers in the “Camp Moria” on the Greek island Lesvos. Due to its geographical location close to Turkey this island is the first step on European ground for many refugees from the Middle East. As soon as they have arrived there, they are able to apply for asylum in Europe. Our tasks in this camp were to offer practical help on the one hand. On the other hand, we have protected particularly vulnerable refugees against e.g. sexual assaults, and we have tried to give those refugees a new hope who became deeply depressed and desperate.

The camp was originally intended as a temporary camp, where people should stay for 2-3 weeks until their application for moving on to the mainland of Europe was approved. Now that all routes for their journey to neighboring European countries have been blocked, the camp has developed itself more and more into a permanent station where refugees now have to stay from 6 months up to over 2 years. Designed for 2,000 people, the over 18,000 people currently living there go beyond any scope. A tent is divided into 4 families. Medical care is limited to the bare minimum and not being able to offer help is the smallest problem. A mixture of failed political decisions and people without perspectives, whose last hope has been taken away from the system, brings desperation, outbreaks of violence as well as suicide attempts into the everyday life of this refugee camp.

Project information

We have traveled to North Korea to learn first-hand about its culture as well as the real needs and concerns of the people.

Our work could never happen without our wonderful volunteers. Our volunteers enrich our work with their artistic, musical and creative gifts. Their selfless, passionate, impactful and time-consuming service is a reflection of their heart of compassion for people in need, even at personal cost to self. They come from different countries:

Even with our diverse, voluntary staff, we see our responsibility of bringing together different nations, religions, cultures, characters, ways of thinking, languages and talents in order to implement our vision through the potential of this diversity.