ESC: Volunteering at Soli.cafe - project 'Soli.brücke'

Soli Cafe- Solidarity, Art and Culture. The Soli Cafe is an an association which is located in the City of Salzburg and is active in the entire state of Austria. It is a non-profit association in line with the federal tax code. As the name implies the Soli Cafe is a space in which solidarity is lived and is being expressed through art and culture. People who come to us should feel like they are participants, that they can be part of the procceses, that they can actuate their ideas and therefore shape the space we share in a meaningful way. The Soli Cafe provides a space and accomodations for workshops, movie nights, lectures, readings, language courses and intercultural encounters without the compulsion to consume anything. Our focus is a solidary togetherness and an antifascist consensus. Our greatest goal is a good life for everyone, in a society free of discrimination that upholds human rights. People that come to us come from a diverse set of cultures, have different needs and issues. One of the groups that is visiting us regularly are people between the ages of 15 and 80, who come from Eastern European countries to Salzburg to make music on the streets, sell street papers and to go begging. Many of these people are a part of the Roma minority which is subjected to a lot of discrimination and marginalization in their home countries, something they face time and time again in Salzburg as well. In the Soli Cafe they use the availability of a warm meal and beverages as well as our „no-charge-shop“. They also have the chance to participate at events like creative painting workshops or lectures especially concerning Roma. Due to the covid outbreak we can provide these services only to one person at a time which comes with a greatly increased workload. We are therefore seeking out volunteers who are able to support us. We are very appreciative of every volunteer who is keeping contact with this group, especially those who seek out their sleeping places on the street during the lockdown, those who help them with seeking out the right autorithies and agencies if nessecery and can help them by acting as a translator and by taking on an intermediary role. We cherish every volunteer who is able to speak either German or English as well as one Romanic or Slavic language, and who may have experience with being marginalized as a member of a minortiy group themselves and who want to help us build a just world.