Mexico City, October 28, 2023: We are active from A to Z, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe! Yesterday, our music festival (co-presented with Revival Arts Trust Zimbabwe) in Zimbabwe was a big success. And from Afghanistan to Germany, we are delighted to share the following news:

The German violinist and supporter of Cultures in Harmony Ulla Benz and the Afghan music journalist Hamid Ehsan and their team were able to bring two music students with their next of kin from Afghanistan to Germany to give them a new perspective. 

On January 20, 2023, their team brought the two female musicians, who were initially traveling alone, across the Afghan-Pakistani border in a planned rescue operation.

Both students had a scheduled appointment at the German Embassy for an international student visa, for which the donated funds from Culures in Harmony were used.

Shortly thereafter, the German Foreign Minister closed the program to local Afghan and endangered intellectuals and artists for 6 months due to internal security concerns.

During this time, the team around Ulla Benz and Hamid Ehsan were able to get both students additionally recognized by the Gesellschaft für internationale Zusammenarbeit ( G.I.Z.) a partner organization of the German Federal Ministry of the Interior, as persons at risk to be protected together with their direct relatives.

So on September 27, 2023, one of the two music students with a total of 7 other relatives and on October 24, 2023, the other music student with a relative could leave for Germany. In this way, Cultures in Harmony was able to contribute to saving a total of 10 people, including 2 female musicians, from the Talban and giving them a new perspective on life in Germany.

Please donate to Cultures in Harmony to continue to forge connections across cultural and national barriers through the universal language of music.