Hosted in English with simultaneous translation in German

The experience of migration touches something essential in all of us, our longing to belong, to be seen, and to find our place in a new world. In this global social witnessing event, we turn toward the human dimension of arrival and integration, creating a space to listen across differences and hold multiple realities at once. At a time when migration is so often reduced to policy and polarization, we return to what lies beneath: the stories, the resilience, and the quiet courage that shape every journey.

Across the United States and Europe, the question of how societies respond to migration has never felt more urgent. In the US, mass deportation operations, the dismantling of asylum protections, and the criminalization of migrants have created a climate of fear for millions of people with lived migration experience. In Europe, border crackdowns, and the erosion of humanitarian commitments have left many who sought safety feeling unwelcome and unseen. And yet, within these same societies, countless individuals, communities, and institutions are quietly working to hold open a different possibility, one rooted in dignity, care, and genuine welcome.

Listening to voices from German institutions and from people with lived migration experience, we explore how sustainable integration depends not only on systems, but on our capacity to stay present and meet complexity with openness. What does it feel like to arrive somewhere new and not yet belong? And what becomes possible when those who hold institutional roles truly listen, not to manage or fix, but to witness and receive?

Together, we will inquire into how a culture of welcome emerges, whether in the moments where we attune to one another across difference, where trauma and resilience are honored side by side, or where belonging begins to feel like something we co-create rather than grant.

Rooted in the vision of the Cultures of Welcome Project, this gathering invites us to sense what shifts when stories are truly witnessed and received with attention.

In this event, we will explore:

• Deep Listening and Social Witnessing: Cultivating the inner steadiness to stay present with stories that differ from our own, and to hold complexity without collapsing it.
• Bridging Institutional and Lived Perspectives: Exploring how cultures of welcome are built across the gap between systems and the people they serve, and what it asks of each of us.
• Trauma and Resilience: Sensing how our own histories shape our ability to welcome others, and how healing happens in relationship.
• Co-Creating Cultures of Welcome: Exploring what becomes possible when arrival is met not just with procedures, but with genuine human presence and care.

Kazuma Matoba was born in Kobe, studied in Tokyo, and received his PhD in Duisburg/Germany. Prof. Dr. Kazuma Matoba teaches and researches in communication science at Witten/Herdecke University in Germany. Over twenty years, he has facilitated many intercultural, interethnic and interreligious dialogues.  He is the managing director of the Graduate Program of The Academy of Inner Science (AIS), where he supports Thomas Hübl in establishing the dialogue between inner and outer science.

Sonita Mbah is the Communications Manager at Pocket Project, regenerative systems designer, and skilled facilitator. She co-initiated the Bafut Ecovillage in Northwest Cameroon and serves as Executive Secretary of the Global Ecovillage Network Africa, advancing regenerative community development across the continent. A 2017 Gender Just Climate Solutions Award recipient. She also co-hosts the What is Collective Healing? podcast and two online summits reaching over 15,000 people globally.

Doreen Wolf is an expert in designing and implementing integration processes within companies. She specializes in building bridges between businesses and public stakeholders to create collaborative, effective pathways for inclusion. Her work focuses on fostering a genuine culture of welcome for people migrating to Germany, helping them navigate and understand how German society is structured and organized. By connecting institutional systems with human-centered approaches, she enables organizations to become active contributors to social cohesion and sustainable integration.

Kosha Joubert is the CEO of the Pocket Project. She is an international facilitator, author, coach and consultant specializing in sustainable development and collective trauma healing. Growing up in Apartheid South Africa shaped her lifelong dedication to bridging divides and fostering intercultural collaboration.