We Are Not Strangers! We are launching a project that offers objective and unbiased information about foreigners

Are you clear on who belongs here? Every year, people from foreign countries come to the Czech Republic to find a new home. However, most of the majority population has no personal experience with them. They know them from the media, statistics, or angry comments on social media. We want to change that. That is why we are launching the project We Are Not Strangers, where we show who foreigners really are. We are preparing interesting articles about migrants, seminars for future journalists, an interactive exhibition, and unique research on Czech attitudes toward foreigners.

There are over 800,000 foreigners in the Czech Republic today. They came here for various reasons, and each brings a piece of something new. Even though we have been living together for quite some time, we often still don't really know each other. With the We Are Not Strangers project, we are helping to overcome this barrier and find common ground. Moreover, you can read a lot of half-truths and misinformation about foreigners in the media and on social networks. We want to set these myths straight and tell the truth about foreigners. We will show how foreigners live here and what integration really looks like. "It is truly important to us that in all the activities we plan as part of We Are Not Strangers, we provide high-quality and honest information that helps show how foreigners actually live here," explains Timea Horváthová, coordinator of We Are Not Strangers project activities.

"In We Are Not Strangers, we show not only dry numbers but also the real stories hidden behind them," emphasizes project coordinator Timea Horváthová.

In addition, we will help train a new generation of journalists who will write about foreigners with quality and without prejudice. In cooperation with the Faculty of Social Sciences at Charles University, we will hold seminars where journalism students will learn how to report on migration issues objectively. We are not afraid of difficult questions either. Together with top experts, this time from the Faculty of Science, we are preparing unique research that will map how Czechs actually see foreigners and what they know about them.

But that is far from everything. Do you remember what it was like when you were little and had to go somewhere you didn't know at all for the first time? Now imagine traveling like that to a completely foreign country where you have never been, you don't know the language, you don't have any friends there, and you have no idea what awaits you. We will bring this feeling closer through the exhibition Little Shoes – The Path to Integration, where you will learn the real stories of children who had to leave their homes and head into the unknown.

"In We Are Not Strangers, we show not only dry numbers but also the real stories hidden behind them," emphasizes Timea Horváthová.

Discover with us that even though we have different stories, we are actually closer than we think.