Born in the post-war years, I grew up with the many stories and images of the Nazi death camps and a popular wonderment of “how could this happen?” and with the words: “It must never happen again”.

Growing up, I was taught not alway to “fly with the herd” – but to consider where the herd is going and turn in a different direction and speak up, even when it felt lonely and hurtful if the herd is heading into a destructive storm. Or bullying some poor soul in class.

I am a trained social educator and have mainly worked with supporting children and families in difficult situations, whether the reason was social conditions or serious illness.

I have also worked with emergency aid and support for refugees in war zones and then reconstruction projects in Bosnia. Among other things, I was the initiator of the establishment of a local women-led adult school in a small town in North West Bosnia, where everyone could come and improve their skills in various subjects, such as: language, IT, accounting etc. The school functioned for 15 years and was run by the locals. In the beginning with Danish support. Later it was running on its own.

In Denmark, from 2001 – 2015, I worked mainly with refugees’ human rights. It’s very easy to describe: they have no rights unless they have asylum. And the system works in such a way that the law is designed to reject as many as possible and not on the basis of the risk to life the individual is exposed to when returning to their home country.

In the last ten years, the world has become more unstable. The number of displaced people has more than doubled in those ten years. 180 million people do not all make it to Europe, many are internally displaced, like in Gaza (which we hear about) Sudan and others – but many also seek Europe. Many drown in the oceans, die in deserts along the way. Others end up in slavery, in prisons and in detention centers.

I know that Europe cannot accommodate all refugees and the solution is not to displace all people. I fear for humanity. I don’t know the solution to all the world’s problems. All I know is that we must all try to work for peaceful coexistence in small and large ways.

In the 1970s, the peace movement grew through many initiatives. It actually succeeded in stopping a Vietnam War. They actually succeeded in ending the white Apartheid regime in South Africa. In the 1980s, the East Germans succeeded in bringing down the Berlin Wall with peaceful popular demonstrations.

It can be done when we take action. You and me and many others.