Breaking Barriers and Bread with Refugees

Refugees Welcome is a dinner project launched by UNICEF, and the project seeks to bring people from refugee and non-refugee backgrounds around a table to break barriers and break bread across the globe.On April 5th, we welcomed refugees in Oslo to have dinner at our headquarters. As an international team, everyone pitched in by cooking different dishes that are representative of their countries of origin, and we hosted guests that hailed from many corners of the world, such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Sudan, Eritrea, and Syria.

While it was an amazing experience gathering people who represented 3% of the countries in the world under the roof of a startup, the Refugees Welcome dinner project is so much more than that. Refugees in Norway are mostly exposed to other refugees, and the Refugees Welcome initiative gives them a chance to meet and mingle with local non-refugees to share stories, make new friends, and come across potential job opportunities.On what otherwise would have been just another regular Thursday, we spent the evening getting to know our guests. We’ve been inspired by an amazing group of individuals who have incredible energy, perseverance, knowledge, and skill sets. Thank you Refugees Welcome for the opportunity to host a dinner. We highly encourage other companies and organizations to open their tables and hearts too — you’ll be in good company!