Several German tech entrepreneurs hope to help out refugees in their nation by offering them with an enriching approach to obtain food and make connections to their new neighborhoods, The Huffington Post reports.
'Refoodgee' is an app that enables pairing newly arrived refugees with the city's residents according to food choices and common languages. The app was developed by five associates of Berlin-based startup Memorado.
The Memorado group designed the app during #HackWeek15, a hackathon managed by the startup that ran from Sept. 28 to Oct. 1 in Werbellinsee, Germany. The convention accentuated on developing apps to help refugees arriving the country with aspects of their daily lives, and "Refoodgee" was one of the solutions that emerged from the event.
The app works by registering for a free account either as a dinner guest or host for both refugees and locals. They should then provide data like their countries of origin, languages used and preferred cuisine. According to Memorado spokeswoman Felicia Hommel which she stated on an email addressed to The WorldPost, locals can then invite refugees to a meal in which the refugees can either accept or decline.
In the event that the refugee receives the invitation, both parties will obtain each other's contact information, and they can set up a meeting and plan the meal. According to Hommel, it is completely up to the refugees and locals on how they share the expenses for the meal.
The Refoodgee team expects that by organizing and partaking on a home-cooked meal, the residents may give refugees food and company, and the refugees in return can discuss their experiences and build a friendship.
"The first contact you build up as a refugee is very important and helpful, so we wanted to give both parties the chance to connect over something social, [such] as a meal," Hommel wrote.
"The meeting is not about the food so much, but about getting to know each other, good conversations, etc.," she added.
According to Reuters, about 10,000 refugees and migrants enter Germany every day. German Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel has said there could be over 1 million arrivals in 2015 alone.
Hommel said that over 100 individuals have installed the "Refoodgee" app to this point. The team has observed that local and refugee users continue to be active on the app but does not know if meetings have occurred yet, as planning occurs outside the app.
"Refoodgee" is also just one of the several initiatives to help newcomers be used into German culture by means of technology. A Berlin-based nonprofit organization identified as "Refugees on Rails" is gearing up to train refugees how to code in order to help them find jobs at European technology firms. In October, web-based educational institution Kiron University likewise began enrolling refugee students in free, three-year university-level classes that will culminate in a degree.
As of now, Refoodgee works merely on Android models, but Memorado plans to create an iOS version soon. The app is likewise only available to users in Berlin, but the team says it's available to developing the app across Europe in the future.
