It takes a village: Berlin nonprofit Welcome Mamas on guiding refugee moms through German bureaucracy

Produced for KCRW Berlin.

Berlin-based nonprofit Welcome Mamas formed in 2016 in order to help pregnant refugees navigate the complicated German bureaucracy around birth and healthcare.

We spoke with Alaa Abdulatiff, one of the 60 women that the organization has managed to work with so far, about her experience of being partnered with another mother, who could help her navigate the bureaucracy, from health insurance paperwork to enrolling her child in Kita.

We also spoke to Welcome Mamas co-founder, Lorna Ather, about building this organization after recognizing the need in her own community. “Every woman who is pregnant…needs a village. And that’s basically what we are trying to form,” says Ather.