Integration Centre Prague Is Launching a Series On Life of Foreigners in Prague

In October and November 2019, you can listen to a new podcast called Salad Bowl of Prague: Voices. In this podcast, the Integration Centre Prague will offer you the stories of four foreigners who have settled in Prague and have been making Prague a more varied and colourful place. They run amazing restaurants, sew special dress, or make delicious ice cream. What is it like to move to a foreign country and to succeed there? Do they struggle with a language barrier, xenophobia, and homesickness? And what does actually make people leave their home? Starting on 10^th October, you can listen to the stories of Juanita from Indonesia, Sonama from Tibet, Mimi from Vietnam, and a family trio from the Balkans: Biljana, Zlatko, and Bojan.

“We want to show people that migration – both globally and in Prague – has long been a perfectly normal phenomenon and that people change their homes for many different reasons. The people presented in our series have been living in Prague for many years, they have been actively involved in what is going on here and they have truly been making it a more interesting place,” says Veronika Spiegelová, coordinator of the project. The series follows up on the Salad Bowl of Prague project, which is a guide of interesting places in Prague related to the history and presence of migration. The author of all the episodes is Petr Bouška, a radio editor and lecturer. He has carried out interviews with the respondents and visited the places they run. The stories of the heroes are illustrated by narration of their close people and satisfied customers.

Juanita Kansil was born in the Czech Republic. Her parents could not return to their home Indonesia as they would face execution there. Yet she has spent several years of her life there. Now she runs a well-known bistro and a ‘social salon’ Javánka. Here you can taste Indonesian cuisine as well as other delicacies. Sonam Tsering spent his childhood and teenage years in a Buddhist monastery, which he then left against the wishes of the monks and his family. He has settled in the Czech Republic where he cooks Tibetan food at Café Tibet. As a native Tibetan, he is also a Tibetan rights activist. MiMi Nguyen Hoang Lan came to Prague as a teenager to join her mother. As Czech clothes was too big for her, she started to make her own clothes. Today she runs a famous boutique in the city centre. As young people, Zlatko Kebakoski, his wife Biljana and Biljana’s brother Bojan Dimitrijević were after some adventure. Their friend suggested that they went to Prague as he found it charming. Now they make and sell one of the best ice creams under the Angelato brand at several places in the capital.

The series of podcasts was launched on 10^th October at the Integration Centre Prague. The launch was held within the Open Doors vol. 2, or Integration Tasting event – the open day of the organisation.

The podcast series Salad Bowl of Prague: Voices will be available at saladbowlofprague.cz/voices, on Spotify, iTunes, and other podcast platforms.

Contact for Veronika Spiegel, project coordinator: v.spiegelova@icpraha.com, 775 487 369.

 

The podcast series Salad Bowl of Prague: Voices has been created under the auspices of the Integration Centre Prague as a part of the INTEGRA international project.

Integration Centre Prague is a non-profit organisation which strives for Prague to become a metropolis of all – home to everyone who decide to live here, regardless their country of origin, and a place where the inhabitants respect and support each other and cooperate together.