GeKo in the neighbourhood

Many people feel as though they are alone with their worries or health issues – yet neighbours are often going through similar experiences. GeKo’s community work brings people together and helps to foster connections, dialogue and networks of solidarity within the neighbourhood.

Through sports, creative and group activities, staff with specialist knowledge or practical experience create spaces for people to meet, learn together and have informal conversations about health and stressful life circumstances.

Health is not just something to be considered in the doctor’s surgery, but also in everyday life and social interactions. That’s why GeKo organises various social events in the neighbourhood.

German, English, Turkish, Arabic, Spanish, Lingala, French, Portuguese

Sport & exercise

Our sports programmes are aimed primarily at children and young people and are often run in partnership with the Lessinghöhe Children’s and Youth Centre. Together, we try out new sports and activities – from football to karate and parkour. Everyone can take part. The focus is on fun, socialising and a healthy neighbourhood.

Art & culture

Our cultural activities are aimed at adults – no prior knowledge is required. Through our ‘Art on Prescription’ scheme, we enable people to take part in cultural activities by organising group visits to museums, theatres or concerts. We offer creative writing and textile projects primarily for migrant women of all ages. Our partners are Spore Initiative, Heimathafen and the Neuköllner Oper.

Mobile health advice

The mobile health advice services are being set up in collaboration with various local initiatives, in particular the neighbourhood management organisations (QM Flughafen and QM Rollberg). Depending on the initiative or organisation, we tailor the topics and content to the needs of the local community. Our healthcare professionals and lived-experience experts offer multilingual advice on topics such as nutrition, pain, mental health and heat – always allowing space for discussion and shared questions, whilst focusing on the social factors that influence health.

If you’d like to find out the dates and times of the various activities, you can check the calendar or send us an email.

Please direct any general enquiries regarding projects in the neighbourhood to the coordinators Shao-Xi Lu, Gesine Knauer or Jannika Huesmann.

Ali Kantori sport@geko-berlin.de

João Lukoki 0176-45656975

Georgina Espasa g.espasa@geko-berlin.de, 0176-15417970

Fatma Adigüzel 0176-47637556

Shao-Xi Lu s.lu@geko-berlin.de, 0176-56907286

Gesine Knauer g.knauer@geko-berlin.de, 0157-73674050

Jannika Huesmann j.huesmann@geko-berlin.de, 0157-73674050

Yvonne Kiefel y.kiefel@geko-berlin.de

Image: Monika Keiler