‘The kind of hugs that make you feel safe and human again’

'Those days were full of connection — deep talks, laughter, and the kind of hugs that make you feel safe and human again. Being surrounded by people who carry so much love and courage was a gift.'

Because no one can best describe what AWoN is, means and feels like but Practitioners themselves, here is a selection of the reflections some of us shared as we returned home after AWoN’s 2025 Annual Summit in the east of Poland.

Mohammad Wais Fedaie, founder of Farda-e-Roshan, Germany-Afghanistan

Those days were full of connection — deep talks, laughter, and the kind of hugs that make you feel safe and human again. Being surrounded by people who carry so much love and courage was a gift.

But it was also heavy. Visiting the border and then watching Green Border shook me deeply. Walking those dark places where people are trapped, where you can’t even turn on a light, seeing hopeless eyes, and then later graves without names in the cemetery… it’s something I will never forget.

And yet, even in that darkness, there is hope. The activists who keep helping, despite knowing the risks, are nothing less than angels.

I return home carrying love, grief, strength, and gratitude — for the people I met, for the courage I witnessed, and for the reminder that humanity is strongest when we choose it.’

Testimony by Mohammad Wais Fedaie, picture by Pedro Amaro Santos

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