The main objective was to empower parents of mixed race children to actively accompany their children ́s process of identity formation, so that they’ll feel proud of their multiple heritages. This included increasing the awareness of the European mixed-ethnic reality – that Europeans are also dark-skinned, curly haired and often partly with ancestry from outside of EU countries. It also included increasing the self-appreciation amongst minorities with african ancestry in the white-normative societies of the EU. It included letting mixed people know that skin color is not the defining factor for being European and offer “European” as one possible identity for them.
Our motivation for the project was that people of color (PoC) and white people be regarded as equal in value both by society and themselves. PoC encounter microaggressions or racism, needing to find individual ways for dealing with it. Especially children need to be prepared so they can cultivate a feeling of worthiness, not deficiency. They need to construct a feeling of belonging which is often questioned regarding their “Europeanness”, as they don´t fit the white stereotype. Parents of mixed children often don't feel comfortable talking about skin color and race and don´t address the topic with their children. But this is crucial for their identity formation. Doing one ́s hair constructs a sense of identity. African hair is linked historically to expression of Black identity. But often mothers don't know how to style or treat their mixed children ́s hair. Trekstones was keen on venturing into working with a new target group and needed to gain knowledge about people with African ancestry. WintherSol was a newcomer organization, and wanted to gain experience with Erasmus+ and test their staff´s capabilities for collaboration. Both the founders have mixed children and there was also a personal desire to improve the issue.