What does “Casa Kuà” stand for? And how did it come to manifest itself as a trans* inter* queer community & health centre in the heart of Kreuzberg, Berlin?
Casa Kuà, uniting the Spanish word for ‘house’ and the Chinese word for ‘trans’, is a space where alternative, traditional, and conventional medical treatments come together. The health care system in Germany is designed according to white and cis-male norms, reinforcing sexist, racist, classist, ableist and body-negative discrimination. Many inter*-, a-binary, trans* people, women, disabled and fat people fall out of the regular health system and suffer from health-impairing conditions or are forced to resign themselves to poor-quality health care. To counteract, bring communities together, centring the needs and wishes of BIPOC trans*, inter*, queer people, Casa Kuà was established as a holistic space of community and health care since community care and health care are inseparable from each other.
How has Casa Kuà developed since its inception? What have been some of the most difficult and/or most rewarding moments that the team has experienced?
Casa Kuà was founded at the beginning of the pandemic in 2020. Especially under these dire circumstances, it became apparent that our communities were, once more, disproportionately affected and the need for a space like Casa Kuà was necessary.
Establishing and maintaining a centre is already demanding. Yet, doing this in the pandemic was even more of a challenge. By centring our own voices and experiences through being a BIPOC-centred space, we are clashing with predominately white groups, for example, by condemning racial profiling, police violence and the border regime, to name a few. Regardless, together with navigating regulations, rules and restrictions without institutional resources, we maintained the freedom and self-determination of what Casa Kuà stands for. We are incredibly grateful for the community support and continuous effort because, without them, this would not exist: from financial help, individual and collective support, offering time and knowledge to their wishes and dreams. We are well aware that no space is perfect. However, we are committed to learning from our mistakes and pursuing to be the community space we envisioned.
Is there a way for someone who lives in Berlin to contribute their time & energy to your organization? Are there volunteer positions available?
Casa Kuà is a completely volunteer-based centre. In that line, we sustain the space mainly by the resources of our communities. Therefore, we always appreciate the support by proposing workshops, talks and activities to help in the different areas of maintenance and organisation. Of course, we are always looking forward to receiving donations through our crowdfunding.
If you want to collaborate, feel free to write us an email or connect with us on Instagram @casakua.
An extension of Casa Kuà called “Qasa X” was recently formed – can you tell us more about why your team felt this was necessary? What do you hope to accomplish with this new branch of your organization?
Germany is opening its borders, doors, wallets, and arms to embrace white Ukrainian refugees. However, we do not read that this ‘solidarity’ is selective and temporal, and it excludes BIPOC refugees, trans/inter*/non-binary people, Roma and Sinti refugees, and other marginalised communities arriving in Germany. There has been an evident gap between the resources provided to people arriving from Ukraine (with Ukrainian passports and white), and BIPOC arrivals and third-country nationals.
As a response to the gap, a group of racialised, queer/trans/inter*/non-binary activists formed believing in making decisions by our communities, for our communities. Therefore, we decided to give this operation a new name, an initiative under Casa Kuà’s umbrella: Qasa X. Qasa X is a temporal emergency response to broaden our reach beyond our communities to BIPOC people in general. The selectivity of support to people fleeing Ukraine pushed us to try to cover basic needs, such as material donations, accommodations, and medical and psychological support, to name a few.
Nevertheless, we are aware that the work of Qasa X overlaps with Casa Kuà’s, with the difference in providing resources to all BIPOC people. The intervention of Qasa X is temporal and will integrate into the community work we are already doing. While we are aware that the needs created by the Ukrainian war were imminent, refugees and illegalised people were already part of Casa Kuà’s communities before this war. Therefore, Qasa X’s work is a direct and active response to the border regime, unjust and racist policies on migration, and manipulative asylum laws. Indeed, we witness and condemn the double standards regarding BIPOC and non-European passport holders fleeing war vs. EU-passport holders and white citizens fleeing from Ukraine.
We understand there is an extreme lack of resources & capacities to continue such an initiative sustainably – but with the support of mutual aid campaigns, there is still much that can be done! How do you plan to address the issues presenting themselves in Berlin’s handling of the Ukrainian refugee crisis, specifically as it pertains to the many third-country nationals who have been experiencing multiple forms of intersectional oppression in their efforts to relocate?
The issues presented in Berlin’s handling of the people fleeing the Ukrainian war are just an amplification of the prevailing problems in Berlin and Germany as a whole. As one of Casa Kuà’s core purposes is for and by illegalised and refugee trans*/inter*/non-binary and queer communities, we cannot and do not want to separate the issues.
We echo and amplify the demands of the communities we have come to know since the beginning of this war and condemn the regulations that deny staying and resources to third-country nationals and other marginalised groups. Nevertheless, we continue to echo the demands and meet the needs of those who, for decades, have been suffering from intersectional discrimination such as transphobia, racism, classism, ableism and the border regime, to name but a few of the oppressive systems in place.Luckily, we are receiving solidarity and support from people reaching out to us, creating possibilities to make our work seen, heard and possible by, for example, donating, hosting and protesting. Also, we are working together with other groups and initiatives to counteract and organise around the extreme lack of resources and capacities, enabling us to do our work increasingly more sustainable and long-term.
Final question: can you name a few activists (past & present) that are a source of inspiration for members of the Casa Kuà team? <3
May Ayim, Lohana Berkins, Bartolina Sisa, Marsha P. Johnson, Assata Shakur, Sylvia Rivera, Audre Lorde, Lautaro, Stormé DeLarverie, just to name a few!
Tags: Charity, Interview
J. R. Thesis Smith is a mixed-race millenial in the dawn of their 30s & a wordsmith of sorts. They've spent most of their waking life in the U.S. – in the urban sprawl of NYC that is New Jersey, in the depths of its suburban echoes – but always dreamed of making their way across a bigger pond, to a place where opportunity would knock a little more often. After completing their training at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts (effectively spending three poor years in NYC) as a dance major, they gifted themselves a semester of studying abroad in Berlin, and in doing so kept a vow made in early adolescence – thereby inciting a metamorphosis of promise into full-bodied intention: to eventually fully emigrate to Berlin, the first space that had ever allowed them the freedom to find their own breath, their pace of existence. Now that they finally live there, they're learning how to breathe again – striving to become a more active member of the Undercommons as they continue on the odyssey that is their self-realization as an artistic being. Their most resonant hope is that they will be able to say what is true & necessary & kind; that people will find the time to listen, to themselves and each other; and that their voice will inspire other voices to speak out in turn.
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