Where Passion Opens New Doors
From Nora Steiner
For Arash Raffat, integration began with movement. Today, he creates new connections through his own images. For the Coubertin meets Dunant website, Arash created and animated the animation featured on the Refugee Programme page. What may appear to others as a digital element also tells part of his own story: a young man who, after fleeing Afghanistan, found his place in Switzerland through breakdance and is now using his creativity to tell stories of his own.
Born in Herat, Afghanistan, in 1996, Arash left his home country in 2017 and reached Switzerland via Greece. Since 2023, he has been living in Bern, where he works as an electrician. But he sees his future as more than just a profession. Alongside his work, he continues to develop his creative skills, with the goal of completing a Federal VET Diploma as a Mediamatician and, in the long term, working as a director and creating his own animated films.
Breakdance was Arash’s first gateway into a new society. The dance scene became a place where background, language and the past mattered less than movement, music and a shared passion.
“90 percent of the people I have met in Switzerland, I met through breakdance.”
For Arash, breakdance is therefore much more than a sport. It is community, expression and a language that needs no translation. Through the open and inclusive hip-hop culture, he met people, built relationships and gradually developed a sense of belonging in Switzerland.
“Through breakdance, I found people. It helped me settle in Switzerland and find my place.”
Today, Arash passes this experience on as a breakdance coach. At the same time, he has discovered a new form of expression through 3D animation. What began as curiosity has grown into a passion – and a possible path for his future.
Through his work for Coubertin meets Dunant, Arash now brings these two worlds together: creativity and the experience of once having searched for a place of his own. His animation brings the Refugee Programme to life – while also reflecting his own journey: from a young person who found connection through movement to an artist who is now creating something of his own and sharing it with others.
Arash’s story shows what can happen when people are not only supported, but also given the opportunity to contribute their own talents. For him, integration does not mean leaving his past behind. It means creating something new from it.
Movement became community. Creativity became a perspective for the future. And personal talent became a contribution to others.