Techfugees - Do we have a product market fit?

Refugee crisis is arguably one of the biggest problem that we currently face in the world. It is incredible to see that not only have we acknowledged the problem, but many of us are working towards improving the situation. We do not have an answer or any one solution to the problem, but we are trying.

I attended a diversity summit this week at the Factory, Berlin hosted by 500 startups, where one of the panel discussion was called Techfugees. What made the panel discussion really interesting was that we not only had people who are trying to solve the problem but also had Akram Alfawakheeri, student at ReDI, school of digital integration, who after coming to Berlin from Syria has actually lived the problem himself. It seems like as entrepreneurs, we are making the classic mistake of building our solutions in silos, sitting in the comfort of our countries, where we cannot possibly understand the depth and breadth of the refugee problem. To speak in a startup term - could we ever achieve product-market fit, if we don't understand the problem well?

Akram mentioned that he would often go to startup meetups, in Berlin where people would confidently talk about their solutions without having ever lived the problem or talking to people, who have lived the problem. Will these solutions ever be effective? Probably. Probably NOT. I have a feeling that if someone is passionate enough to find a solution to this problem and to build a company around it, it might be worthwhile to go work in one of the refugee camps and spend time with people in these camps, to understand the problem better. Live the problem :)

P.s. For some people who are working in this space, a tip from Akram was that people in these camps have a lot of free time. A LOT. Can we put this time to any good use?