Most refugee camps do not meet minimum habitability conditions. Be it health, safety facilities, food, health services (4 showers for 1,000 people), children’s education, potable water (no water or 1 liter for 2 people per day with temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius), hygienic conditions … as recently published by the UN. This reality we know firsthand, because we have been there working as volunteers in various camps.
Through Greek volunteers who work directly with refugees, we got rent apartments in Greece, paying the rent with the donations we get through the sponsorship program with minimum monthly installments of 15 euros. Each sponsor, is assigned to a refugee family, receiving timely information about what is happening on the apartment and on the progress of their files. As of today, we have 150 sponsors.
In 4 months we managed to sponsor 10 floors to host almost 80 refugees, mostly women with children. Especially we focus on high-risk families: women traveling alone with children, pregnant women, the elderly and special individual cases.
All money from sponsorship is used for this purpose only, since all the components of the Association are volunteers. Travel costs, travel, telephones, printing, etc … is the responsibility of each volunteer.
The success of this small project lies in the rapid and direct support given to these families, things as basic as being able to cook, wash, sleep, feel safe … needs that make it incredibly hard especially when you are with children or newly born, thus enhancing their physical and emotional health, such as protection of children in a healthy and safe environment.
We give support not only to families with accommodation and meals, but also give advise and help with the documentation that will require them from Greece or from countries where asylum or family reunification is requested, with the help of translators, who are part of the association, and lawyers.