Women in Solidarity House
The Women in Solidarity House is a space for women living in the refugee camps Moria 2 and Kara Tepe. The Women in Solidarity House provides a safe environment for the women here and creates a shared community.
Yoga and Sport For Refugees
Yoga and Sports For Refugees aims to empower refugees through sports, integrating them into the community and improving their physical and mental health. The sports offered, which range from swimming courses to martial arts and yoga, are largely carried out and instructed by the refugees themselves. When people live in a camp, sometimes for years, this can have a catastrophic effect on their mental and physical health. Sports activities, ranging from swimming courses to martial arts and yoga, can play a decisive role in counteracting it. The sports activities of Yoga and Sports for Refugees additionally break down ethnic and religious barriers and create a meeting point and cooperation between cultures.
Community Volunteers
We have been working with the people from the camp for over a year and include them in our daily work at the LNOB Warehouse and Community Center. In this way, we give the refugees a space to develop and to escape the daily life of the camp for a while. Additionally, we offer educational programs, such as English classes three times a week.
The Hope Project
The Hope Project Greece has been providing assistance to refugees arriving on Lesvos since early 2015. It does so based on the principles of dignity, compassion and safety for all. The robbery of the human dignity of refugees and the way they are treated cannot be accepted in Europe. Volunteers provide about 30 families daily with things they need, such as hygiene products, diapers, clothes, shoes, blankets and much more.
One Happy Family
One Happy Family is a non-profit organization whose mission is to provide a safe space for asylum seekers, volunteers and people from different nations to meet. For this purpose, the Community Center was built on the Greek island of Lesbos. Due to its geographical proximity to Turkey, Lesvos is often a stopover for most people fleeing war and crises. Here, asylum seekers are often stuck for several months due to bureaucratic hurdles. To fill the gap caused by insufficient humanitarian aid and lack of government support, One Happy Family, together with its partner organizations and at the initiative and request of the asylum seekers, offers many different projects, such as schools, sports programs or psychological support. The range of projects varies according to capacity and need. Through the Community Center, One Happy Family aims to involve the people living in the camps in brainstorming and decision-making in order to strengthen their autonomy, self-drive and sense of responsibility.
Attika Human Support
Attika operates one of the largest warehouses for in-kind donations on the island of Lesvos, playing an important role in the distribution of aid to Lesvos, Samos, Chios, Kos and mainland Greece. Many refugees usually have few personal belongings when they arrive on the island and are in need of warm, dry clothing and shoes. The Attica team sorts, delivers or arranges pickup for the supporting NGOs, which distribute the in-kind donations as part of their own aid programs. In conjunction with this mass distribution, Attika also packs specifically requested items daily and delivers them directly to camp residents.
We for Kids
We For Kids is committed to the development of children living in Samos HotSpot Camp between the ages of three and nine. They provide them with home-cooked, hot and healthy meals to strengthen their health. We for Kids was co-founded by Barbara, herself a refugee who arrived in Samos four years ago, and Evangelos, a local businessman. Together they now work with refugee children and adults as well as the local population on Samos.
Projekt Armonia
Project Armonia was founded in April 2019 and is registered in both Switzerland and Greece. The goal of the organization is to provide refugees and asylum seekers with essential food that is basic for humans, but is yet often denied to them due to the humanitarian crisis. Project Armonia is currently located on the Greek island of Samos, where they run a free restaurant, mostly run by refugees themselves, providing additional food to refugees there. The restaurant offers them a safe, comfortable place to eat and escape for a moment the inhumane conditions they are forced to live in. Project Armonia is the only NGO on Samos that operates an official restaurant for and with refugees, despite challenges and prejudices from locals and local authorities. Since its opening in 2019, it has already served over 126,000 meals and cooks for around 1,000 people every day.
ReFOCUS Media Labs
ReFOCUS Media Labs has as its goal to create a global network of media labs to enable global reporting. Lack of hope and perspective is an ordeal for people stuck in camps and on the move. At the same time, they are increasingly sealed off: journalists and photographers, for example, are no longer allowed to take pictures from the newly established camp on Lesvos, and the Polish-Belarusian border has been completely sealed off. Through media training, ReFOCUS Media Lab offers people on the move the opportunity to produce their own images - and thus not only circumvent the censorship imposed by the access restrictions for journalists, but also to communicate in a self-determined manner. In response to Russia's large-scale war of aggression on Ukraine, the activists have set up another lab in Kraków and give media training to Ukrainian refugees.
Tolou
Tolou is a non-profit association with the goal of promoting access to education and housing, as well as personal development. In the new camp on Lesvos, they have built a team of eleven Afghan volunteer teachers who design and lead classes there depending on their own abilities. On Lesvos alone, more than 200 students benefit from this service every day. However, several hundred refugees also live in Mytilene, which is why Tolou is also opening a classroom in this town, where around 100 students have the opportunity to learn English, French, Greek and painting. In order to offer psychological stability to its participants, Tolou has also rented two apartments in Athens to accommodate people and offer them a safe space while they complete administrative procedures and have the opportunity to attend to professional or family matters.