Little Lotus
The Little Lotus Learning Center is an unusual educational institution. They work with refugee children in the town of Mytilene and follow the approach of learning through play, interaction and creativity. Daily activities are provided to give the children not only structure, but also something to look forward to each day. Little Lotus Learning Center is a safe place for children and a place of kindness, support, encouragement and joy. Since the opening of our Community Center, Little Lotus has been running the kindergarten in it.
Community Center Lesvos
Our Community Center on Lesvos has become a versatile center and popular place in the immediate vicinity of the camp. In order to give the residents in the camp the possibility to do their laundry, six washing machines and twelve dryers were purchased. Thus, among other things, the anti-scratch mite program is supported on site. In addition, there are many other services such as a women's space, a kindergarten, and a distribution center where donations in kind in the form of clothing and hygiene items are distributed to the camp residents. There is also a gamer space and lounge area.
Just Action – Samos
On the Greek island of Samos, refugees are completely isolated from the villages and towns of the island: high security fences, surveillance cameras and security forces turn the place into a prison. Since April 2020, Just Action activists' free food supermarket on the Greek island of Samos has been supporting the local, as well as the refugee community with food packages and hygiene items. In addition to the food parcels and hygiene items, Just Action Samos volunteers cover the cost of the bus tickets that the refugees need to get from the camp to the food distribution. The goal is to ensure food security for all those in need on the island, while building more resilient structures to ensure future access to food for all people on Samos.
Boat Theater Group
People sometimes live for years in refugee camps without any perspective and under the most precarious circumstances. In order to confront the lack of hope and perspective, a group of refugees on Lesvos founded the "Boat Theater Group". 14 people come together regularly in this group to develop creatively and rehearse. In August 2021, the group performed their play for 10 days at the LeaveNoOneBehind Warehouse next to the camp, creating a place of encounter and art alongside the horror of the camp. In the meantime, the project has moved to Athens.
Cadus
CADUS is a non-profit and independent aid organization that initiates innovative and sustainable projects with a focus on medical care. Their primary goal is to help people to help themselves in line with their needs. The funding was used, for example, to implement a mobile modular medical care system for the Greek islands. The medical care situation on the Greek islands has only existed at all for people on the move because small NGOs have been working tirelessly to help against all the repression on the ground. The capacities and possible medical services have always been limited, and the situation has worsened massively due to the pandemic. CADUS built on the experience of the first mobile hospital for northeast Syria to create an even more mobile concept of a modular hospital on Lesvos, which can respond quickly and flexibly to the medical emergency on the ground. Thus, testing and treatment capacities were expanded and isolation tents for infected persons were provided. CADUS is also establishing a MEDEVAC system for the hostilities in Ukraine.
ROSA Rolling Safespace
An estimated 1 in 5 women experience sexual violence while fleeing, although the number of unreported cases is believed to be much higher. The people behind Rolling Safespace want to change that and have converted a truck into a Safespace, which they use to travel from camp to camp in Greece to give women a safe place to go. In and around the truck, there is medical counseling, workshop offerings (from self-defense to knitting), discussion groups on body-related topics, and childcare. The women are safe and can escape the camp for a short time. The team works according to an intersectional and postcolonial approach and closely with the women on site. The refugee women find a supervised conversation room, basic medical care, and various sports and exercise activities. Donations ensure the daily maintenance of the Safe Space and funding for the crew.
Aegean Boat Report
Illegal pushbacks are a daily occurrence at European borders. In order to take action against them, they need to be well documented and collated. The Aegean Boat Report reports 24/7 about incidents at the borders and thus enables quick help and monitoring of "border officials''. One practice the Aegean Boat Report has been able to highlight many times: Refugees who had already reached the bottom of Lesbos are picked up by masked men, often abused, kidnapped and abandoned in the open sea on maneuverless "life rafts." There they drift until the Turkish coast guard picks them up and brings them back to Turkey. Documenting them and gathering the information is critical. Because good information not only ensures that helpers can be on the scene faster in emergencies, good information is also the best weapon against cover-up attempts by governments and their coast guards. The Aegean Boat Report has thus become an essential building block in the work of NGOs in the Aegean. Through its work, emergencies are noticed more quickly and people are rescued.