THURSDAY 15 NOVEMBER 2018
THIS WEEK:
Keeping up with Katsikas
Last week, we discussed the trials and successes of our new Empowerment Fund.
The Empowerment Fund doesn’t just benefit those running the micro businesses, but also everyone else on camp.
For example, Abdullah, a talented baker receiving the Empowerment Fund, is currently working at full-speed producing bread for the 1,000 residents at Katsikas camp. That’s a lot of loaves of bread and a lot of mouths to feed!
Speaking of mouths to feed, the camp welcomed a new arrival this week . . .
We hope that the empowerment fund can continue to thrive, but we need your help and donations to make this possible. If you’d like to raise money for refugees in Greece, please get in touch today.
Walk the refugee route
This May, twenty volunteers trekked from Idomeni to Skopje in FYR Macedoni to raise money for refugees. By tracing the route that many refugees took as they fled from persecution (before the borders were closed in 2015) the walk not only to raise money for refugees in Greece, but helped raise awareness for the dangerous journeys that thousands of refugees are forced to take to safety.
Following the success of last year’s walk (the team raised over £25,000), we are organising a second Walk the Refugee Route for May 2019. To highlight the new and perilous route that thousands are now taking to get into Europe, we will start our walk from the River Evros in the North of Greece. Over one week, we will walk 100km to Thessaloniki.
This walk is an opportunity to raise awareness and essential funds while walking with like-minded people through the Greek countryside. We hope many of you will join us as we stomp in solidarity.
More fabulous fudraising for refugees
Refugee Support volunteers, Fidelma and Helen, have organised a raffle to raise money for refugees in Greece. Prizes include this stunning oil painting by Northern Irish artist, Esther MacNamara.
You can find out more about the other stunning prizes up for grabs, and how to purchase a ticket here.
Winners will announced live on 8 December. Good luck!
Standing with refugees podcast
For our latest podcast, Paul spoke to Samira Harnis, founder of recent Nansen Award winning charity, Women of the World.
Women of the World helps displaced women to become self-reliant by offering a customised service to help women seek asylum, get into work, and learn practical English.
But how do we change people’s minds about refugees?
In this podcast, Paul and Samira talk about Women of the World, the many obstacles Samira has had to overcome, and how the situation for displaced people in the US has worsened in the last 2 years.
They also talk about what needs to change, and how as individuals, we can begin to implement change. Samira is not going to let anything stop her and she has a clear message – if we give our refugee neighbours a chance, they can accomplish great things.
Staying informed – what we’re reading this week
It is estimated that by 2025, over 5 million people will become victims of climate change (or what many are dubbing‘climate change refugees’).
What are climate refugees?
It’s a sad indication of the state of the world today that the 1951 Geneva Convention on Refugees makes no allowance for these types of refugees. Even more worryingly, recent reports concerning the fast rise of the world’s average temperature show no signs of the crisis abating.
This week, we’re reading about these worrying predictions that claim that by 2050, as many as 100 million people will be displaced by ‘natural’ disasters caused by climate change.
Thank you for reading, and we’ll see you next week.
Please contact us today at info@refugeesupporteu.com if you’d like to raise money for refugees in Greece.
Refugee Support
