Advance Relief Efforts for Refugees in Greece

First and foremost: a huge thanks to YOU, our extended Lighthouse Relief community, for rallying so overwhelmingly to support us in recent months. When we launched this campaign to mark our two year anniversary at the end of September, we were not sure if we would be able to make it through the winter months. 

Thanks to the valuable contributions of people like yourself, we can now look forward to the New Year with renewed hope. 

And we have never been busier!

So far this year, our team in Lesvos has provided emergency relief and comfort to 4182 people who have attempted the perilous sea crossing. Our tireless volunteers on the north shore of the island work day and night to ensure that new arrivals receive a warm, dignified welcome. The journey across the Aegean is perhaps more precarious than ever, with mounting evidence of illegal pushbacks and violence on Greek waters, but we have nonetheless witnessed numbers rise steadily throughout the summer, peaking in November.

In Ritsona refugee camp in central Greece, which currently houses over 650 people, families have been waiting months and even years for decisions on their futures, and vulnerable groups such as children and youth remain in critical need of psychosocial support.

The Youth Engagement Space (a creative programme aimed at young people aged 16 – 25) moved to a larger location in June, allowing it to increase its attendance, which rose from a daily average of 10-15 participants in spring to an average of 25-40 participants per day over the summer and autumn. As many of the original attendees are resettled in Athens or elsewhere in Europe, the team has seen new faces appear daily.

The Child Friendly Space (for ages 3 – 5), meanwhile, regularly welcomes an average of 45 – 55 children each day, and has 80 – 90 individual participants from across camp on a weekly basis. The space is so popular that Lighthouse volunteers have also been providing ancillary activities for older kids, who return from school in time to attend the programme.

Alongside our field operations, we have expanded our programmatic focus to incorporate advocacy. Faced with mounting evidence of illegal pushbacks and violence on the Aegean border, as well as chronic overcrowding in camps, we are working to leverage our position and experience to draw attention to the forgotten reality of Europe's borders.

This includes building and consolidating networks of partner organisations working together to hold national and European authorities to account, and finding new ways to share the unique and varied experiences of the people we work with. This includes documenting and reporting rights violations, promoting a better understanding of how and why people become refugees, and using the power of media and storytelling to amplify the powerful voices of our beneficiaries. 

With this in mind, we are thrilled to present the fourth edition of the Ritsona Kingdom Journal, a youth-run publication created by the inspiring young participants of our Youth Engagement Space (YES) in Ritsona camp. This issue is the biggest yet, with over 20 pages of beautiful artwork, articles, photography and so much more. Please share with your networks and join us in celebrating this incredible demonstration of refugee youth potential and creative expression.

To mark World Children's Day, we published "A Children's Guide to Children's Rights", a child-friendly guide to the Convention on the Rights of the Child. It is a perfect entry point for parents and educators to begin talking with their children about the European refugee situation and human rights more broadly. With powerful images from some amazing photographers and a strong message to boot - we all have rights, no matter who we are or where we're from - we hope this will encourage cross-cultural learning and inspire children near or far to become budding campaigners for the rights of displaced populations. Just in time for the holidays, you can buy a hard copy on Amazon or download a digital version from our website, with proceeds supporting our work.

Finally, and continuing our drive to help the children and youth we work with express themselves and share their stories, we have joined Storytelling Without Borders, a creative project that will launch in January and which aims to build up a platform of understanding and exchange between refugee youth and EU citizens.

The Lighthouse team thanks you again for supporting the people we work with as they attempt to continue their journeys and build their futures. Together, we are part of a small but powerful community standing in solidarity with those stranded at the fringes of Europe, and ensuring that their voices continue to be heard.

Links:

• Ritsona Kingdom Journal Editions 1-4
• Devex Article
• LHR on facebook