Advance Relief Efforts for Refugees in Greece

Six months into 2018, and the situation in Greece remains dire for the majority of the people waiting in limbo. Currently, 58,100 people are still stuck in the country, with 12,000 people having crossed the Aegean sea since January this year.

Accommodation in the mainland and the islands is insufficient, leading to overcrowding and difficult and poor living conditions. In many accommodation centres, there has been an increase of protection risks and tensions, resulting in violent incidents.

By the end of May, our Emergency Response team in Lesvos faced a difficult challenge. 258 people were transferred from Moria camp to Stage 2, our transit facility, after violent tensions arose in the camp.

Together with other organisations in the north, Stage 2 was transformed on spot to be able to assist those people coming from Moria. With all hands on deck, we were able to provide them with food, shelter and additional sanitary assistance.

Luckily, NGOs came together and mobilized to ensure all 258 people were relocated to alternative accommodations.

Lighthouse Relief continues being the only organisation with a landing team and around the clock spotting operations on the north shore of the island. This first half of the year, our team has assisted 3,122 women, men and children, in 76 different landings.

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To amplify the voices of those who are experiencing such conditions, we were chosen to participate in an initiative called Storytelling Without Borders.

We worked together with young refugees in Greece to help them tell their stories - anecdotal, funny, sad or whimsical - through film and stop-motion animation. The team conducted over 27 workshops, reaching over 400 participants across Lesvos and the mainland. Out of the total 249 films created, 30 have been chosen for publication on the official StWB website.

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Meanwhile, 43,700 people remain waiting in the mainland. From those, almost 900 women, men and children await in Ritsona refugee camp - at its full capacity. Besides continuing with our psychosocial programming for children and youth, we started Lighthouse Relief’s Residential Volunteer Programme.

"I wanted to volunteer because I knew I would be happy with this programme. When I help others I feel happy, especially children. That's why I love being a volunteer!" - Hamid, 19, resident and volunteer at the Child Friendly Space.

The Residential Volunteering Programme (RVP), which started earlier this March, aims to provide capacity building opportunities for Ritsona’s residents by recognising and utilising their broad skills. Residents can volunteer to work within the Youth Engagement Space (YES) and Child Friendly Space (CFS) programmes; a new volunteer construction team; and to support our Communications.

This initiative is an opportunity for the community to be more involved in the planning and implementation of services; to help the current lack of cultural representation during planning of daily activities; and to provide camp residents with a sense of ownership of Lighthouse Relief's spaces in camp.

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The Child Friendly Space team has focused on improving the implementation of the After School Club, with a full-time facilitator for the space. Additionally, the team has been leading a weekly parents group, to discuss with the families of our young attendees issues that might be affecting them and their children, providing a safe space to exchange parenting experiences and advice!

Parallelly, the team in the Youth Engagement Space has made an extra effort towards diversifying their activities by starting an open gym, a recording studio and weekly CV and work-oriented workshops. The 6th edition of the Ritsona Kingdom Journal officially launched on 4 May in Ritsona, as part an event open to all residents of the camp and the wider Greek community.

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We thank you for your outstanding support and we call on you to continue enabling us to carry out our work, providing long-term and emergency response relief to refugees in Greece. Together, we can continue amplifying the voices of those who attend our programmes or receive our support and ensuring dignified support.