Over the course of the year we have been to Greece three times to try to support people (Syrian, Iraqi, Afghan etc.) who are stuck in the camps: the first time in May with the Women Legal Team in the Idomeni camp (on the border with Macedonia) where 15,000 people were waiting for the borders to open to be able to reach Europe, borders which to date have never been opened.
From Idomeni we have sent an urgent appeal to the European Court of Human Rights to denounce the inhuman and degrading conditions of life in the camps and the impossibility of reuniting with family members who are already in European cities.
In September and October we returned to check the living conditions of the people who had been transferred to the Greek government camps (old industrial warehouses located in peripheral areas), and we brought them basic necessities: warm clothes, winter shoes, blankets, material school, hygiene products and more.
In December , thanks to the collaboration with the Hope For Children association , we moved a Syrian family made up of Meriem, a disabled woman, her husband and her youngest daughter from the government camp to an apartment located in the city of Thessaloniki.
Hope For Children through the ‘ Housing project ‘ is taking care of the management of the apartment and the families inside.
With the help of some generous private donors, our association is paying the rent, utilities and food for Meriem’s family.
The day after arriving at the house, the 12 year old girl started going to school and regaining a bit of normality; 4 years ago her school in Syria was bombed and she survived while some of her classmates were unfortunately not so ‘lucky’.
We are currently working to find a home for another vulnerable case, a family of a Syrian woman with three children aged one, three and five. Fatin lives alone with her 3 children in the Sindos camp, waiting to be reunited with her husband who has been waiting for her in Germany for almost a year.
We need your precious help to also be able to help Fatin and his children : it is not easy to live in a tent in the cold, with poor hygiene facilities (chemical toilets and cold water), little food, little water and almost non-existent services for the children.
These families fled the war in Syria, crossed many kilometers on foot, risked their lives in small boats in the stretch of sea from Turkey to Greece, and after facing these difficulties, they were humiliated by the shameful European welcome.
We are perfectly aware that we cannot help all the families stranded in Greece, but we can give some of them a dignified and safe accommodation .
Help us give them back their right to a decent life…. at Christmas we give hope!