Holistic Support for Refugees Arriving in Greece

Here are the latest updates from IsraAID's programs supporting refugees in Greece:

Northern Greece

In April, IsraAID took over management of the Sindos Community Center in Thessaloniki, together with our partners Be A Robin. More than 130 people attended the opening event to learn about the center’s activities, with food prepared by fellow refugees. The center serves the refugee community living in the urban city center, ensuring access to mental health support, art therapy, community activities and more.

Recent events at Sindos Community Center include:

Community Women’s Day. More than 60 women from Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Iran, Iraq and Syria attended. Activities included dance, relaxation, and group support sessions on self-expression and bonding. This provides an opportunity to empower female refugees in their communities.

Community Dental Day. Access to dental care and information about oral hygiene is a serious issue for refugees in Thessaloniki. IsraAID’s team provided free dental checkups by an Arabic-speaking dentist, distributed hygiene kits, toothbrushes & dental floss, and delivered education on the importance of good oral hygiene.

Lesbos

Harry, IsraAID’s Medical Coordinator, recently shared this story from his time working on IsraAID’s medical programme providing immediate, shore-line care to newly arrived refugees in Lesbos:

"It is my last day in Lesbos, Greece, and I’m driving on a dirt road in a small Jeep with a family of Syrian refugees, when one of them, a little girl, piled in the back with her mother and five siblings, starts singing. The road that leaves the rocky coast where their small boat landed is bumpy, and it’s important that I stay safe; I’ve got precious cargo on board. They’ve been through hell to get here.

I get a brief glimpse of the singing girl in the back seat. A shy smile, a few missing teeth, a few brown curls, a red jacket, still wet from her journey across the Aegean. She could be 6 years old.

She sees me looking back at her and our eyes meet for half a second. She temporarily becomes too shy to sing and stifles a giggle. I laugh out loud. Her parents smile; her Dad in the front seat with a son on his lap, her mother with an 8-month old baby girl with what I hope is only a mild viral respiratory infection. Her siblings giggle.

A second of wonderfully awkward silence passes and she starts singing again, a little louder now. A happy tune like a cartoon jingle. She keeps singing until we stop and they all tumble out.

I get out my medical equipment and my paperwork, the two tools of my trade, and try to find something in my limited supplies that will help her baby sister breath a little easier. She likely has a viral infection, but it could be a bacterial pneumonia. It is difficult to tell without an X-ray or lab tests.

Eight hours later I’m back in Israel. The singing girl has moved on too, to an overcrowded refugee camp in Lesbos. She and her sister will remain there with their family for an uncertain period of time, until the authorities find someplace else on the island, hopefully someplace better, for them to go. And then they will wait there while officials determine if they will stay in Greece, move elsewhere in Europe or be sent back.

Her family fled a nation mired in a terrible civil war with just a few small bags of belongings to start a new life with. It hardly seems like a moment to sing, or smile, or laugh. But they made it into Europe, finally, and, for a moment, they felt safe and happy. Or at least she did."

Thank you for your support, which makes our work possible! More updates to follow ...

Links:

• IsraAID's Head of Mission in Lesbos writes for Haaretz newspaper