Advance Relief Efforts for Refugees in Greece

As the summer of 2018 ends, one thing is clear: the situation in Greece remains dire. Many people remain in limbo. According to the officialfigures,there are nearly 60,000 refugeesregisteredin Greece, while over 20,000 people have arrived so far this year, some taking the perilous journey across the Aegean sea.  Many of whom we receive directly in Lesvos. 

Accommodation on 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 as the numbers continue to grow.

Meanwhile, 60,00 people remain in the refugee camps, from those, almost 900 women, men, andchildren are living at the Ritsonacamp, which is currently at full capacity. Consequently, attendance in all our spaces has risen over the past few weeks. 

Earlier this year we announced the foundation of the Residential Volunteer Programme. Since then, our programming in Ritsona hasbeen radically impacted. There have been times, that, due to staff and volunteer shortages, some of our programmingswasable to remain delivered thanks to the hard work of resident volunteers. It has been estimated that as much as 60% of our Youth Engagement Space programming is delivered by our Resident Volunteers. 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 the planningof daily activities; and to provide camp residents with a sense of ownership of Lighthouse Relief's spaces in camp.

As always, it is the intention of Lighthouse Relief to amplify the voices of those living in and facing such conditions. This August saw the release of the 7^thedition of the popular Ritsona Kingdom Journal. A magazine both written and edited by residents of Ritsona camp. This edition is of particular significance as the online edition was released on Narratio, a popular platform for youth expression. This was the result of a collaboration between Lighthouse Relief and Ahmed Badr, an Iraqi refugee, andsocial media influencer. The online editions of future issues will also be hosted on this site. 

In Ritsona, to celebrate itslaunch we co-hosted anevent open to all residents of the camp and the wider Greek community. This was a wonderful event attended which was well received by many. 

This followed an earlier concert associated with the YES, which was extremely popular with all residents of Ritsona. With music playing and being performed well into the evening

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In the Child-FriendlySpace, there has been an increased focus on Arts and Crafts in both the main CFS space and After-School Club. these activities are consistently popular, as the CFScontinues to grow and see increased engagement, currently 76 children attend CFS and take part in its activities.

What’s more, we have returned to hosting a parents group, giving parents the opportunity to connect with us, and each other. Many of their children, attendees of the atCFS have began or returned to school. Whilst, intheory, this is an exciting time for the children. The reality is more unfortunate, many children lack the necessary language skills to fully enjoy and benefit from the education and interaction with their Greek peers. 

This poses challenges to our work, but they are challenges we hope to meet.

In the space, Lighthouse Relief has diversified it’s programming over the past couple ofmonths,by hostinga number of NGOs and organisationsin our space such as the storytelling groupRafi and Friends. We also collaborated with the group The Fireside Project, and their performance of Shakespeare’s play The Tempest. Many of the play’s cast were Ritsona residents performing for the first time. 

Across both spaces, we have debuted many new initiatives aiming to boost female participation. In July we piloted a programme catering to pre-teen and teenage girls. This was designed to be a safe, entirely female space allowing the girls who attended to relax and unwind in an environment tailored exclusively for them.

This programme was a notable success, seeingseveralnew visitors, visitors who were otherwise reluctant to engage in the mixed YES and CFS space. This is a programme we wish to continue in the coming months.

In the YES space, which traditionally has been mostly male-dominated. We hosted a series of women-only workshops cateringtotheir interests, for example,fashion and clothes making the workshop. This workshop was extremely popular with those who attended. One resident who attended the workshop said that the workshop made her feel “like a queen” and was a wonderful moment in the often mundane life in the camp. She even went so far as to say that when she is relocated, she would seek out similar experiences in her new life. 

On top of this,we have begun to offer female-onlylanguage workshops. Given that Ritsona has a largely male population, we feel it is important to create spaces that are exclusively for women.

Both spaces have remained open and operating well despite frequentchanges in staff and volunteers. In the Over the past couple ofmonths, both the CFS and YES have changed managers, yet work continues as effective as ever.Our valued volunteers brought a range of skills and ideas to our spaces which gave them a real sense of dynamismand a wonderful unpredictability. For some weeks we had a professional yoga teacher, who not only hosted workshops for general YES attendees, but also resident volunteers. These were very well received. 
A similar class washeld in the CFS by a volunteer who spoke fluent Arabic, her language skills also proved invaluable for German classes in the YES. Overall, we had a great many volunteers in our spaces this summer, whose dedication and effort made our spaces not only made our work more effective but made them popular and enjoyable spaces for the residents to visit. This was despite occasional changes in staff. 

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Our team in Lesvos remained very busy thissummer, receiving a large number of new arrivals, each of whom was escorted to a nearby transit camp. At the same time,our Eco Team became operational againand immediately got to work removing many tonnes of wastage from the Lesvos coastline. We see the Eco Team as a way to give back to the local community, as well as mitigate any environmental impact occurring from either our work or from the landings. Perhaps partly because of this, we have developed good relationships with local members of the 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.

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.