What have we done so far? 

• We went to Piraeus, the port city of Athens We gave the refugees who had just gotten off the boat food and drinks, warm clothes, diapers and we handed out endless amount of finger puppets to the children. 
  We went to the camps in and just outside Athens, in Thessaloniki, Eidomeni, Lesbos & other reception locations.Our activities in Greece were versatile. We always looked at what was needed. Here is a selection of what we did and bought:

• Providing soil for the vegetable garden on the roof of a shelter
• Money for chickens, for eggs
• Shopping for locations where they could cook: rice, oil, tea & sugar, vegetables and fruit, lentils, bread and many, many eggs

• We helped with the distribution of food and clothing
• We supported education projects
• Eluna helped with cooking at ’Home for All’ on Lesbos
• Hans and Corinne worked for 2 weeks on Lesbos at ’One Happy Family’, an organization for and by refugees that is now based in Athens. 
• We bought and distributed thousands of new socks and underpants and at least that many bananas 
• We bought modems for families so they could contact their home country via WiFi
• We bought scissors, mirrors, clippers and blow dryers so that some Arab boys could run their hair salon.
• We bought a large air conditioner so that in the large common area of ​​a community it was not so freezing cold  in wintertime and a little less scorching hot in summer.
• We bought many toys for many children
• Eluna bought litres and litres of oil in Lebanon to distribute in bottles in the camps in the Bekha Valley so that they could cook and the stove could work. 
• She also bought 60 mattresses because heavy rains had flooded the camp and left people lying on wet mattresses.

• We donated kettles and hot water bottles, hats, scarves and gloves, glasses, hygiene items, shoes and jackets
• We went into the parks in the evening with food and warm clothing for the homeless
  
  - In 2018 we initiated to collect and sort out a huge amount of clothes with a large group of volunteers.That was a wonderful example of collaboration! An involved family paid for the boxes and the van to transport the 32 pallets to Lesbos. Impressive and heart-warming what you can achieve together when everyone is on the same page!
  
  - We regularly joined other organizations to collectively fill a container with goods for Greece
  
  - For many years we have been part of the Moving Stones. We collected stuff and brought it to the refugees in Calais and Duinkerken.

  

  - We reached out for a family from Afghanistan who barely escaped from Kabul
  
  - We kept distributing clothes and other stuff to AZC’s , the homeless and places for people with little money.
  
  - In September 2023 we had a beautiful project. Our friend from Zimbabwe, who we met in Greece, was granted asylum in France. In France it is arranged in such a way that  in this case the government pays the rent for her apartment and her integration course. But beyond that she does not receive any benefits or money to furnish her new place. Understandably, this often leads to very distressing situations. What do you have to live on if you are only allowed to work and learn the language when you are granted asylum; how are you supposed to provide for your own livelihood? This is where we stepped in. We went to her with a car chock full of second hand stuff. We also bought new things there, including a bed with a mattress, a refrigerator and a gas stove. It was largely furnished in 3 days. What a joyful and satisfying action to be able to help someone on their way!

Marokko

In november 2023 Eluna and Corinne went to Marocco for two weeks to help with the consequences of the earthquake. Although this was no refugeework, it certainly was a way of helping people. You can read the report of this project in Newsletter 1.