#WeAreFamily Is the new photo & video project of SolidarityNow that captures and displays real human stories as being told in the everyday life by refugees and their hosts during their cohabitation.

Yes, they feel as one family. Sharing the same roof, they create strong bonds without religious, race or other barriers.
These families are the spontaneous result of their coexistence – the ones of the refugees who live in Greece and the people who opened their homes and host refugees who are in need and who lack basic goods, such as a safe shelter.

#WeAreFamily project is being developed in the context of the campaign Home for Hope and has been realized in collaboration with the award-winning photojournalist George Moutafis.

From now on, it will unveil its stories at the campaign’s website (www.homeforhope.gr) and the social networks of the organization (fb, youtube, Instagram, twitter etc).

The aim of the project is to make our fellow citizens to see the refugees with the eyes of a relative, a friend who opens his house to share some common moments and experiences. And more than space, they share their friendship, their cultures.

Banish Fear. Give shelter. Give hope, www.homeforhope.gr

* Home For Hope program is supported by UNHCR and funded by the EU.

Since the 10^th of October, until Sunday 23^rd, SolidarityNow … is boarding to the Metro and continues to send, in every possible way, the solidarity message via the project entitled “Home For Hope” (https://www.homeforhope.gr/en/) – this time the message travels by the metro, the most popular means of transportation, to reach the hundreds of thousands of its passengers!
See attached the campaign messages which will be placed in the glass showcases inside the train (seat dividers), as well as above the passenger seats in the station platforms’ of Syntagma, Dafni and Doukissis Plakentias.
The basic philosophy of the Home for Hope campaign designed for the Metro is based on verbal communication, since the passenger has the time and consequently the inclination to read the message. Our aim is to make the passenger to compare his daily life with that of a refugee and see that the minor issues he/she faces, are often smaller in relation to the situation experienced by the refugees.
Also, the TV message of the Home For Hope campaign will be presented -with Greek subtitles- for one week on the Metro and train (HSAP) TV screens (the presentation is offered by STASY S.A.).
And our prompt to passengers:
Let’s make this very important action even greater and multiply its power: those of us who use the Metro for our transportation, let’s take a selfie ahead of the campaign’s stickers and upload our photo to SolidarityNow page on Facebook and/or on other social networks, tagging @SolidarityNow and using the hashtag #HomeForHope!
Let’s unite our voices! The only thing needed is our mobile phone through which we can become part of SolidarityNow’s efforts to stand alongside refugees and enhance the positive impact of the Home for Hope campaign. Spreading the message is an act of solidarity!
The visual/artistic content that you find attached -as well as the whole Home for Home campaign – is an inspiration product of Soho Square / Bold Ogilvy advertising company (provided for free).

Through the message “Banish Fear. Give Shelter” SolidarityNow begins a nation-wide campaign for the Hosting Scheme project “Home for Hope,” that aims to raise awareness, inform, and support citizens to “open their homes” and to host refugees who need shelter for a short period of time.

About the Home for Hope Program
Home for Hope, implemented by SolidarityNow since April 2016 with the support of the UNCHR and funding from the EU, aims to support and give shelter to asylum seekers and individuals who meet the criteria to be relocated to another European country.
SolidarityNow has created 800 temporary hosting places for refugees –600 in Athens/Attica and 200 in Thessaloniki and its surrounding area. This will ensure decent housing for these vulnerable groups of Greece’s population, for a limited time period. Until today, and through the Home for Hope project, more than 450 refugees have been hosted.

“Banish Fear. Give Shelter. Give Hope.”
SolidarityNow’s information campaign, targeting to dynamically pass on the message and encourage citizens to take action to host, will be rolled out to the general public from October through December through various actions:

• special website for the program www.homeforhope.gr, that contains all the relevant information about the program, including communication details and online forms for citizens to immediately express their interest to host
• TV spot and radio spots entitled “Banish fear!” (which will be disseminated for free by mass media as social messages)
• entries in the press and electronic media
• digital campaign through the organization’s social media
• a building installation that will “dress” the Municipality of Athens’ Cultural Center on Acadimias str.
• promotion of the campaign at Metro and HSAP stations

SolidarityNow’s informational campaign was made possible through the communications company SohoSquare, whereas the movie «Banish Fear» from the company Foss Productions.

The TV message and its stars
The TV message of the campaign entitled “Banish Fear” shows the reality that is lived by refugees – the anxiety about the unknown and the different, as well as coexistence. Fears that are shared by those who are hosted as well as those who are hosting. Fears that only together can be overcome.
In the SolidarityNow television campaign, the refugee that is featured is not an actor. His name is Alaa, one of the refugee beneficiaries of the Home for Hope program. A family of Greeks is hosting him and his family until they depart for Ireland. By taking part in the television spot, Alaa in his own way wants to pass on his own message to the people watching and listening to him: “Banish Fear. Give Hope and Shelter.”

#We Are Family
Moreover, in the coming months, real-life hosting stories of refugees and citizens who have opened their homes for hosting will be published on SolidarityNow’s social media, through a photo and video projectentitled #WeAreFamily, in collaboration with the award-winning photojournalist Giorgos Moutafis.
The goal is to help our fellow citizens see refugees through the eyes of a relative or friend that opens their home to welcome and host them, and shares: their space, their friendship, their table, their culture.

Let’s be a part of the solution
Through this campaign, SolidarityNow calls on those who live in Athens and Thessaloniki to show their solidarity on more time, by offering to host people who need it most.
“It’s important, in a time where the migrant and refugee issue cheapens and is forgotten – as not urgent – and in a time where the phenomena of racism and xenophobia test our reflexes, to leave fear behind and to show solidarity in actions rather than words. Let’s give the people who don’t even have access to the basics, at least a dignified and safe accommodation,” notes Sophia Ioannou, Head of Communications at SolidarityNow.

Stay tuned to TV and radio, look around you for images and faces of “Home for Hope” and follow our upcoming internet campaign and become part of the solution!

A click at www.homeforhope.gr or a call at +30 210 32 33 816 is enough to start.

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The closure of the borders and the Balkan route resulted in several thousands of people being trapped in Greece. Among them, the most vulnerable group: unaccompanied and separated children. Even though they are the most vulnerable, these children often do not receive the protection enshrined in European and international law.

In order to safeguard the human right to safety and decent living conditions, Faros in collaboration with four other organizations – SolidarityNow, Merimna, CivisPlus and Babel – are launching a program entitled “Following their Footsteps”.

The program aims to strengthen the systematic identification and registration of unaccompanied and separated minors living under difficult conditions in the streets of Athens and the provision of holistic care and hospitality through an alternative to detention or life on the streets. More specifically, the program aims to provide these children social integration opportunities, enhance the effectiveness of the existing support network in Athens and contribute decisively to reducing the phenomenon of absconding from accommodation structures through advocacy for the development of a specific national policy.

The founder of Faros, Patricia Kirk, states: “Faros specializes in unaccompanied minors and we strongly believe that this common endeavor will cover important gaps in the current supportive framework of one of the most vulnerable groups among refugees. The project ‘Following their Footsteps’ strengthens our constant efforts to reach out to children, who are alone in the streets of Athens, and supports us in providing them with a shelter, at ‘Faros Home’. With professionalism, but also with a lot of love for what we do, we will care for every child in need, in a fruitful cooperation with Babel, CivisPlus, Merimna and SolidarityNow.”

As Epaminondas Farmakis, Managing Director at SolidarityNow, states: “Unaccompanied and separated children are the most vulnerable group in the migratory flows that arrive daily in our country. They are children who have lost their families during the journey, or who have been forced to leave their homes in search of a better future in Europe. They arrive in Greece alone, in order to continue their journey to Central Europe but are threatened at all stages of their journey by smugglers and other criminal networks, and are often forced to live in inhumane conditions. For this reason, there is an urgent need to ensure their protection and decent living conditions. This is exactly what we are trying to achieve through this program, along with the organizations Faros, Merimna, CivisPlus and Babel.”

Through the “Following their Footsteps” program – from June 2016 until December 2017 – we aim to develop the following activities:
Street-work in places where refugees congregate in order to identify approximately 500 unaccompanied and separated children.
Operation of a temporary shelter with capacity of 20 children for the provision of temporary accommodation to 280 unaccompanied minors and separated children until they get appointed to permanent shelters.
Greek language courses for the better integration of children who remain in the country, through the operation of two classes for more than 100 children.
Capacity building of street-workers and other caregivers working with unaccompanied and separated minors. Overall, 50 professionals will be trained on grief counselling, as many children are orphans or have recently lost a loved one. Additionally, two supervisory teams will be created for a total of 20 to 24 professionals which through monthly sessions will maximize the effectiveness of the teams working in the field.
Research on the reasons that Greece has a very high rate of absconding. This will be the first time that such research will be conducted in our country. The ultimate goal is to draft a Policy Brief with specific policies and proposals on how to address the issue.
Advocacy and awareness – raising of stakeholders (NGOs, public institutions, academia, health professionals, etc.) in order to reduce the phenomenon of absconding.

Mobile Units Program for Refugees in Piraeus
from SolidarityNow

With the support of Unicef and in cooperation with EKKA

SolidarityNow with the support of UNICEF and the valuable collaboration of the National Centre for Social Solidarity (EKKA), while promoting solidarity in practice and in an effort to provide effective support to refugees and migrants who are still trapped in the port of Piraeus, launched a program entitled Blue Dots. The purpose of this program is to provide to extremely vulnerable population groups -with a particular focus on unaccompanied minors- integrated information / information services on key issues of concern, as well as significant psychosocial assistance.

Since the beginning of the program in May 2016 until today, the teams of SolidarityNow and NCSS which consist of qualified social scientists, psychologists and interpreters, have helped more than 1,000 refugees. Specifically, they manage and support 501 social cases, 413 legal cases and have helped to give psychological support in 147 incidents. At the same time, a number of people who needed further assistance -more than 200- were referred to partner organizations (eg MDM, Praksis etc.)
Goal of the initiative

The vast majority of migrants and refugees arriving in Greece are coming from the islands and thus Piraeus port is considered as the transition station through which are passing. However, following the Western Balkan route’s closure, more than 2,00 people are currently stranded in the port, rendering the spot the second biggest informal settlement. “Despite the fact that several independent bodies and organizations are present in the port, offering goods and services, it is noticed that there is a lack both in the provision of valid information that these people need in order to plan their next steps, and the required psychosocial support,” notes the Head of Programs of SolidarityNow, Elli Xenou. “This exact gap is what SolidarityNow aims to fill, through its collaboration with EKKA and the support of Unicef for the Blue Dot program, thus actively contributing to the protection of vulnerable populations from further risks”.

Objectives of the Program

The main objective of the Mobile Units Program implemented by SolidarityNow, is to ensure that all migrant and refugee families who live or pass through the port of Piraeus and from other parts of Athens and Attica, have full access to important services.
The specific objectives of the program, are:
1. Info sharing| Ensure efficient and accurate information sharing to refugees and migrants arriving to Piraeus port and/or other places of concentration in Attica.
2. Direct psychosocial support (PSS) and psychological first aid (PFA) included| psychological first aid and psychosocial support is provided to vulnerable families and children at risk.
3. Referrals| Appropriate referrals to: a) available and accessible services and, b) available shelters/accommodation centers/camps, food and non-food items, and other supportive services.
4. Identification of unaccompanied children and other vulnerable population| children at risk, with particular focus on unaccompanied children and vulnerable families, persons/children with disability and/or illness, cases of suspected trafficking, (S)GBV survivors, etc. are identified and protected.
5. Evaluation of children nutritional status through MUAC| mid-upper arm circumference to identify possible malnutrition traces is performed.

Unaccompanied Minors at the center of our actions

Between January and March 2016, 1,210 unaccompanied children were registered (an increase of over 400% compared to the corresponding recording of 2015 / Source: EKKA), while the total number of such cases is estimated to reach 10,000 by the end of the year. These children are expected to remain in Greece longer due to the closure of the borders and because of the increasingly stricter policies adopted. The national system under the current crisis is unprepared to support these children or even to identify and assess the increasing number of cases. In this context, this program of SolidarityNow focuses on unaccompanied minors through actions regarding the identification and evaluation of the nutritional profile of children in order to identify and prevent malnutrition cases.

The Press Conference for the program “Actions for refugees in Thessaloniki – Hospitality Services and Support,” which is financed entirely by SolidarityNow, was held on Thursday, June 23, 2016.

The program aims at addressing in a holistic manner the basic needs (such as housing, nutrition, health coverage and provision of legal aid) of persons in need of international protection in the city of Thessaloniki, and is implemented by the Municipality of Thessaloniki and in collaboration with the organizations ARSIS, PRAKSIS and the Greek Council for Refugees.

Speaking about the program and the Selefkidon Street structure, Mayor Yiannis Boutaris stressed that the Municipality of Thessaloniki has developed a close cooperation with the organization SolidarityNow for a long time now. “During difficult times of crisis, charities contribute to better addressing acute social problems and to financing projects that otherwise would not be able to be implemented, thereby reducing the dependence of the municipality on government grants,” he said.

The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon visited the SolidarityNow Solidarity Center
for the most vulnerable populations

The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, on the first day of his arrival in Greece, visited the Athens Solidarity Center, to be on the side of the refugees and to see firsthand the taken by the humanitarian crisis in the country.

The Secretary General, as part of a brief visit to our country, visited the SolidarityNow Athens Solidarity Center, where he met and spoke with the President of the organization, Mr. Stelios Zavvos, members of the Board of the organization, employees and volunteers of the program, on how to assist the most vulnerable people in our country.

“I am very moved and it is a great pleasure to visit this Solidarity Center of SolidarityNow. It’s a small place but they provide so much. It’s the first place I am visiting in Greece”, stated the UN Secretary General. To continue referring to the current crisis: “Many thousands of people have lost their lives. When your life is threatened you have to run and seek help. And this crisis today is a crisis of solidarity. For this reason, I want to talk with the world leaders. Because this crisis has become a global issue. My initiative taken is to reinforce each other. The leaders should show their compassion and not to discriminate, not to succumb to xenophobic sentiments. Refugees and migrants can contribute to the community with their skills, their knowledge, their education. And we have to give them education and job opportunities. Instead of building walls we need to build bridges between people”, the UN Secretary General concluded.

The UN Secretary General was informed about our more than 100,000 free services (medical, legal, psychosocial, etc.) that we have offered from 2014 until today, to more than 40,000 vulnerable people affected by the crisis.

“The current visit of the UN Secretary General Mr. Ban Ki-Moon at the SolidarityNow Center underlines the vital importance that the international community acknowledges regarding the work that all NGOs, the civil society and all Greek people offer to solve the refugee crisis” noted the President of SolidarityNow, Mr. Stelios Zavvos. And he emphasized: “Above all, it is but an acknowledgment and an encouragement for those who are on the front line serving the European ideals of solidarity and democracy under the most adverse conditions”.

Until today, SolidarityNow has allocated 15 million euros for projects related to addressing the socio-economic and humanitarian crisis in Greece.

Ban Ki-moon, who arrived in our country to meet with Greek officials, will depart tomorrow Saturday, June 18, for Lesvos to meet and talk with refugees, asylum seekers, migrants, volunteers, organizations, citizens and local authorities.

Watch the video of the visit here: