We’ve made a few changes to the layout of the Community Centre and given it a fresh lick of paint! The OHF team and our partner organisations all came together on the 5th and 6th of November for a weekend of heavy lifting and painting to rejig our space and make things easier and more …

Last week the OHF team, alongside those from our partner organisations, came together for an evening of conversation, food and music on our wonderful rooftop space here at Victoria Community Centre.Between busy schedules and important meetings, it can sometimes be hard to catch each other, so events like these are crucial for everyone to come …

This month there was another OHF event in Switzerland. On Saturday, August 27, a charity day was held at the Lido in Basel. It was possible to register in advance for beach volleyball, paddle tennis and bocce tournaments.The whole day was spent playing and sweating (an OHF team consisting of board members, volunteers and former …

In typical OHF tradition, we always have something to decorate and paint. This time it was the roof terrace that got an upgrade and was beautified. We repainted the benches, got some extra tables and chairs and got some wonderful plants from Project Elea, which had to leave Eleonas Camp due to its upcoming closure. …

And it goes on. Table tennis is being played in Athens again.Endless hours of table tennis and table tennis tournaments were played on Lesvos. And despite the limited space in Athens, we have also found space for our table tennis table here and can continue this tradition. And there are even the same duels being …

On the weekend of 14 and 15 May a small miracle happened: the whole coordination team and the board of the Swiss association were together in one place for the first time in 5 years. The event was a two-day workshop led by MAPS to better define our structures in the organisation and align them …

As said in our part about News from One Happy Family: The Victoria Community Center is open!  After months of preparing and organising it is finally happening and we’re more than happy to welcome everyone in Filis 68!  The opening ceremony was accompanied by musicians and so the atmosphere of One Happy Family on Lesvos …

As told in the ‘News from the Community Centre’ section, we welcomed our first visitors last week. It was wonderful to see the Community Centre getting livelier by the day, and of course we could count on the great support of our One Happy Family. Ernest was at the newly installed reception and welcomed the …

Five years of One Happy Family Community Centre on Lesvos, means five years of hundreds, maybe thousands, of people involved in making the Centre what it is today. All of the moments from the last five years stay close in our hearts. All the experiences we had have allowed us to go differently through the …

As you could read under “News from the community centre”, we have decided to move to Athens. Of course, such a change of location brings some logistical work. In order to be able to use as many things as possible from our centre in Lesbos in Athens, many things are already being packed into boxes. …

The International School of Peace (ISOP) has made some understandable and difficult decisions over these past months. Since March 2020, when the school burnt down and the Covid-19 pandemic broke out, many things changed and shifted from what we knew and how we worked. Their ability to fulfil their role in people’s lives they way …

Manroof supports us with 500 reusable bags per month. Those bags are made out of recycled banners. At OHF, we use those bags at the free online shop. They are packed with the ordered hygiene products and the people come and can pick up their individual orders.  Fifie, our coordination team member who is responsible …

Last week we received an amazing and important first aid training provided by stichtingbootvluchteling. We were taught a number of lifesaving procedures from CPR to helping someone who is choking. A massive thank you to BRF for providing us with this training and helping us make OHF the safest place it can be!

And on and on the One Happy Family site gets more and more colourful. Our extraordinary volunteers together with our amazing visitors have been upgrading the community centre during the last days. The latest big colour change is that our free online shop has been given a new look.  We asked Chrysa, the brain behind …

In July, portraits of residents from the Kara Tepe camp were installed in 16 different European cities, as an exhibition from the famous photographer, JR. The exhibition is part of the larger “Inside Out Project”.  “Europe, Look me in the Eyes”, originally started in Lesvos, however it soon was echoed by groups across the European …

Two former volunteers of One Happy Family decided to take on a new challenge and created the project Migrant Bus in France.  The idea of this project is to drive around France and create social bonds between people that would have never met otherwise. We love this idea because it’s similar to what One Happy …

Today we want to share – along with the picture – some words from Estelle Jean, co-founder of one of our dear partner organisations:   “In 2017 I started Yoga and Sport FOR Refugees with Dana and Kamara. Practicing sports together with one goal: making people happy and strong, because in these difficult circumstances practicing sports …