Life at One Happy Family – when open

For many weeks until the beginning of November, the One Happy Family has been bubbling over again and an important part of this is the many projects of our partners. Some have started again after a long dry spell, some are completely new and some have moved their location to us.

Back and full of energy is The International School of Peace with lessons for adults live and online. Furthermore, they run a leadership program for youth, training teenagers to become so-called “guiders”. Also, English classes take place for community volunteers of all partners and yesterday they informed the students how classes will continue online during lockdown.

Also back full of energy and extremely busy is the “Makerspace” of Low Tech with Refugees. In the workshop they screw, weld, solder, bend, oil, hammer and laugh. A new team has been formed, which mainly repairs bicycles, but will soon also take on the production of power banks for the people in the camp.

Almost without interruption Yoga and Sport for refugees is also back on the OHF ground in the so-called “Yoga-Tent” with a dense programme. The offers range from karate, boxing, yoga, Muay Thai, wrestling, dancing, Zumba, jogging and self-defence. They also proudly present their brand new climbing wall in their gym not far from the OHF.

Almost every day several groups of students from Refocus Media Labs  are on site. They train young media professionals to work journalistically, combining content and visuals, and they work diligently on articles and reports about the situation on Lesbos for international media.

Wave of Hope are our newest partners on site. They offer daily classes in English and arts for women and children and continue what they started in Moria before. They are also currently improving the spatial structures of the former women’s house.

Medical Volunteers International e.V., who previously ran the primary care clinic, are now back with a team of experts and provide psychological support for patients from the camp and therapeutic group sessions with children. They now run their primary health care clinic in the new camp, where they can reach the people faster.

Sporos Regeneration Institute, our partners for the garden, have taken over the paradise from Better Days and slowly but surely more and more green and colourful leaves and buds are emerging from the once dry beds.

And of course The Lava Project, who washed the clothes and towels from OHF without interruption, even through the last lockdown, and are now starting to wash again for medical teams in the camp to stop the scabies epidemic.

We also occasionally have other groups, such as International Rescue Committee and Stichting Bootvluchteling who use our facilities to hold training sessions or workshops and Together for Better Days  who conduct a large survey with our visitors to assess their needs.

We are extremely happy about this colourful offer and we are almost a bit dizzy from the many requests and project ideas that are coming down on us every day. It will definitely remain exciting and dynamic and despite the upcoming Covid challenges we are doing our best, in any way, to keep this place as lively as possible soon again.

#TogetherForTheBetter