Leaving the camp
Unfortunately, during the last weeks, the rules were changed again when it is possible for residents to leave the camp and when not. This has unfortunately also led to fewer people being able to visit our community centre again. Currently people who are with their police number on a list are allowed to leave the camp three times a week for three hours. If they leave the camp on another day or during another time they are fined by the police.
Weather conditions
The temperatures on Lesvos have fortunately dropped a bit, but it is still sunny and we are very happy about the new shaded area in the garden which was built by the people from Makerspace.
Covid Updates
Covid rules have again been updated in Greece. Now, only vaccinated and tested people can enter indoor areas. To adhere with these new rules and to protect everyone, OHF and its partners are in the process of modifying the current guidelines on site, to ensure we meet this new rule.
Orange juice is the hit!
The orange juice serving at OHF has been a huge success, however it has had some professional updates! It was often quite stressful to fill up oranges, dispose of the empty orange peels and bottle the filled cups of fresh juice at the same time. Fortunately, we have very dedicated and talented volunteers and people at LowTech who have taken on this problem and built a wonderful orange juice machine table. Before the new orange juice table, it would take twice as long making juice and be twice as messy, now we can make 30 litres of it in an hour. A hug thank you to all who made this possible.
New website for visitors of OHF
And also new is the wonderful new website with updates of all the different activities happening at One Happy Family. The website is now available in four languages: English, French, Arabic and Farsi. https://welcome.ohf-lesvos.org/
On the website the visitors can find general information such as opening hours, the location of OHF or our activities and offers and every week, the special events during the current week are presented. There is also a short presentation of all our partners, a link to their websites and their weekly schedules. The visitors also find a direct link to make an appointment at the repair workshop at makerspace or to our free online shop where they can place their orders. And last but not least links to websites with some general information about the asylum and refugee situation.
Visit of a circus group
The circus group “Cabuwazi” from Berlin has been visiting us for a few weeks and they are staying a little longer. Together with Yoga and sports with refugees and MVI, they do various great projects and activities such as acrobatics for children and other circus activities.
Bike repairing by Low Tech
Bikes are very popular on the island as not only do they get you where you want, but they also keep us all fit and healthy!
We asked one of our amazing volunteers, Joanie, a couple of questions about the bike section in makerspace. How many bikes do you repair every day? Joanie explained that they have 8 appointments a day, but in reality way more – at least 12. We then asked her what the most common problem is. She said, laughingly, “puncture, always, haha”.
What do you like most about working in makerspace? “That we are fixing things all day, it’s really satisfying to take a broken thing and fix it, the challenge is to find a good piece and put it back together. Community volunteers are like magicians, they can fix anything”.
Makerspace conducts the repairs with the bike owners teaching them invaluable skills for life. There is now a new upgraded system of booking appointments online. This has resulted in more time to fix the bikes in a smarter and faster way – Visit our new website where you can book it online at welcome.ohf-lesvos.org.
Many thanks to our 7 amazing volunteers working together to fix the island’s bikes!
Updates from the partner projects
For a few weeks we have new partners on our premises. IRC (International Rescue Committee) comes to our space once a week to do their psychological and mental health support group. Also WISH (Women in Solidarity House) is back to OHF. The area around the women’s space has been cleaned up and the outside painted. WISH is now holding their assemblies here again. Drop in the ocean has a container on our premises, they use it as storage and to hold some meetings. And also CMA (Crisis management association) shares one container with MVI (Medical Volunteers International) to store medical items.
Join our supporters call
Once again, the coverage of the situation for refugees at the EU external border has disappeared from the majority of the media.
Therefore, we want to give an insight into the situation on Lesvos and inform about how the OHF has adapted to the current situation. We look forward to seeing many familiar and new faces at the Zoom Call on Wednesday, October 13 at 7:00 pm CH time.
Sign up for the supporters call: