Medical Volunteers International (MVI), our incredible partner, offer mental health services here at OHF for both adults and children who suffer from severe mental health disorders and mental health complaints. We asked Paolo, the children’s program coordinator, to tell us more. “We provide mental health and psychoeducation group activities to children between 3-17 years old. …
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Meet Romy! Romy is our lovely volunteer from Switzerland. She has been coming back to One Happy Family every year since we opened our gates, which we are incredibly thankful for since she is a ray of sunshine, making OHF a happier place for both our visitors and volunteers. Her favourite things to do here …
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Meet Hosain! This month we said another special goodbye to one of our incredible volunteers, Hosain. Hosain has been with us for more than a year. During his time here he spread happiness and joy to all of our visitors and volunteers. Hosain is our technology extraordinaire. He ran computer classes for our volunteers and …
read moreSupport the recommendations for the Members of the European Parliament on how they should improve the situation for refugees and migrants in Greece: read, share and spead the word about the joint NGO Briefing
read moreIn the fight between Poland and Belarus, refugees are the ones losing: Read here full article More Background on the “case” against the three humanitarians: Read here at Al Jazeera or watch here more EUROnews
read moreCover-up documented At the end of September, 25 people from northern Iraq arrived in the village of Vasilitsi on the Greek mainland. But the next day, there was no trace of them. The mayor as well as several local residents documented their arrival and the whole situation. This was reported by the Tagesschau (German News …
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Visitors to OHF Sadly, the rules regarding entering and exiting the camp have gotten stricter in the past weeks. People are only allowed to leave the camp for a few hours, once a week. Sometimes people are lucky and are able to get more time out of the camp. This seems dependent upon who is …
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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!
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We have had another cohort graduate from the ICDL course, which is still being run by our amazing teacher Hosain. Hosain had some beautiful words to say about his students: “I like how hard working my students are. They always do their best to come even when they struggle to get out of the camp. …
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The Women’s space has been busy these last weeks with new sewing projects starting!The Pachamama project is an amazing network of volunteers around the world making reusable pads and distributing them to refugees and other vulnerable communities. The project inside the Women’s space has been running for a couple of weeks now, and makes around …
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Meet Nicolas! Nicolas, our incredible coordinator from Switzerland, has been with us for 3,5 years! He is our partner coordinator but also our IT god. One of his latest projects is our new fabulous website for the visitors. His favourite thing to do at One Happy Family is going around to the different partners and …
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Meet Lisa! Lisa, our wonderful volunteer from Germany, has been with OHF for six months now. She is our all-around handywoman and really makes the community centre shine and sparkle with her magic touch. Lisa loves to paint and be creative. One of her happiest memories at OHF was when she was painting the online …
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Goodbye Abbas! Last week we said a special goodbye to our incredible, fantastic, amazing, friend and volunteer, Abbas. First of all, we would like to thank you for always being a sunshine here at OHF! We were incredibly fortunate to have Abbas, the world’s best barber, resident tour guide and all-around volunteer! He was always …
read moreSelin, who has fantastically taken care of a lot of administrative work and finances over the last two years, is leaving us at the end of October. Dear Selin, your laughter and positive nature have enriched our One Happy Family and we will miss you a lot! We are sad to say goodbye not only …
read moreFor our supporters from Switzerland: The collection of signatures for the Frontex referendum has begun. We demand: No money for human rights violations! Please sign the referendum. Violence, misery and death have become a sad daily routine at the EU’s external borders. Refugees from war zones are beaten up, robbed and sent back. Frontex plays …
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Record number of low arrivalsAccording to the Greek Ministry of Migration and Asylum, the number of arrivals to Greece is down 53% in the first eight months of 2021, compared to the same period in 2020. Arrivals to Lesvos are down 75% during this same period. As of 19th September, there are 3,432 refugees and asylum …
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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 …
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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 …
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Have you ever heard of Abibliophobia – the fear of running out of reading material? Don’t worry, at OHF we have the cure! We have books for all ages and in many languages. Now thanks to our fantastic handyman Rowan (once again!), We have brand new bookshelves. Since the library is not being used as …
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Wahid is one of our superhero security team members from Afghanistan and has been with us for 5 months. He joined OHF because he wanted to meet people from all over the world. He currently knows four languages: Pashto, Dari, Turkish, English and he is learning Greek! Ping Pong is one of his favourite things …
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