Emergency support fund for refugees in Brussels.

There are currently more than 600 refugees sleeping rough in Brussels. Men, women and children from countries such as Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Syria and Egypt live in Maximillian park beside the northern train station of the city.
The youngest person we have seen in the park is eight years old.
There are several young, female unaccompanied minors also living in sleeping bags.
We met a woman we recognised from Calais, 7 months pregnant and sleeping on a piece of cardboard.
There is constant police presence, no shelter from the elements, risk of exploitation by traffickers and arrest, no water point and no toilets in the park.
Problem. Mushkila kabir.

At the moment there are only sporadic food distributions in the area and a wonderful (but sadly overwhelmed) network of citizens who are hosting refugees either in their homes or in a 300-person accommodation centre that they have set up. 

So why do we need your money?
We are a small group of ex-Calais volunteers with a combined 4 years experience working with displaced people across the UK, France, Belgium, Greece and Lebanon. We met in Calais whilst distributing up to 2000 meals to the refugee community every day with already established organisations. When we heard more and more about the situation in Brussels and how desperate the need for support and solidarity was, we decided to come and try and get involved with the great work that is already here. 

We took our lead from the hosting network already set up and opened up the apartment we were staying in. The first night, we had two unaccompanied minors staying who would otherwise have been outside without a sleeping bag. Since then, we’ve hosted around six people a night, providing a warm and safe place to rest, charge phones, eat and wash. We have the contact details of the over 20 young people we have hosted, and are in regular contact with them to arrange accommodation for the night.



We may not be an official charity, but we are proud to have created a safe place of rest for those who would otherwise be sleeping rough. Every evening is spent cooking together with a mix of nationalities and cultures. Spicy ‘berbere’ stews, mountains of pasta, heavily sugared coffee and bananas often feature on the menu. Everybody pitches in to clean up and set up extra beds if needed.

We want to keep this going for the bitterly cold winter months, we have calculated that we are spending about €10 a night on dinners (bread, spices, eggs, pasta, potatoes, sugar, tea, coffee) / showers (soap, razors, towels) / clothes washing for 6-12 people (laundry powder) / and bed clothes (mattresses, blankets).
By the end of this month we are going to need to find funds from somewhere. Raising €1000 would allow us to keep this up for another three months, until the end of January.
Other more emergency outgoings include top up for phones, normally 10 euro a time (especially for minors, it is vital they can contact any support networks they have in the city) emergency jackets as weather worsens, normally 15-20 euro each, thick, waterproof boots, 25 euro a pair, and as many pairs as 1 euro gloves as we can fit into our bags.



The money raised here will be withdrawn by Heather and used here in Brussels 

Here is the latest report by Refugee Rights Europe published in October about the current situation in Brussels. 

http://refugeerights.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/RRE_LeftInBetween.pdf