Bicycles for Refugees in Greece
Donation protected
My name is Chris FIllery, I am from Brighton, England. I have been volunteering with Refugees in Thessaloniki, northern Greece. The people I have met are living in very basic conditions, mostly Syrian families many with young children in tents in warehouses. My experience is that they are lovely, warm, generous people who are just in a really bad situation and I want to help them. Myself and James Clarke met a local chap named Georgios Farfaras who runs a social enterprise here (http://www.greenwayscoop.gr)
and we all decided to work together to help refugees fix and maintain their bikes and to teach road safety. Our first workshops with the residents of Frackapore camp have been awesome. There are a lot of bikes that have been cobbled together out of scavenged or swapped parts but not many of them are fully working, most without brakes, tyres, innertubes etc. The kids get really excited about getting them fixed and lots of adults come out and get involved with the repairs. The sense of community is fantastic. You can immediately see the difference that you make to the childrens lives. Its SO important for them to stay active and play and the bikes are a huge part of that. These kids have been through so much and its great to see them riding around the warehouse together smiling.
For the adults, bicycles are transport. It means they can go visit friends and family in other camps amongst other things and it also keeps them active.
I can't tell you how enthuastic everyone is about the project.
So the idea is to allow and support the camp residents to fix their bicycles and also to teach them safety. Georgios runs the project and I want to help fund him. My idea is to be able to provide a kind of mobile (free) shop that he can take to camps full of spares - innertubes, tyres, brakes etc and tools. I need your help to pay for this.
We've started in Frackapore but we hope to cover many more camps. I would like to have every bike in every camp in Thessaloniki fully working and safe as soon as possible!
Every penny I receive will go on equipment, no wages, storage, admin etc and I will post details of how it was all spent.
Please help me make a difference x
and we all decided to work together to help refugees fix and maintain their bikes and to teach road safety. Our first workshops with the residents of Frackapore camp have been awesome. There are a lot of bikes that have been cobbled together out of scavenged or swapped parts but not many of them are fully working, most without brakes, tyres, innertubes etc. The kids get really excited about getting them fixed and lots of adults come out and get involved with the repairs. The sense of community is fantastic. You can immediately see the difference that you make to the childrens lives. Its SO important for them to stay active and play and the bikes are a huge part of that. These kids have been through so much and its great to see them riding around the warehouse together smiling.
For the adults, bicycles are transport. It means they can go visit friends and family in other camps amongst other things and it also keeps them active.
I can't tell you how enthuastic everyone is about the project.
So the idea is to allow and support the camp residents to fix their bicycles and also to teach them safety. Georgios runs the project and I want to help fund him. My idea is to be able to provide a kind of mobile (free) shop that he can take to camps full of spares - innertubes, tyres, brakes etc and tools. I need your help to pay for this.
We've started in Frackapore but we hope to cover many more camps. I would like to have every bike in every camp in Thessaloniki fully working and safe as soon as possible!
Every penny I receive will go on equipment, no wages, storage, admin etc and I will post details of how it was all spent.
Please help me make a difference x
Organizer
Chris Fillery
Organizer
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