Kim's Lesvos Donation Page 2018

After returning from Lesvos at the end of April where I was able to pass on £3001 to local projects I've decided to continue raising funds for Lesvos and other refugee hot spots. 

If you'd like to know more I blog here:Volunteering and we have a facebook page.

Since returning i've joined the #love4lesvos campaign. Together we're working collectively to make a difference on Lesvos.

The current campaign we're supporting is The Dignity Pack Project, in August we collected the items for 76 packs. And through October and November we will be collecting again. As of 17th October we've raised enough funds to send another 100 packs, through November we will be collecting funds and items to make as many as we can. Can you help?

What is The Dignity Pack Project?

Moria is bursting at the seams. There are limited access to showers, clean toilets and 5mins peace.  Women are denied dignity throughout their experience as a refugee. We want to change that!

We all love a shower and we hope the women who receive these packs will love having a shower too.

Throughout Moria there are projects trying to give women their dignity back. Shower projects and community projects offer women a safe haven to just be. And we’d like to provide them with a dignity pack to make that experience a little bit more special. The packs will stop women from having to make the agonising choice between food and hygiene.

The dignity packs we’re creating will be provided to the women in a bag designed to be taken away.

Each bag includes:

A hairbrush, pack of sanitary towels (with wings), 2 in 1 shampoo, shower gel, toothpaste, toothbrush, body lotion, face cloth, roll on deodrant, razors. We also send brand new underwear for women to select when they visit the project.

£5 pays for 10 packs to be shipped to Greece
£10 pays for the hygiene items in the bag
£15 pays for an entire bag including underwear and shipping
£100 pays for 10 bags
£1000 pays for 100 Dignity Packs including underwear and shipping

Follow ourfacebook page  to keep updated on our progress.

A little bit of background on our work:

In 2015 I was moved by the refugee crisis unfolding aross Europe. I eventually made two trips to Europe to support refugees. Firstly we drove a transit van to Slovenia with supplies.  And then we traveled to Lesvos to volunteer with some grass roots charities, you can read about my experience on my blogs: Lesvos the Situation and Because I am A Parent .  Just before I left for my second trip  I found out I was pregnant, so volunteering went on hold when I returned in early December 2015. Harrison is going to be 2 in July and I feel like now is the right time for me to return. 

When I volunteered in 2015, the refugee crisis was at the top of our news feed. It was hitting the headlines daily. Now the news has moved on. The suffering is no less, in fact in some ways it is worse. Many of the people I met in 2015 went on to start new lives in Germany and other European countries. They got to start a new life. Sadly the people stuck today in Lesvos and other hot spots, are trapped with no way forward and no way back.

Fast Forward to 2018

There is still a refugee crisis, people are still living in terror or having their homes destroyed. Thousands of people are dying.  Which means they are still leaving. And over the last few weeks the numbers travelling by boat again from Turkey is increasing.

When I was there in 2015 people were passing through, Moria wasn't a pleasant place but it wasn't a long term destination. Sadly today a prison built for 1500 people is now home to over 6000 women, children, lone boys and men. Moria is has been described as hell on earth. I've read accounts of the situation there that break my heart. The suffering for people stuck on Lesvos continues. BUT WE CAN HELP BE PART OF THE SOLUTION :-)