Syrian Family Housing
Donation protected
Housing families with warmth, dignity and humanity.
Heat, hot and cold running water, a loo and washing machine come as standard. Surely that's not too much to ask in 2017?
We are housing 8 families (33 people) in and around Thessaloniki. They are currently stuck in Greece while their asylum applications are processed. It is an unbelievably slow process and most have spent a year in Greece while their applications are dealt with.
These families were all living in unheated canvas tents in a disused tobacco warehouse on an industrial area in Northern Greece. In this government run camp there was intermintent electricity, no heat and no hot water. Often there was no water at all. Tasteless pre-cooked plain noodles were provided daily by the army, the toilets, port-a-loos reached via an exposed 100 metre windy walk, wobbled when you were in them.
Life was bleak, there was little contact with the outside world; the buses ran infrequently, there were no shops or services nearby. The children weren't in school. Anxiety levels are high, depression is rife and sleep is a fondly remembered luxury.
We kept asking the big NGO's (Norwegian Refugee Council and UNHCR) when they would start spending some of the millions of EU money they'd received to look after these people properly. Their answers were vague, their actions non existant.
We moved our first family in on 24th November, since then we've housed a total of 11 families (3 have moved on). We typically choose families that have a long time to wait for their asylum appointments (one of our tenants has an appointment on the 17th April!). We also make sure the families can cope with shopping for their own food and encourage them to get involved with the support services offered by Solidarity Now at the Blue Refugee Centre in Thessaloniki.
We came to Thessaloniki in October 2016 for 10 weeks. Initally we delivered some sanity and normality by offering day trips out of the camps (See Syrian Family Fun) then we realised that the authorities were not going to house these people, so we started to do it ourselves.
To date, (19th Feb), we have signed a total of 9 leases, we have been paying for this housing from our own pocket and with kind donations from friends. We get no funding or subsidisies. We are not a charity or a registered NGO (Non-Governmental Organisation). We are a married couple from the West Country who like cycling, Man United and each other. Not always in that order.
The 9 housing leases we've signed are for 12months and each apartment will cost approximately €10,230 per year. That figure includes rent, utiliites, one-off costs to buy a washing machine, fridge/freezer, cooker and basic household stuff like mop, bucket, broom, etc. We also need to supply NFI (Non Food Items) like cleaning products, washing up liquid, toilet roll and bin bags. If the warehouses, mainly bulging with donated clothing, have anything we can use, they give it to us: Help Refugees have supplied us with towels, rugs, shampoo, toothpaste, nappies, soap and gallons of laundry detergent. Swiss Cross provided bedside tables and more detergent. People haven't had a washing machine for a year; they do a lot of washing. The warehouses also provide kettles, clothing and shoes if we need them and pasta and rice if they have it.
We give each family a small weekly stipend for fresh food; €60 for a family of 4. This money is so important because it means the families can choose what they spend their money on, they integrate with the Greek community and the Greek economy benefits. I watched one mother skip with joy across a main road to reach a large street market she'd spotted selling fruit and veg. Another has a 9 year old son who is devoted to Pringles (paprika flavour?!) so he's delighted every time they go food shopping as he gets a tube of those!
The confidence this housing restores in the tenants is incredible to watch; heads rise up, clothes loosen a little and smiles creep more readily over the faces of everyone. Delivering some humanity and housing to these dignified, decent people has been an incredibly rich and rewarding experience for us. We get to sit and drink chai whilst we swap tales of lives before we all got muddled up in this strange Greek world we now live in. Ours typically involve memories of cycling solo across France, theirs involve, sometimes comedy, tellings of how they crossed the Turkish border; steps up on the Syrian side but a 3 metre drop down into Turkey. Typically you're also under fire at the top. Anyone?!
We are committed to a year in Greece. We've rented a house ourselves and we'll travel back and forth throughout 2017. We have hired a wonderful Greek fixer who guides us with patience and humour through the confusing complexities and never-ending paperwork that would sink a non-Greek quicker than you can say Titantic.
So we are asking for help to fund the 9 houses we've rented; the total bill for the year will be around €80,000.
The annual cost of each apartment is (on average) €10,230, reached by these calculations:
€ 4,020 Annual Rent (€335 per month)
€ 1,800 Annual Utilities (€ 150 per month)
€ 2,880 Family Allowance for 4 persons (€240 p/m)
€ 240 Wifi (€20 p/m)
€ 240 Cleaning products, toilet roll, washing up liquid, bin bags, paper towels etc (€ 20 p/m)
One off costs:
€ 250 Real estate/Estate Agent fees
€ 325 Washing Machine
€ 450 Fridge/Freezer
€ 250 Cooker
€ 50 House hold items
(Bucket, mop, broom, dustpan, shower curtain etc)
As people move on in the asylum process, we move a new family in. Sadly there is no shortage of tenants here; the camps are still bursting at the seams with refugees who's lives have become frozen in Greece.
We continue to cover all our own costs; flights, running costs for 2 vehicles, accommodation, food and fuel.
If you'd like to donate to the Syrian Family Housing project, we'd be delighted. You can donate here on ask me for our bank account details and donate directly to save the 5% fee charged by Go Fund Me.
Many thanks,
Caroline & Neil.
[email redacted] for more info. Or have a look at us on Facebook Syrian Family Fun and our other fundraising page. Most of our focus is now on housing people but when the sun shines we're still taking people out to the play parks and lunch.
Heat, hot and cold running water, a loo and washing machine come as standard. Surely that's not too much to ask in 2017?
We are housing 8 families (33 people) in and around Thessaloniki. They are currently stuck in Greece while their asylum applications are processed. It is an unbelievably slow process and most have spent a year in Greece while their applications are dealt with.
These families were all living in unheated canvas tents in a disused tobacco warehouse on an industrial area in Northern Greece. In this government run camp there was intermintent electricity, no heat and no hot water. Often there was no water at all. Tasteless pre-cooked plain noodles were provided daily by the army, the toilets, port-a-loos reached via an exposed 100 metre windy walk, wobbled when you were in them.
Life was bleak, there was little contact with the outside world; the buses ran infrequently, there were no shops or services nearby. The children weren't in school. Anxiety levels are high, depression is rife and sleep is a fondly remembered luxury.
We kept asking the big NGO's (Norwegian Refugee Council and UNHCR) when they would start spending some of the millions of EU money they'd received to look after these people properly. Their answers were vague, their actions non existant.
We moved our first family in on 24th November, since then we've housed a total of 11 families (3 have moved on). We typically choose families that have a long time to wait for their asylum appointments (one of our tenants has an appointment on the 17th April!). We also make sure the families can cope with shopping for their own food and encourage them to get involved with the support services offered by Solidarity Now at the Blue Refugee Centre in Thessaloniki.
We came to Thessaloniki in October 2016 for 10 weeks. Initally we delivered some sanity and normality by offering day trips out of the camps (See Syrian Family Fun) then we realised that the authorities were not going to house these people, so we started to do it ourselves.
To date, (19th Feb), we have signed a total of 9 leases, we have been paying for this housing from our own pocket and with kind donations from friends. We get no funding or subsidisies. We are not a charity or a registered NGO (Non-Governmental Organisation). We are a married couple from the West Country who like cycling, Man United and each other. Not always in that order.
The 9 housing leases we've signed are for 12months and each apartment will cost approximately €10,230 per year. That figure includes rent, utiliites, one-off costs to buy a washing machine, fridge/freezer, cooker and basic household stuff like mop, bucket, broom, etc. We also need to supply NFI (Non Food Items) like cleaning products, washing up liquid, toilet roll and bin bags. If the warehouses, mainly bulging with donated clothing, have anything we can use, they give it to us: Help Refugees have supplied us with towels, rugs, shampoo, toothpaste, nappies, soap and gallons of laundry detergent. Swiss Cross provided bedside tables and more detergent. People haven't had a washing machine for a year; they do a lot of washing. The warehouses also provide kettles, clothing and shoes if we need them and pasta and rice if they have it.
We give each family a small weekly stipend for fresh food; €60 for a family of 4. This money is so important because it means the families can choose what they spend their money on, they integrate with the Greek community and the Greek economy benefits. I watched one mother skip with joy across a main road to reach a large street market she'd spotted selling fruit and veg. Another has a 9 year old son who is devoted to Pringles (paprika flavour?!) so he's delighted every time they go food shopping as he gets a tube of those!
The confidence this housing restores in the tenants is incredible to watch; heads rise up, clothes loosen a little and smiles creep more readily over the faces of everyone. Delivering some humanity and housing to these dignified, decent people has been an incredibly rich and rewarding experience for us. We get to sit and drink chai whilst we swap tales of lives before we all got muddled up in this strange Greek world we now live in. Ours typically involve memories of cycling solo across France, theirs involve, sometimes comedy, tellings of how they crossed the Turkish border; steps up on the Syrian side but a 3 metre drop down into Turkey. Typically you're also under fire at the top. Anyone?!
We are committed to a year in Greece. We've rented a house ourselves and we'll travel back and forth throughout 2017. We have hired a wonderful Greek fixer who guides us with patience and humour through the confusing complexities and never-ending paperwork that would sink a non-Greek quicker than you can say Titantic.
So we are asking for help to fund the 9 houses we've rented; the total bill for the year will be around €80,000.
The annual cost of each apartment is (on average) €10,230, reached by these calculations:
€ 4,020 Annual Rent (€335 per month)
€ 1,800 Annual Utilities (€ 150 per month)
€ 2,880 Family Allowance for 4 persons (€240 p/m)
€ 240 Wifi (€20 p/m)
€ 240 Cleaning products, toilet roll, washing up liquid, bin bags, paper towels etc (€ 20 p/m)
One off costs:
€ 250 Real estate/Estate Agent fees
€ 325 Washing Machine
€ 450 Fridge/Freezer
€ 250 Cooker
€ 50 House hold items
(Bucket, mop, broom, dustpan, shower curtain etc)
As people move on in the asylum process, we move a new family in. Sadly there is no shortage of tenants here; the camps are still bursting at the seams with refugees who's lives have become frozen in Greece.
We continue to cover all our own costs; flights, running costs for 2 vehicles, accommodation, food and fuel.
If you'd like to donate to the Syrian Family Housing project, we'd be delighted. You can donate here on ask me for our bank account details and donate directly to save the 5% fee charged by Go Fund Me.
Many thanks,
Caroline & Neil.
[email redacted] for more info. Or have a look at us on Facebook Syrian Family Fun and our other fundraising page. Most of our focus is now on housing people but when the sun shines we're still taking people out to the play parks and lunch.
Organizer
Caroline Dykes
Organizer
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