Empowering Refugee Girls: Bike Lessons
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What will I be doing?
Girls Empowerment: Biking
In the summer of 2019 I will be traveling to Lesvos, Greece with biking on my mind. Not that biking is ever off my mind, but this time I won’t be in the saddle for my own training. Instead I’ll be teaching a few brave girls how to ride. I am volunteering through the Refugee Education and Learning International Girls Empowerment Program to teach unaccompanied minor girls how to ride a bike for the first time.
Unaccompanied minors are children who flee from places like Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, the Congo, and Somalia and make it to the island of Lesvos alone. Some are on their own because their family died on the journey. Some were sent ahead or were separated by accident. They are detained in the Moria refugee camp, a Greek military facility designed for 2500 persons and now holding 9000 refugees. Programs like this give them valuable time away from the camp.
Dirty Girls of Lesvos
I will also do volunteer work for Dirty Girls of Lesvos which includes any number of tasks including environmental shore clean up, collecting life jackets for up-cycling, and sorting clothing. And I will continue the project I started during my 2018 artist residency with Dirty Girls.
Why am I going? How can you help?
During my 5 weeks on Lesvos in 2018, I met many volunteers and organizers, some who have been on the island since the crisis began. They are responding in a situation that keeps evolving and continues to be critical even after the media has moved on. I want to support these people who are spending their lives to serve those in need. And the need is great.
I believe that, for me, the best way to do that is to go. Because I spent my childhood in Afghanistan and Greece I feel a connection to the people and the place and, despite the challenges, I saw that even one person on the ground has power to help.
I am reaching out to raise funds for travel and living expenses. I will be working on the island for 2 months. Thanks so much! Your gift will make the trip possible.
The Crisis on Lesvos- Some Numbers
2015 and 2016 saw over half a million refugees landing on the island of Lesvos, Greece—people fleeing from places such as Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, the Congo, and Somalia. In 2015 there were sometimes up to 6000 refugees arriving on Lesvos daily. Most were able to leave the island after a few days. Then, after the EU-Turkey agreement of March 2016 went into effect, refugees were arrested, detained for long periods in camps, and/or deported. Nevertheless, in the summer of 2018, an average of 80 refugees landed each day.
Who is Refugee Education and Learning International ?
REAL International collaborate with a group of NGO’s in Greece, including Better Days (Gekko Kids, Tapuat Center) and Dirty Girls of Lesvos to bring relief and education to refugees and other displaced persons.
The Girls Empowerment Program of outdoor education for unaccompanied minor girls creates a space for them to continue to develop their strength and self confidence as they learn life skills like swimming and bike riding.
Who is Dirty Girls of Lesvos ?
From 2015, Dirty Girls of Lesvos has been washing blankets, sleeping bags, and clothing. Originally this was for people transiting, but now it is for the 9000 people detained on the island, and for the many thousands living in camps on the mainland.
Dirty Girls of Lesvos collects blankets, washes them to hospital standards, and returns them to refugees in the camp. They have saved over 900 tons of material; without them, aid agencies and government bodies would send all used materials to landfill.
Dirty Girls also up-cycles life jackets and damaged blankets into messenger bags and solidarity bracelets. And they assist in the cleanup of the island's shores, picking up dinghies, clothing, tires, life jackets and other refuse.
Girls Empowerment: Biking
In the summer of 2019 I will be traveling to Lesvos, Greece with biking on my mind. Not that biking is ever off my mind, but this time I won’t be in the saddle for my own training. Instead I’ll be teaching a few brave girls how to ride. I am volunteering through the Refugee Education and Learning International Girls Empowerment Program to teach unaccompanied minor girls how to ride a bike for the first time.
Unaccompanied minors are children who flee from places like Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, the Congo, and Somalia and make it to the island of Lesvos alone. Some are on their own because their family died on the journey. Some were sent ahead or were separated by accident. They are detained in the Moria refugee camp, a Greek military facility designed for 2500 persons and now holding 9000 refugees. Programs like this give them valuable time away from the camp.
Dirty Girls of Lesvos
I will also do volunteer work for Dirty Girls of Lesvos which includes any number of tasks including environmental shore clean up, collecting life jackets for up-cycling, and sorting clothing. And I will continue the project I started during my 2018 artist residency with Dirty Girls.
Why am I going? How can you help?
During my 5 weeks on Lesvos in 2018, I met many volunteers and organizers, some who have been on the island since the crisis began. They are responding in a situation that keeps evolving and continues to be critical even after the media has moved on. I want to support these people who are spending their lives to serve those in need. And the need is great.
I believe that, for me, the best way to do that is to go. Because I spent my childhood in Afghanistan and Greece I feel a connection to the people and the place and, despite the challenges, I saw that even one person on the ground has power to help.
I am reaching out to raise funds for travel and living expenses. I will be working on the island for 2 months. Thanks so much! Your gift will make the trip possible.
The Crisis on Lesvos- Some Numbers
2015 and 2016 saw over half a million refugees landing on the island of Lesvos, Greece—people fleeing from places such as Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, the Congo, and Somalia. In 2015 there were sometimes up to 6000 refugees arriving on Lesvos daily. Most were able to leave the island after a few days. Then, after the EU-Turkey agreement of March 2016 went into effect, refugees were arrested, detained for long periods in camps, and/or deported. Nevertheless, in the summer of 2018, an average of 80 refugees landed each day.
Who is Refugee Education and Learning International ?
REAL International collaborate with a group of NGO’s in Greece, including Better Days (Gekko Kids, Tapuat Center) and Dirty Girls of Lesvos to bring relief and education to refugees and other displaced persons.
The Girls Empowerment Program of outdoor education for unaccompanied minor girls creates a space for them to continue to develop their strength and self confidence as they learn life skills like swimming and bike riding.
Who is Dirty Girls of Lesvos ?
From 2015, Dirty Girls of Lesvos has been washing blankets, sleeping bags, and clothing. Originally this was for people transiting, but now it is for the 9000 people detained on the island, and for the many thousands living in camps on the mainland.
Dirty Girls of Lesvos collects blankets, washes them to hospital standards, and returns them to refugees in the camp. They have saved over 900 tons of material; without them, aid agencies and government bodies would send all used materials to landfill.
Dirty Girls also up-cycles life jackets and damaged blankets into messenger bags and solidarity bracelets. And they assist in the cleanup of the island's shores, picking up dinghies, clothing, tires, life jackets and other refuse.
Organizer
MaryLynne Wrye
Organizer
New York, NY
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