Whilst I was in Athens with fellow Trustee and CEO Amber, we caught up with Chloe and the team at NGO Lighthouse Relief. They have been running a sports programme for the kids of Ritsona camp, and social services within Athens.
Whilst the sports programme is thankfully thriving and super active, due to lack of funding Lighthouse Relief have very sadly had to close their social services for refugees visiting the Victoria Centre in Athens. They hope to find the funding to resume these again in 2025 as the service is an absolute lifeline for people.
Chloe told us about the rising costs of living in Athens: it has become a popular destination the past few years for digital nomads, foreign students, ‘expats’ and long term visitors (oh how easily we can migrate with the right passport!), which means landlords can put their prices up for people with higher salaries. This means locals and refugees are being rapidly evicted and a huge housing crisis is the result.
Just yesterday Chloe told us about a Congolese man she met on the street. His family, consisting of his wife and 3 children, were being evicted that day and had nowhere to go. With all the services closing, Chloe had nowhere to refer him to other than the government office, to which he had already been which gave him an appointment in 3 months time.
We don’t know where this young family ended up that night, whether on the streets, in a run-down squat with dozens of others facing a similar fate, or if they were lucky enough perhaps to sleep on the living room floor of an acquaintance.
She also told us of another huge issue that refugees across Greece have faced this summer: whilst you are an asylum seeker (before being granted refugee status), every person has the right to a monthly cash card allowance which is directly funded by the EU. This is €75 for a single person, €135 for 2 people, or a measly €210 per month for a family of four. Since May, thousands and thousands of refugees across remote camps in Greece have not received this payment, leaving people without an income and unable to meet their most basic needs like medicine, transport to get to their asylum appointments, food and nappies for their babies.
There has been no official announcement from the Ministry, and no indication of when payments will resume or if they will be backdated. The cashcard stops once asylum has been granted, so this may very well be a tactic to avoid payments all together as they are processing claims super quickly. This is totally unacceptable and a real disaster for people living in already precarious conditions! You can read more in this joint statement by 18 NGOs and groups on the ground across Greece.
In the meantime, Lighthouse Relief are doing everything they can to find new sources of funding, and are now looking at social business partnership ideas. We love and support their dedication to finding new ways to keep their fantastic work going.
Lighthouse Relief has been on the ground since 2015, and have moved with the needs and the times to provide services as dictated by the refugee community.
