During February, we managed to visit 2 of the distant “Refugee Reception Centres”, in the framework of the Food for All program, which is being implemented with the support of Intersos Hellas, from September 2023. Specifically, we distributed food to the reception centers of Thebes and Ritsona.
The Greek Forum of Refugees’ priority is to support the most vulnerable groups, and those living in these centres are undoubtedly part of these groups, as they are deprived even of food. For this reason, the effort to expand the program in the camps has been and will continue to be of utmost importance to us. It was an effort, firstly, to provide the most basic commodity, food, for families and children, but also to be present, beside them and connect them to our existing communities in Athens.
At the same time, the most important thing for us is to record and highlight the serious problems and to continuously strive to solve them. According to what we recorded, lack of food and poor living conditions are among the most serious problems of the people. In addition, lack of medical & legal support is one of the biggest challenges that people have to face every day. Significant is the feeling of exclusion from cities and the social fabric. All these, and more, make their daily lives difficult, cause them insecurity and create a multitude of problems.
Given this unbearable situation, we aim to expand our actions, particularly the Food for All program, to other accommodation centers, such as the Refugee Reception Center in Corinth.
It is very important to thank the Cheering team for their valuable cooperation and support in transporting, organizing, and distributing food to the camps.
We would also like to warmly thank our interpreters and volunteers, as well as the residents themselves who helped us in the implementation of the distributions and recordings. Especially important is their active participation in the discussion to better map the problems in the “Refugee Reception Centres”.
