Help Refugees
“We’ve just returned from Greece where refugee children are living in camps with temperatures as low as -13. Grassroots organisations funded by Help Refugees were again providing the emergency response keeping people safe and warm. We saw volunteers working in terrible conditions to provide emergency food, winter clothes, heating, fuel, drinking water. They helped relocate vulnerable families to safer accommodation.
“With 66,000 refugees still in Greece and another 40,000 expected this year, over half of them children, Help Refugees are drawing up a strategy to ensure the funds raised by Guardian and Observer readers help the children most in need as quickly as possible: we want to provide sustainable housing for families, shelters for unaccompanied minors, child-friendly spaces, and infant feeding programmes. We will continue to provide emergency aid, including food, clothing, and hygiene items such as nappies as we respond to the challenges the next few months will bring, including - though it seems far away in the current icy conditions - the incredibly hot Greek summer.”
Safe Passage
“This week, an unaccompanied refugee child we are working with in Dunkirk, in France, went missing. He has severe learning difficulties and was last seen on Sunday. His father in the UK has not heard from him since. We are working with partners to find him, and ultimately reunite him with his father, who is frantic with worry. Our aim is to find and safeguard more children like him, so they can remain in the legal process, rather than take unnecessary risks to reach their loved ones in Britain.
“We’ve also sent senior lawyers to meet children in reception centres across France. These children, who were previously in the Calais camps, now face having to leave the reception centres when they close next month – even though their cases have not been resolved and they have nowhere to go. We are developing solutions for them, so they do not end up back in Calais.
“In the longer term, we plan to use the funds raised raised by the Guardian and Observer appeal to help us register refugee children on their entry to Europe, where many are currently living in appalling conditions, with the aim of reuniting them with their families in the UK as swiftly as possible.”
The Children’s Society
“It is incredible to see the progress that young refugees can make with someone by their side to support and fight for them. Some changes are big – the relief when authorities finally accept that they are under 18 – but the smaller steps can also mean so much. Things like passing a test at school, making a friend, or coming together as a team to win a football match.
“Thanks to the generosity of Guardian and Observer readers, we’ll be there to make sure more young refugees get the chance to flourish in their new lives. We’ll give them the one-to-one support they need to recover from the trauma they have experienced, get access to essential services and navigate our complex legal system. Crucially, we’ll be there to welcome them, and let them know that someone cares.
“We’ve been overwhelmed by the moving messages of solidarity and welcome that we’ve received from readers. We’ll be sharing them with the young refugees we work with in the coming weeks and we’re thrilled to be able to pass on these messages which show that so many people are standing with them. They are not alone.”
