In 2018, almost everything is accessible through a phone or computer. The world is at our fingertips. But if you don’t have the right tools, the opposite is true. Refugees who have fled to Greece often lack that digital access, which cuts them off from opportunities and information. Communitere, our partner in Greece, has lots of used computers – they're just missing a few parts here and there that could get them up and running again. This sounded pretty doable to us. So today, we're helping fix four laptops that will help get refugees plugged in again. The first was a laptop screen repair for young Syrian refugee seeking reunification with his family in Germany. “I am still speechless...I really don't know how to express how thankful I am," he said. "Thank you so much for fixing it - it's actually better than before.” Next we repaired laptops for teachers in the nearby Nea Kavala refugee camp. “We're all testing out the laptops and tablets tonight and they are AMAZING!" … [Read more...] about The “IT” Factor

Team sports have bonded friends and strangers for ages. Today, we're moving to seeing how this old tradition is playing out in Greece,the birthplace of the Olympics, but in a very modern setting. Our friends at Communitere are using sports to unify a refugee community with their neighbors. Using the world’s favorite sport - football! Football (soccer in the U.S.) is beloved by so many communities across the globe. But when a refugee is living in a new camp, there is not always space or resources to play. Today on Day 20, we're bringing football back to the refugee community in Greece - by hosting a football tournament! We set up at the center pitch in the YMCA. And over 80 attendees showed up ready to play. “The reaction was 100% positive. You could see the happiness in their faces of belonging to a team," said a teammate from Communitere. "Football has this power, making people that do not know each other play together and become friends in order to achieve a … [Read more...] about Breaking down Barriers

A safe space is something every community needs to feel whole. In Thessaloniki, there are a large number of refugees without a friendly, inclusive space to gather. This is especially challenging for women and children. So on Day 330 with our partners Communitere, we set out to do the doable and make a safe space for women and children refugees in Thessaloniki. Communitere engages communities in a kind of DIY humanitarian relief. They create opportunities for communities to think about and plan for their own futures, and then they help them choose from a variety of tools and models that will help them get where they want to go. We wanted to work with Communitere to create a space that would allow refugee women and children in Thessaloniki to have a space to hold community activities. And they had an idea. Why not renovate an old space into a new, clean and usable community center? We re-tiled the floor of an old room to make it safe for children to run around in and made … [Read more...] about Tiles for Change

On Day 215, the Communitere team is continuing their work to engage and understand the community in Greece they're seeking to serve - refugee families, Greeks hit hard by the economic crisis, and grassroots local organizations focused on helping. One of Communitere's core beliefs is that in order to create a valuable resource that can make change for a community, that community must be engaged from the very beginning. So, today they're hosting their second design workshop with the refugee and host community in Thessaloniki, Greece. Communitere's first workshop focused on revealing community needs and what could be done to help. At today's second workshop they got more specific about the mobile resource center (MRC) they are trying to design for the community to use - what should the MRCs be, what should be in them and how could they reach the largest number of people possible. Again they invited local Greeks, refugees and grassroots local organizations to help shape the final … [Read more...] about Beginning to Take Shape

In the last couple of years, since refugees began fleeing to Europe in large numbers, American Refugee Committee has been looking for ways to help. We're proud to say we've recently partnered with Communitere to create a dynamic and sustainable recovery response in Greece. Communitere engages communities in a kind of DIY humanitarian relief. They create opportunities for communities to think about and plan for their own futures, and then they help them choose from a variety of tools and models that will help them get where they want to go. And one of the places they can choose from these tools is what Communitere calls a "Resource Center". The folks at Communitere are anxious to get a Mobile Resource Center (MRC) up and running for refugees in Greece to use, but they also recognize that the resource center won't be valuable to the community unless they are a part of shaping it. So, on Day 214, our partners at Communitere did the doable and got a group of people together to … [Read more...] about Introducing Communitere