This September, I am travelling to Serres in Northern Greece to volunteer with Lifting Hands International at their Refugee Centre near Serres Refugee Camp.

Lifting Hands International has a team of dedicated volunteers in Serres that supports over 1,000 displaced Iraqi Yazidi refugees -- survivors of a brutal genocide at the hands of Daesh in 2014. Their story is an important one and despite the tireless work of Yazidi activists, such as human trafficking survivor and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Nadia Murad, it is one that risks being overshadowed or forgotten on the international stage. The perpetrators are yet to be brought to justice and many thousands of Yazidi women and girls remaining missing today, in 2019.

In Serres, Lifting Hands International and their volunteers' mission in is to restore human dignity through the provision of the following services to displaced Yazidis in the Serres Refugee Camp:

- Educational support: English, German, & Arabic sessions

- Psycho/Social support: Trauma-informed yoga, fitness, art and music classes

- Nutritional support: Weekly deliveries of fresh vegetables, pasta, flour, sugar, and cooking oil

- Hygiene support: Weekly distribution of shampoo, soap, toilet paper and other hygiene supplies

- Seasonal clothing: Quarterly deliveries of season-appropriate clothing, especially needed in winter

- Safe spaces with daily programming for women and children, who are particularly vulnerable in the camp.

Volunteers pay for their own travel and stay, so your donations will go directly to Lifting Hands International.

Many thanks in advance for any contribution you can make.

Hannah 

Further reading: 

https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/isis-yazidi-genocide-syria-iraq-mental-health-ptsd-a9044956.html

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-45406232

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/sep/09/yazidis-isis-only-bones-remain-fear-returning-home 

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