In May 2017, I spent two weeks teaching English at a refugee camp called Oinofyta. The refugees came mainly from Afghanistan and while I was there I learnt about their trials and tribulations. I also met some wonderful volunteer teachers and the indomitable Lisa Campbell, who ran the camp following the principle that the inhabitants needed to stand up and “do their part”.

You can watch her TED lecture here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXgsFceYD8g

Oinofyta was later evacuated and then restarted as a refugee camp (a strange example of how you can repopulate a fish tank after having made fish soup of the contents).

For my birthday, I would like to start a fundraiser to support one of the initiatives for refugees called REFUGYM. It was founded and is run by a former Oinofyta teacher (at ArmandoAid School there). Brittany Pummel’s idea is that while the children of the camp where she is based now (Malakasa with 1300 refugees from Afghanistan) are kept busy going to school, the adults are often despondent and listless owing to the fact that they are in a limbo, endlessly waiting for their fate to be decided. Improving their lives by providing exercise and activities is crucial to fight the hopelessness and inertia and can also alleviate the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Britts has by now arranged for women’s classes (also providing a safe meeting space for them), and raised enough money to put gym equipment in the sports tent for the workouts. Football, cricket, yoga, ping pong and Pilates, you name it, they do it. Britts encourages engagement and involvement, whereby the inhabitants of the camp participate actively and become stronger both mentally and physically.

I would, therefore, call on you to give whatever you can afford to this wonderful project. It would give me great joy and happiness if I could make a one off donation celebrating my 67th birthday and the kindness of everyone who would like to be part of this initiative by opening your hearts – and purses!

Thank you very much!

P.S. The non-profit organization, REFUGYM

https://www.facebook.com/refugym1/

is now a registered charity (Registered Charity Number 1181499), and will soon have a dedicated bank account for donations. I will keep you posted.