Welcome and thank you for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

In October, my friend and I will trek 100km of the Lycian Way in Türkiye in a week (and it’s not just flat terrain!).

As part of this journey, I’m fundraising for Together Now to reunite refugee families in the UK.

The Lycian Way is a trekking route following an ancient trade route on the Mediterranean coast (yes, the weather is meant to be lovely!). Kate Clow, a British historian living in Antalya, researched and signposted the trail in the 90s.

Apparently, Türkiye is the fourth most visited country in the world since 2021.* Türkiye also hosts the largest refugee population in the world, with almost 4 million people.**

Forced and voluntary migration have always been part of the human existence. I’m incredibly lucky to have been born with access to a Slovenian passport. This document has enabled me to live in and travel to many parts of the world.

However, I’m reminded daily that many people aren’t so privileged, especially people with refugee status and their family members abroad.

Despite or, rather, because of being in my thirties now and no stranger to the occasional cynical thought, I firmly believe that it is through our collective efforts that we can create positive change in the world.

So, to make change happen, I’m part of the Together Now team of volunteers to support refugees living in the UK to reunite with family members they have been forced to leave behind whilst fleeing persecution.

I’m glad to be able to guarantee that 100% of the donations this fundraising campaign receives will go directly to support families to be reunited. Here are some real-life examples of the impact your donation will have:

£30 can pay for transport to the Visa Application Centre from a refugee camp in Entebbe.

£60 can fund translation of medical documents to support a family reunion visa application.

£100 can fund passports for a family in Sudan.

£250 can pay for DNA testing for an unaccompanied minor displaced in DRC.

£350 can pay for a one-way flight ticket for one adult from Beirut to Glasgow.

£700 can pay for return flights for an unaccompanied minor and her carer to the Visa Application Centre in Panama from El Salvador to submit her biometrics for the family reunion application to be reunited with her parent in the UK.

£1000 can pay for one-way flights from Shiraz to Cardiff for a mother with her child.

£1200 can provide a one-way flight ticket for a mother and her child from Port Sudan to Manchester.

£3000 can provide exit fees for a displaced refugee in Ethiopia, so that they can travel to the UK.

You can also volunteer with Together Now: http://togethernow.org.uk/support-us/work-with-us/. Your time, skills, knowledge and voice can make a tangible difference.

So, finally, I'm keeping my fingers crossed (or, in Slovenian, “držim pesti”) for the magic of social media and the six degrees of separation theory to work.

Join me on this journey and let's make a difference collectively!

Thank you very much for your time, sharing the page and/or your donation.

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* UNWTO World Tourism Barometer and Statistical Annex, December 2020 (e-unwto.org)

** https://civil-protection-humanitarian-aid.ec.europa.eu/where/europe/turkiye_en