We are very proud to partner with Lighthouse Relief for our Sail Away to Greece itinerary. From their beginnings in 2015 as a small group of volunteers in a tiny fishing village on Lesvos they have expanded into a dedicated team of professionals providing comprehensive support to thousands of refugees and asylum seekers. Find out more about their incredible impact and the projects your community partner donation supports in this Q&A with Lighthouse Relief leader Marie-Hélène Rousseau.

Lighthouse Relief Mission

1. What is the mission, and the various projects and goals of Lighthouse Relief?

We aim to be a consistent beacon of warmth and light for people seeking safety - like the lighthouse on Lesvos that inspired our name. Today, Lighthouse Relief is focused on providing psycho-social support in Ritsona Refugee Camp, mainland Greece, and on providing support to refugees and asylum seekers experiencing homelessness in Athens. Our mission is to provide a dignified, respectful and empowering humanitarian response, with a focus on supporting vulnerable populations such as children and youth.

In Ritsona Refugee Camp, we currently run a Child Friendly Space (CFS) and a Youth Engagement Space (YES), whilst also running a Resident Volunteer Program and a Sports program. Through the Resident Volunteer Program, our team works with residents of the camp community to plan and implement our program, ensuring that our activities are accountable to the people whom we serve.

In September of 2020, after five years providing emergency support to refugees arriving to the north shore of Lesvos, LHR concluded its operation on Lesvos due to operational challenges related to COVID-19 and a changing political context. After we undertook an extensive research process, we launched a Streetwork Project in Athens to provide support to refugees and asylum seekers who are struggling with homelessness. The streetwork project provides holistic support to those experiencing homelessness, providing essential items (such as clothing, sleeping bags, diapers and baby food), as well as vital information to link refugees and asylum seekers with the services that they need, in addition to case management to ensure follow-up and consistent support.

History

2. Tell us a bit about your history - when did Lighthouse Relief begin, and what are the driving forces behind the programs you offer?

Lighthouse Relief was founded on the Greek island of Lesvos in September 2015, at a time when thousands of refugees were arriving every day. We mobilized quickly to provide structured emergency response to the area, and - when it became apparent that people were remaining stranded for longer periods in mainland Greece - we expanded to support vulnerable groups such as children and youth in camps there. We committed to remaining in Greece as long as we were needed.

What we coined the ‘Lighthouse Spirit’ was born on Lesvos in 2015 - and is very much about having a warm, dignified and empowering approach to everything that we do and with everyone we encounter. The Lighthouse Spirit manifests itself in many different ways - for example, we are committed to centering the voices of displaced people in our activities, and involving them in the shaping of our programmes. The Youth Engagement Space, for example, was very much spearheaded by the youth in Ritsona Camp, and they’re also the ones who created the Ritsona Kingdom Journal, an online publication which is edited by the youth of Ritsona Camp and features their work.

When designing our new Streetwork Project, it was essential to our team to center our support on the needs of the refugees and asylum seekers experiencing homelessness in Athens. We started out with a month-long Pilot Phase, in order to gain the best understanding of these needs, and share best practices with other organisations already working in this field. Our Streetwork team includes Intercultural Mediators, who ensure that our services remain welcoming to all and culturally sensitive.

Impact

3. What have been the biggest impacts from the initiatives that Lighthouse Relief spearheads?

In Ritsona Refugee Camp, the psycho-social support that we have been providing since 2016 reinforces the resilience and well-being of children and youth who visit our safe spaces. By providing consistent activities at our Child Friendly Space, Youth Engagement Space & through our Resident Volunteer program, we aim to restore some normalcy and consistency amidst a very difficult situation. 

Many of the children at Ritsona have grown up with war or in displacement, and the CFS is sometimes their first experience of structured play. In the past months, we’ve focused on the ages of 3 and 4, as this is a crucial developmental period in any child’s life. The Youth Engagement Space is also a very unique program which functions as a safe space, drop-in center, and a creative hub for young adults. This space was developed in 2017 when our team became aware of a significant lack of support for this age group. The YES aims to encourage self-worth, resilience, and social coherence through creative activities, informal learning and informal support.

Our newly formalized Resident Volunteer Program provides trainings on topics such as Emotional Regulation, Conflict Mediation, and Workshop Facilitation. These trainings help them carry out activities with us, but also give them professional and personal tools that they can use in their next steps, after they leave the camp. We’ve also seen the positive impact of sports activities which bring people from different countries and backgrounds together, and has taught important lessons to the children and youth about teamwork, discipline and collaboration.

This kind of psycho-social support is more important than ever. In January 2020, Ritsona Camp tripled in size, increasing from 900 residents to almost 3,000 today. 45% of the camp’s residents are children under 18, and in need of targeted, consistent and responsive psycho-social support, especially given the increasing stress and isolation due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Last, but certainly not least, our Emergency Response program is providing support to people at a very difficult moment in their lives. In the one month pilot phase of the project, our Streetwork team supported 145 people experiencing various forms of homelessness, and this work is ongoing. Through that support, we’ve been able to provide crucially needed items like clothes and diapers; help people find shelters; support them in accessing medical care or legal aid by referring them to our partners. This kind of holistic support takes into consideration the many needs of the individuals we meet in Athens, addressing needs beyond having a roof over their heads.

Challenges

4. What have you found to be the biggest challenges in running Lighthouse Relief?

As a small organization working in a constantly changing context, we’ve faced quite a few challenges over the years! The context in Greece has evolved since we started, and in many ways become even more difficult for people who are fleeing from conflict or persecution in their home countries. Despite this, the world’s attention seems to have moved away from the situation of refugees in Greece. Although in 2015, there was a large amount of media coverage and funding, since then, large funders have withdrawn from Greece, and there is also less interest from the media.

Meanwhile the challenges for asylum seekers and refugees are only increasing. Asylum seekers are waiting longer and longer for their asylum procedures to move forward and COVID has made an already stressful situation even more distressing, due to administrative delays, a lack of education for refugee children, and increasing isolation.

Even when asylum seekers reach the end of the asylum process and receive their refugee status, they face a whole new set of challenges. Because of a new legislation in March of 2020, refugees only get 30 days of financial support and housing before they need to find their own home, find employment, and get a tax number - all this in a new country and in a foreign language, with very little support. This has led to many recognized refugees finding themselves without housing, struggling to fill their basic needs. 

Our biggest challenges as an organization have been adapting to these changes that refugees are facing by ensuring that we are flexible enough to shift our approach if the needs change for the people we are serving. Additionally, we face the challenge of procuring sustainable funding so that we can plan ahead and grow our programming. Our small, but fiercely dedicated team, has worked tirelessly through the years to make the most out of very few resources. We have navigated through very difficult financial periods to grow our programs despite the odds.

The Team

5. Tell us about the Lighthouse Relief team. Are they volunteers or is it a full-time job? What types of daily tasks do they do?

LHR was born from a large community of volunteers from all over the world! Our work through the years has been powered by a group of dedicated, amazing volunteers, who have given up their time and skills to join us on Lesvos and in Ritsona Camp. We are so grateful to them for helping shape this organisation.

Today, we are a team of about 17 full-time and part-time staff from many places - Italy, Ireland, Syria, Germany, the United States, Afghanistan and more, as well as a team of amazing Resident Volunteers in Ritsona Camp.

In Athens, our streetwork team is composed of an Emergency Response Coordinator, Officer and two Intercultural Mediators. Together, they go on regular “outreach” and “distribution” shifts - on outreach shifts, they walk around areas of Athens, providing dignified support to people experiencing homelessness. They also provide non-food items to people on “distribution shifts” making sure that the people who share their needs will receive the items they requested - whether that’s baby items, clothes, etc. The team also spends a great deal of time doing case management - liaising with different organisations and services throughout Athens to make sure that each individual they encounter is getting the support they need.

On the Ritsona side, our team is always busy carrying out activities in the camp! Working with Resident Volunteers, our teams in the CFS, YES, and Sports program plan and implement activities, while doing outreach, following up on protection concerns and ensuring that our spaces are safe and fun. In the YES, we have a Manager and Facilitator who work together with Resident Volunteers on planning and doing workshops, maintaining the space and planning other fun activities such as Foosball games, Chess championships etc.

In the CFS, our team hosts sessions for children, and spends their time otherwise planning, creating and conceiving craft activities, selecting books that will stimulate the childrens’ imagination and so much more. Similarly, the Resident Volunteer Facilitator is always planning ways to support our RVs - implementing new training for them, but also sharing different self-care and mental health practices with them. Our Sports Facilitator is typically busy carrying out and planning different sports activities for children in the camp. 

Though at the moment we are not able to recruit short-term volunteers due to COVID-19, we are looking forward to inviting volunteers to join us when the situation improves.

Partnership with Traverse Journeys

6. What are you most looking forward to about this collaboration with Traverse Journeys and the visit with our guests?

We very much admire the mission of Traverse Journeys to learn as much as possible about each destination and to take a purposeful approach to travel. We’re excited to meet the guests, and share information about the situation faced by refugees in Greece/Europe. One of the key objectives of our organization is to counter the dominant narrative about refugees and asylum seekers which can often be disempowering, and rarely offers an insight into individuals or their talents, hopes and identities beyond their status.

We look forward to offering an understanding of the challenges that the people we work with have been facing. We hope that guests will leave with a better understanding of the issues faced by asylum seekers and refugees in 2021, while also gaining a glimpse of their amazing and inspiring perseverance and creativity.

Learn all about Lighthouse Relief and support their work by joining us on our next Greece trip!

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