A quiet and pleasant place for refugees and anyone in need

There are a lot of organisations that help refugees and other vulnerable groups. Today I want to write about one that does remarkable things for refugees.

After much effort, I managed to have a conversation with the ladies who run the Day Centre for Women and Children of the NGO “Faros”, in order to give you as much information as possible about what they do.

UNICEF began supporting the Day Centre in 2016, after the great influx of refugees into Europe. At that time, refugees didn’t have their own premises, either for their basic needs or to maintain elementary levels of hygiene (they were simply homeless in Victoria Square), so the Day Centre at Faros offered somewhere to take a bath and meet other refugees. At the beginning, Faros focused on unaccompanied minors and vulnerable families, offering them the basics such as shelter, clothes, shoes, children’s clothes, milk and food.

As soon as the recipients of these services were moved to apartments and camps, Faros changed strategy and set up the Integration Centre for families. Nowadays, families have to be registered in order to take part in any of the activities provided by the organisation, which include English, Greek and computer lessons. The centre also runs other programmes for mothers and teenagers such as knitting, painting and sewing. It also provides a place where they can congregate in their spare time and discuss any issues they may be facing.

The centre also provides educational materials needed by children attending school. As well as all of the above, there are also Parenting Skill Sessions for pregnant women, nursing mothers and mothers with small children. Legal advice is offered once a week. There are monthly educational excursions for families, allowing people to forget their problems, even temporarily.

A team of social workers helps with registration at schools and with access to the national health system.  They are also able to refer people to other services that may be required.

Organisations such as these can help improve the lives of families who have gone through the kind of hardship that most people cannot begin to imagine.

If only there were no wars in the world. I hope that there will be no more refugees. Even if that happens, organisations such as Faros are essential in every town and every country because they help the poor and homeless.