Education Greece Project #47058

Action for Education: Back to School

by Action for Education

Project Report | Aug 22, 2023
Farewell to AFE

By Jacob Warn | Director

Dear friends all over the world,

Over the coming month, Action for Education will be handing over its projects and closing down.

The decision to close, after 5 and a half years, has been a natural one: we no longer feel best placed to continue the often difficult and long-term work needed to support refugee and asylum-seeking communities in Greece and further afield.

Thankfully, over the last year, we have developed new partnerships with brilliant organisations in Greece and Spain, and we're delighted to be handing over many of the key aspects of our work to them, in order to sustain the education and psychosocial support we have been offering until now.

As we prepare for this future, it is also a moment to look to the past and celebrate what we have achieved.

To all our partners who together have helped us create purposeful and holistic centres; to the funders who have trusted us and enabled us to act so swiftly and sustainably; to the local partnerships and communities who have hosted us; to the thousands of individuals who have participated in so many of our mad crowdfunding campaigns and who have committed to regular financial support - to all these people, thank you.

But that's not quite all. The work that AFE has done would simply have not been possible without the several hundred volunteers who have joined us on Chios, Samos, in Athens, Spain and remotely since 2018. These individuals have truly come from all over the world and from all walks of life. They brought their skills, their smiles, and truly dedicated a part of themselves to this cause. The creativity, enthusiasm and tenacity of AFE's volunteers has always been - and continues to be - a source of lifelong inspiration. Thank you.

And finally, the biggest thanks of all to all the students, children and families who have visited our centres. Thank you for having the trust and patience as we learnt and grew as individuals and an organisation. We wish everyone the very best of luck for the future.

If you would like to share a message with us during these last weeks, please email info@actionforeducation.org - we would love to celebrate and commemorate the inspiring work to which so many have contributed. And if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to be in touch.

Thank you for 5 and a half years of Action for Education.

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Feb 23, 2022
Closing "Back to School" campaign

By AFE | Closing "Back to School" campaign

A child playing at The Nest in Athens

Dear Back to School donors,

With your help, we have raised 9.120€. Thanks to your contribution, we have reached our goal and were able to reopen our schools and projects after the start of the pandemic. Now that this objective is fulfilled, we will be closing this campaign.

But there is still much to be done to provide access to education for people on the move. This campaign might close, but AFE’s mission continues. Therefore, we would like to invite you to support our current projects in Greece and Spain by donating to our latest GlobalGiving campaign: Support Education for People on the Move. This will allow us to continue our current projects in Greece and Spain, and to develop new ones in 2022.

In 2021, COVID-19 continued to pose additional challenges to our work. The pandemic still has an impact on the shape of our projects, and the effects can be seen across our centres through smiling eyes above masks and continued social distancing. In addition to the global pandemic, the political developments this year such as the increasing numbers of illegal pushbacks documented, the construction and opening of several closed camps and the shift of asylum seekers and refugees from the “hotspot” islands to the Greek mainland, posed further challenges to our vision to provide access to safe spaces and education.

However, our energy and spirit have continued to outshine each difficulty and barrier that has come our way. The restrictions in place did not stop our teams from maximising our services and channelling our energy into future plans!

To adapt to asylum seekers and refugees being moved from the islands to the mainland, we relocated The Nest from Samos to Athens in May. There, The Nest has continued to be a thriving space for refugee families to come and feel safe. We have introduced English and German language classes, opened an Art Project and held reflexology and massage sessions for babies and children with our partner, Acupuncturists Without Borders. We are excited to continue all of this in 2022!

At The HUB on Chios, we started adapting our curriculum into a 6-week crash-course, since the participants are staying for a shorter period on the island. A new social service programme helps asylum seekers and refugees to navigate the fast changing Greek procedures. 40 people come each month for this service. We have also added German language classes in addition to our existing English lessons.

In Spain, we ended the year with a smile on our faces testing the first version of ¡Ojalá! the world’s first Spanish learning application designed for people on the move. There is still a lot of work to be done but we have come a long way.

In 2021, the support from our volunteers, donors and partners has been phenomenal. Whether you have helped us on the ground, donated from afar or spread the word about our work, we feel truly lucky to have such a supportive community behind us. We look forward to a thriving 2022 for education, with your help!

A volunteer and a child playing at The Nest

Children playing with a volunteer at The Nest

Social service programme at The HUB on Chios

A class at The HUB on Chios

An IT class at The HUB on Chios

Presenting Ojala!

Presenting Ojala! (1)

Ojala! meeting in Tenerife

Links:

Support Education for People on the Move

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Oct 26, 2021
Closed doors and new beginnings

By Melanie Liu | Admin and Finance Officer

This quarter has been a whirlwind, changes have appeared around every single corner. The past three months are characterized by both organisational and political changes.

August marked the end of our Co-Directors time with us, Solange Würsten and Jacob Warn. We would like to thank them both for their commitment, time, and masses of work and energy that they have each invested in the past 3 years, to make Action For Education the organisation that we are today. We wish them the very best of luck for their future endeavours.

Towards the end of this quarter, the doors were closed for the last time of two projects across Samos and Chios, The Banana House and The Mastic Campus. Due to the opening of the closed camp on Samos and the continuous departures from Chios, these were difficult decisions, and unfortunately a choice we had to make.

We continue to provide our services through one central project on the island of Chios, The HUB, where students have access to English and German classes, and digital literacy courses. New to this project this quarter is our social work; through this scheme, we are able to help our students with procedures such as opening bank accounts, applying for a tax number, and to receive their COVID vaccination.

In Athens, the Nest has continued to be a safe space and education provider for young children and their families. Whilst those between the ages of 2-7 have the opportunity to learn through play and exploration, their parents and older siblings have access to English classes. In addition, an Art project was launched within the centre, meaning all those in the family have been able to enjoy art classes together.

The pandemic is still very present, and with the recent change in Greek law requiring all those above 12 to be double vaccinated to enter a closed space, it has impacted the services we are providing once again. As responsive as always, our teams on the ground in collaboration with other organisations have been supporting participants with the procedure, from registration to attending appointments.

We look forward to the final quarter of 2021 as we continue to focus our energy on our current services, and look forward to launching our first language learning app on the Canary Islands.

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