Help refugees ReFOCUS their future

Tens of thousands of teenage and young adult refugees continue to flee their countries due to conflict, war, persecution or extreme poverty. After spending long years on their way to a safe place, they lose crucial years of education lingering in refugee camps waiting for asylum. Meanwhile, this loss of education and time compromises their dreams and aspirations as most will stay registered as unemployed or will be forced into accepting low-paying unskilled jobs to support their families.

For that reason, in 2018 we have created our first ReFOCUS Media Lab on Lesvos, Greece, where currently more than 17 000 refugees wait for their asylum. Conditions in Moria – the main camp on the island and the largest in Europe- are dire with almost no education and skills training for teenagers and young adults. Through photography, video production, sound, graphic and web design our programming ensures that refugees spending long months and even years waiting for asylum enter the labor force of host countries with modern, marketable skills.

While we cannot force governments to bring an end to the conflicts that force this exodus for survival, we can impact individual lives by providing access to media creation tools, professional instruction and promote their evolving skills.

ReFOCUS is about support and sustainability. For these reasons, we fundraise to bring computers, media creation tools and teachers into camps and community centers to train refugees. A major goal of our training is to help refugees learn skills by producing original content, host and promote their work in exhibitions open to the public. In addition, we're building a support network of artists and teachers to help promote their work wherever they secure their asylum.

In 2019 ReFOCUS students created several short films, documentary reports from the front lines of the crisis, and the feature-length documentary film “Even After Death”, which investigates what happens after an unidentified body is discovered at sea or on land. “Even After Death” will have a world premiere in March 2020.

Donating helps a refugee student immediately purchase…
20€…a monthly bus pass to travel to/from class for 1 month.

35€…secure access to Adobe Creative Cloud software for 1 month.

50€…a pro-grade 64GB SDHC Memory Card.
100€…a 2TB external hard drive to store their original media.
150€…a pro-grade tripod or monopod
200€…a pro-grade directional microphone

250€...a Zoom H6N Audio Recorder
500€…a pro-grade gimbal

1000€…a mirrorless digital camera for photo/video production

1500€…a pro-grade laptop for media post-production

Sponsoring ReFOCUS immediately helps us…

200€…utilities for maintaining our classroom on Lesvos for 1 month.
500€…rent for our classroom on Lesvos for 1 month.
750€…monthly bus passes for ALL ReFOCUS students for 1 month.
1000€…lunch for ALL ReFOCUS students for 1 week.
1500€…a mirrorless camera kit for program-wide use.
2000€…a pro-grade post-production kit for program-wide use.

2500€…program-wide site license for all Adobe Creative Cloud programs.

6000€…rent for our classroom on Lesvos for 1 academic year.

Please consider donating to ReFOCUS because this is about real lives in need of real skills that can help actualize real futures.

For more information and regular updates on our programming please visit us on social media-
Facebook: @refocusmedialabs
Instagram: @refocusmedialabs
and on our site- www.refocusmedialabs.org