Accommodation and education for refugees in Athens

About the Welcommon project our goal

Wind of Renewal was founded as a social cooperative in Athens in 2014. Born out of a desire to promote social and green innovation, climate protection, environemntal awareness, welcome refugees - providing safe accommodation and social inclusion.

Today, we are looking for fundings or donation to support the two following project:

1. Housing vulnerable refugees in the Welcommon Hostel
   
2. Providing intercultural classes and activities (language skills, job preparation, art therapy, etc.)

What's the problem and how are we addressing it?

As of June 2020, even the sustainable tourism collapsed and at the same time thousands of recognized refugees and asylum seekers in Greece have been facing eviction from their government funded accommodation as a result of a new government plan, which has already left many refugees homeless in the midst of a global pandemic. This includes many vulnerable asylum seekers, such as survivors of sexual violence, torture and ill treatment, the elderly, and people with chronic diseases, pregnants and mothers with new borned babies.
The vision for the Welcommon hostel, opened in 2018, was to be a sustainable solution to host refugees, self-financed by tourism.
Five floors of the seven storey building can provide accommodation to up to 167 people and our objective is to find resources to host 50 to 60 people currently living in the street or in camps and support their return to society, focusing on vulnerable refugees.

With the current climate in the camps and in the streets of Athens, it became vital to offer emergency and long-term accommodation for refugees. This is why we are open for collaboration and looking for resources, common projects and/or donations to finance this initiative.

Intercultural classes and activities

Our plan, is to not only provide accommodation for refugee communities, but also help them with education, empoewerment and integration by providing educational and intercultural activities and job preparation.

Two floors of the Welcommon hostel are dedicated to our social activities, providing opportunities to guests, international volunteers and refugees to collaborate and learn together. Since 2016, more than 320 volunteers participated in organising non formal language classes, art therapy courses and socializing events with over 1500 refugees. The aim is to promote social inclusion and support refugees in restarting their lives and help them to become more independent.

We offer housing for volunteers coming from all over Europe and the world to participate in our activities and provide the space for the lessons and activities. The activities came to a complete stop during the Covid-19 lockdown and restarted in limited capacity in June because of the small number of volunteers and lack of financial resources. Throughout the summer extra volunteers brought their enthusiasm and motivation to the project which could unfortunately not be met with the proper financial support.

Today we are looking for funding to finance the volunteer coordination and extra resources for our social activities.

Why we need your help?

Since reopening the hostel in June, we have hosted in our hostel a few tourists by moslty refugees and asylum seekers, including many vulnerable cases, thanks to the collaboration with organizations such as Greek Council of Refugees, Greek Refugees Forum, women organisation DIOTIMA,

Unfortunately both us and other NGO's active in Athens have limited resources, and can only manage to help a certain amount of people, while many more people, including many vulnerable refugees are still homeless, and living in streets of Athens.

Cost Breakdown

• 450 Euro can host 2 people for a month (including taxes and fees, laundry, bills etc)

About Welcommon Hostel

Welcommon Hostel opened in 2018, initially intended to be self-financed by tourism, and with a vision to bring people from all over the world together, by providing educational and intercultural activities for refugee communities in Athens, local Greeks, and travelers.

Welcommon Hostel is managed by Anemos Ananeosis / Wind of Renewal was founded as a social cooperative in Athens in 2014. Born out of a desire to promote social and green innovation, welcome refugees - providing safe accommodation and social inclusion. As a cooperative we don't share profits, if there is we invest it in new jobs, social, climate and green activities.

Find out more:

https://www.facebook.com/daysofwelcommon

https://www.instagram.com/welcommonproject/