PROJECTS
WELCOME OFFICE 
In Mytilini, capital of the island our Welcome Office assists with bureaucratic steps into the Greek society (tax number, social insurance and unemployment card). Further we have an open consultation space and through networking with other actors we try to find solution for every individual – where to find a lawyer, how to get into public schools, how to rent a flat, how to find a job etc. With our Welcome Office we wish to be a central point for refugees and locals to connect and support each other with dignity and respect. We provide:
- Low level – easy access support for refugees – daily open office(mondays to fridays)
- Support for integration (assist with information about tax number, social insurance number, unemployment card etc), copies of documents, filling in forms – all the bureaucratic paperwork besides the asylum case
- Referring to other actors of the integration services ( Language classes – CV Writing)
- Supporting with specific needs of the beneficiaries ( e.g. school enrolment of children or finding a football club to play etc.)
- Provide a safe space in the city center for creative use in the afternoons
HOUSING 🏡🤹♀️👶🍀
We provide housing for vulnerable families with children and single women. Overall we have 11 appartments available for the most vulnerable refugees.
Currently we are able to offer 6 appartments to refugee families with small children or/and medical cases that needed to move out of the camp immediatly. The living conditions there are not suitable for children, especially the small ones. We also have safe shelter for single women often also travelling with children, not seldom giving birth here on the island. We have one shared shelter with space for 5 women and maximum 10 children, and additional 3 individual housing units for bigger single women housholds ( 2 children +).
For more information please contact us or send the referral below to shelter@welcomeofficelesvos.org. Our support involves as well providing super makt vouchers, if needed providing bus tickets and organise non- food-items, food donations a.s.o. We have two social assistents that meet the women and/or families regularly to make sure they have everything they need, accompany them to the hospital, follow up with lawyer/ other organisations and so on.
We are often asked, how do people get in touch with us for housing and how do we choose. First of all our doors are always open ( mondays to fridays) to come and register in the office, secondly we recieve referrals from all protection actors on the island, medical actors, psicologists, social workers from inside the camp, the vulnerability office, lawyers etc. We give priority to single women, families with many young children, medical cases and cases with low perspective of recognition as a refugee ( rejected cases). Sometimes we can easily decide whether a homeless single person with mental heath problems, new borns or urgent medical cases are the priority we try to find the best solution involving everyone into a informed decision and being transparent. Unfortunatly there is no space for everyone in need. We demand the EU to provide proper shelters for refugees, camps are not the solution, they are the problem, people are isolated and being banned from basic service provision.
In cases of families and women deciding to stay in the island we provide all efforts into integrating them into the local community.
PARTNERS ❤❤❤
It is very important for us to involve existing networks of solidarity on the island. There have been several initiatives we admire and support for some time now and we are very proud to be a partner with them. Often they do not have the means to rent their own office, or open a bank account so we are happy to share the structure with them. All have in common to involve as much as they can refugees themselvs and to have low hierarchy settings in between their decision making, they are flexible to fulfill needs within the most vulnerable people on the island.
We currently cooperate with several self organized iniatives, such as
- WISH ( women in solidarity house) a women’s collective
- a queer refugee support group
- a monitoring and research collective against borderviolence
- a collective that provides clothes for residents of the Camp
and more. We would like to focus more on including refugees into the decision making of the humanitarian sector and give as much voice to the ones that are refugees themselves rather than to organisation just working “for them”.
PROJECT: CHASHMI – Peeking into the Island of Lesvos
Our ERASMUS+ project Chashmi was based on the collaboration between the Welcome Office and Radio Helsinki, which began in 2021 as part of Re:Fiction Radio. In Lesvos, Alice Kleinschmidt acted as coordinator, while Aziz Barbari and Tobias Reijne were responsible for workshops and continuing the editorial work of Radio VC Mytilini. In Graz, Nikita Reichelt and Lale Rodgarkia-Dara were initially involved, followed by Fathi Kalkan (Radio Revolt).
As part of the project, we:
• Produced 11 podcasts in Lesbos and broadcast them on independent radio stations in Austria
• Produced 21 podcasts in Graz as part of Radio Revolt
• Organized 24 workshops in Lesbos
• 2 international meetings (Radio Helsinki trip to Lesbos and reflection meeting including a program with 3 workshops and 4 international lectures in Graz)
• facilitated a feedback visit and workshop in Lesbos
• written 2 new applications
• introduced topics and people from Lesbos to German-language independent radio stations
Not least through the joint activities (meetings and trips) of the two organizations, the main aim was to bring the protagonists and their realities naturally closer together. Chashmi means keyhole, and so the project also provided a diverse insight into Lesvos and strengthened the bridge between Graz and Lesvos. The aim was to use a high frequency of workshops and workshop-oriented editorial meetings to promote the work of people with international histories, migrants, and people on the move, so that they could actively and competently help shape the prevailing narratives about the political and social fields that affect them and be seen and heard in the mainstream media and social media.
„CHASHMI was funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or OeAD-GmbH. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.“
ADVOCACY 👀🔊📯📸🚩
Especially within the new changes and the ongoing trend of a “Fortress Europe” that doesn’t respect the human rights. We need to keep informing what is happening at the borders. Transparency and education – facts and stories of migrants and refugees will show that we need to build bridges instead of walls.
- We report about the things we see, via mail or via phone but also in person, we make “tours” for visitors in Lesbos that want to learn about the situation of refugees, locals and the many projects
- We are available for researchers, journalists, politicians, supporters and all kind of visitors
- We provide other initiatives and projects with support in Greek burocracy, finding local solutions, connecting to local networks etc.
- We try to negiotiate with authorities or other actors if we find a problem
- We refer cases to other actors in and outside Greece to try to find solutions
Contact
Alice@welcomeofficelesvos.org
Opening hours
mondays to thursdays:
9:00 to 15:30 o clock
Location
Komninaki 20, 81100
Mytilini,
Lesbos, Greece