Volunteer for a humanitarian organisation with refugees in Thessaloniki, Northern Greece

Details

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  Description

  We are a grassroots organisation providing humanitarian aid and assistance to refugees across Europe. Our organisation was founded in September 2015 as a platform to coordinate volunteer efforts responding to humanitarian emergencies across the Balkan route. Since 2015, we have settled in Northern Greece and developed into a volunteer-based aid organisation guided by the principle “dignity first”, focusing on sustainable and long-term support by means of material help, community building, social activities, and informal education.
  
  We currently have 3 main projects: the Warehouse, Distributions, Community Centre.
  
  Warehouse
  The purpose of the warehouse is emergency relief: closing gaps in the official aid system. It is the largest humanitarian warehouse in the region and functions as a humanitarian hub for Northern Greece, supporting several camps and social projects in the region. Donations come from all across Europe and IHA volunteers receive and sort the relief supplies and pack them for orders placed by other organisations.
  Distributions
  We work in cooperation with the actors in the camp to identify those in need and fill the gaps that cannot be met by the official actors. IHA distributes food and hygiene items to those not able to receive official support, monthly diaper distributions, and clothing distributions, as well as providing new arrivals with shelter provisions such as sleeping bags, blankets, and tents, and food and hygiene welcome packages.
  
  the Community Centre
  The aim of the Centre is to provide aid and dignity, build community and social inclusion, offer informal education, foster a sense of belonging, and provide access to crucial information.
  We currently run the following activities:
  - Informal adult English and Greek lessons
  - A child-friendly space
  - An Employment and Information Centre
  - Community time
  - Football & field games
  - Women’s space & teen girls’ space
  
  We create weekly and daily plans and volunteers are allocated to different tasks and rotated around the projects. Volunteers joining as general volunteers should expect to spend roughly 20-30% of their time in the warehouse, 0-10% of their time preparing/at distributions, and 60-80% of their time at the community centre. However, this is subject to change depending on our needs at the time and whether you are allocated to a specific aspect of the project.

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Charity Work

  Art Projects

  Language practice

  Teaching

  Babysitting and creative play

  General Maintenance
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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  Working here is an opportunity to develop and share your skills in a humanitarian grassroots organisation.
  
  You'll be part of a team that cares about the work that they do and we all work towards the same goal. However, this also comes with responsibility: we always work to a professional standard and appropriate to the humanitarian aid context. We provide training so don't worry if you don't have any experience working in this field.

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  Projects involving children

  This project could involve children. For more information see our guidelines and tips here.

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  Help

  As a general volunteer you don't need to have any specific skills apart from being passionate about our cause, motivated to work in a challenging environment, flexible and committed, at least 20 years old, able to come to Greece for at least 6 weeks, and can provide a background check/criminal record certificate (or equivalent).
  
  Some of our volunteers have dedicated roles that can require specific skills, experience and a longer stay. Taking on a specific role does not mean not working in other parts of the project; we expect volunteers to help where it is needed. However, it involves taking on additional responsibility for one aspect of the project.
  
  For more information regarding roles and responsibilities do not hesitate to get in touch!

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  Languages spoken

  English: Fluent

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  Accommodation

  The volunteer flat is located in Diavata (about 30 minutes bus journey from Thessaloniki train station). Volunteers share a room with 2-3 other volunteers. In the volunteer flat there are 5 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 2 kitchens, a large communal area, an office / meeting room and several balconies. There is a recommended donation of 150€ as a one-off contribution to living expenses (bills, fuel, rent). Volunteers generally put 20€ into a communal fund and shop and cook together (optional). The shopping, cooking and cleaning rota is organised during weekly flat meetings to discuss schedules and logistics.

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  What else ...

  There are a lot of things to do on your weekly days-off in the area such as going to Thessaloniki (20 min drive, 30 min bus journey), the second biggest city in Greece, where there are many cultural sites to visit, museums, bars, cafes, tavernas. In the region, there're a lot of beautiful beaches and mountains.

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  A little more information

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    Internet access

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    Limited internet access

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    We have pets

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    We are smokers

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    Can host families

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  More than two

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  Hours expected

  5-10 hours a day, 5 days a week

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  This host charges a fee

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  Why does workaway.info allow listings of hosts who charge money?

  In developing countries (Where most hosts are involved in charity work or community development) some of our hosts may ask for a small donation to help the host family or charity (often less then 5 dollars per day) Workaway will allow this listing when the donation goes directly to the family or charity and is just to cover the cost of the volunteer‘s stay.  (This will be clearly marked on the host listing).
  We will strictly not allow listings posted by agents, “middle men” or projects who we feel are looking to profit from a volunteers stay.
   

   

   

  8€ a day contribution towards living costs, falling to 3€ a day after 1 month

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