what we do.
Everyone needs support in a world that is coming apart at the seams. We at lean on us stand by the side of particularly vulnerable people on the run.
We work in a sponsorship model in which each of us advises and supports people intensively and on a long-term basis at eye level. We see ourselves as permanent contact persons who are available online or on site around the clock. We organize legal assistance and medical care, connect to local organizations, offer comfort and try to find an individual solution for every problem.
Our donations are used to pay for passport fees, to find interpreters and to transport donations in kind, because one of our highlights are the packages that are lovingly prepared according to the wishes of the refugees and in which, in addition to beautiful, high-quality clothing, a small surprise is hidden each time.
Some refugees in Greece no longer receive any financial support. We pay them a so-called salary, a small financial allowance, so that fresh fruit, a birthday present or similar can be bought - for us an expression of self-determination, which is elementary for the maintenance of human dignity.
We cannot change anything about the abuses in the asylum process, but on a small scale we can ensure transparency, acceptance and education - so that peaceful coexistence can succeed. We respond quickly and uncompromisingly to the constantly changing situation on the refugee routes. For example, we provide a contingent of financial subsidies that could already be used quickly and unbureaucratically in the past when homelessness was imminent. This aspect is becoming enormously important as all government housing projects in Athens are coming to an end at the end of 2022.
Our work is not limited to Greece. Many of the families we support reach other safe third countries in the course of their flight. Here, too, we do not leave them alone, but provide clarifying support in the event of excessive demands and uncertainty.
In 2022, we have already been able to support around 50 women, children, single travelers and minors, in some cases over many months. Some of them have reported on their cooperation with us, read for yourself:
"I was one of the people who were helped in the Moria 2 camp or Hell 2. There are many names for this Greek camp, but the meaning means the same: it is a hell. They helped me with the expenses for a lawyer who defended me and also when my financial support was cut off and also when my asylum application was rejected. They supported me with money and I also got clothes from them.
An indescribable feeling when you are alone and no one talks to you or helps you, they are the angels in human form, they are a river of giving,loving and helping people in this hell. They stood by me and helped me in everything and treated me as a human being and not a refugee. I talked to them about my problems and my worries. When I talked to them, I felt I was still alive, they gave me hope and strength."