Together for Better Days
**Volunteers, please contact via web form: http://togetherforbetterdays.org/volunteer/**
Together for Better Days is a Swiss registerd non-governmental organisation formally founded in Zurich in January 2016. Better Days Greece was established in early 2016 in reponse to the influx of refugees arriving on Lesvos, Greece. Together we are known as ‘Better Days’.
Our first project was the Olive Grove, an unofficial camp adjacent to the Hotspot of Moria, to support the thousands of people passing through the official camp. Within 6 months from the day of its birth, Better Days managed to provide aid to approximately 70,000 people. Better Days Greece remains the main implementing partner of Together for Better Days. We support innovative independent projects designed as alternative responses to the refugee crisis in Greece. To this day we have supported over 21 projects run by grassroots organizations in Greece.
Better Days is founded by Elena Moustaka & Anrika Velychko. It runs by a diverse team of people from across the world. The team is united by a fierce determination to bring humanity and compassion into the delivery of humanitarian aid and particularly challenge the idea of space creation in refugee set-ups. Whether we are doing emergency response, legal support or working in emergency education, we continue to emphasize the importance of participatory practices, supporting and collaborating with local efforts, and fostering agency among the communities we support.
Our work is imbued with a sense of responsibility for the impact our actions have on the mental and physical well-being and futures of the people we work with. We strive to improve quality of life for displace populations while developing sustainable humanitarian programmes and applying replicable mechanisms. We believe this two-pronged approach is essential to counteract the many negative results we see on the ground arising from an outdated and inefficient system of humanitarian aid delivery. Underlying everything we do is the simple belief that everyone, everywhere, deserves to be treated with dignity and humanity.
Our most known project to date are:
- The Olive Grove, informal camp adjacent to Moria Camp (2015-2016)
- Elpida Refugee Camp, formal camp in Thessaloniki for vulnerable Syrian families (2017)
- Gekko Kids, school for unaccompanied asylum seeking children (2017 – ongoing)
- ECO-Hub, a permaculture and garden in a refugee community centre (2017 – ongoing)
- TAPUAT, a child and family support hub (2018 – ongoing)
Together with our partners, growing community of followers, and sponsors we seek to reinvent how humanitarian aid can be distributed in a more dignifying and de-victimizing way. We address how global humanitarian principles such as equality and empowerment can be embedded within the management style and the response mechanisms designed to provide relief to international asylum seekers.
Better Days’ operations to date have been entirely dependent on private funding with our biggest supporter and ally to this day being Institut Le Rosey.
volunteer calls:
supplies:
volunteer experiences for «Together for Better Days» :
3/14/2016 Gabriela Garver, 22, USA, 6 days with Better Days for Moria. Cooked, handed out tea, worked night shift (1-9:30am). Positive experience! I felt very useful. I know my work was only a drop in the ocean, but I still felt I contributed. I would return and encourage others to do so, as well. If anything, next time I would try to camp close to the work site, rather than stay in a hotel. After I left, I felt the time was much too short! Also burdened by what I experienced, and how little we understand it in the US. I was able to process well with my teammates, since I came on a team of 4. We used the debrief guide we found online through Euro Relief's website. Recommendations to the teams/organizations on the Island: Better Days has an amazing volunteer system going! We were amazed how well everything keeps running, despite turnover of key leadership as volunteers come and go. Future volunteers: Make sure you take care of yourself! Most of our team got sick, undoubtedly with th...
3/14/2016 Gabriela Garver, 22, USA, 6 days with Better Days for Moria. Cooked, handed out tea, worked night shift (1-9:30am). Positive experience! I felt very useful. I know my work was only a drop in the ocean, but I still felt I contributed. I would return and encourage others to do so, as well. If anything, next time I would try to camp close to the work site, rather than stay in a hotel. After I left, I felt the time was much too short! Also burdened by what I experienced, and how little we understand it in the US. I was able to process well with my teammates, since I came on a team of 4. We used the debrief guide we found online through Euro Relief's website. Recommendations to the teams/organizations on the Island: Better Days has an amazing volunteer system going! We were amazed how well everything keeps running, despite turnover of key leadership as volunteers come and go. Future volunteers: Make sure you take care of yourself! Most of our team got sick, undoubtedly with things the refugees perpetually deal with. Make sure to rest enough, bring meds and vitamins and practice strict hygiene. Also, consider working night shift! They're always in need of night shift volunteers, and I found it to be a great job. You don't have as much interaction with refugees, but it's a chance to serve the whole camp and other volunteers. Once we got into the sleep schedule, it really wasn't too bad.