The Meraki collective's campaign to support migrants in Greece: six solidarity projects

'Six ways to be there, every day' is the title of the fundraising solidarity campaign to boost independent humanitarian interventions to help migrants in Greece. Launching the initiative is the Meraki collective, formed by three non-profit associations - two Italian ones, La Luna di Vasilika and One Bridge To, and a Swiss one, Aletheia RCS - that have been operating for years between Athens and Corinth with the aim of filling the gaps in the increasingly restrictive Greek reception system.

Meraki offers assistance to men, women and children fleeing wars and humanitarian crises, mainly from Afghanistan, Sudan, Egypt, Syria and Palestine. "After the suspension of asylum applications for migrants from North Africa," reads a note from the NGO collective, "and the introduction of punitive measures for rejected applicants, thousands of people risk remaining in a legal and social limbo, without any protection or prospects for the future. These measures are part of an already extremely difficult context, in which even migrants who have now been regularised live in conditions of serious vulnerability'.

It is in response to this situation that the three organisations launched the campaign and its six projects: Health transport, to cover the costs of travelling to Athens from areas lacking medical services; a supportive freeshop where more than 700 registered people can access food and personal hygiene goods free of charge; a social desk with professional interpreters, facilitating access to health, legal and administrative services; A Greek social worker, who accompanies people through the bureaucratic process and trains volunteers in the field; purchase of medicines and medical examinations for those excluded from the public health system; distribution of nappies in refugee camps, to ensure hygiene and dignity for the most fragile families.

"Every day," explains Matilde Bernabò, project coordinator in Athens, "we provide orientation, language mediation and access to basic services, responding to the daily needs of asylum seekers and refugees, always with the aim of ensuring dignity for the person.

"Even a train ticket or a packet of nappies can be a crucial support for a family," adds Gennaro Erminio, project coordinator of Corinth.