We are presented our experience with refugees in our area.

2. There are about 56,975 refugees and immigrants
in Greece.
More and more refugees and immigrants
disembark on Greek islands.
The conditions are really hard, especially on
Lesvos, Chios and Samos.

3. In our city, Alexandroupolis, there is an
Association for the Social Support of Youth,
ARSIS,
which is a Non Governmental Organization,
specializing in the social support of youth that
are in difficulty or danger and in the advocacy of
their rights.
http://arsis.gr/en/home/

4. More than 20 children from Syria and
Afganistan are accommodated and
supported by ARSIS waiting to be
reunited with their families.

5. Children opening their
Christmas presents
ARSIS vision is a society
of equal opportunities
for all young
individuals with
respect of their rights
like those that are
outlined in the Greek
and International Law
through the UN pact
for Children’s Rights.

6. The main target of ARSIS is
 to prevent youth marginalization
 to elaborate on policies which
defend youth rights
 to actively and socially support
disadvantaged young people.
It is based on
active participation
of members,
volunteers and
young people.

7. We visited ARSIS twice in January 2018.
On January 17th we got informed about the
association’s activities and we were particularly
interested in issues considering refugees and
especially children who are not accompanied by
their parents.

8. On January 28th during our second visit we
become involved in creative activities with the
children hosted in ARSIS. We engaged in
experiential activities and shared our dreams
as well as our vision of the world.

9. We also participated in an intercultural party. We
shared the food we had brought with us and
their traditional food they had cooked
themselves for us. We listened to music from the
refugee-children’s home countries and we
danced altogether.

10. Our initial collaboration has developed into
friendship between the children.
Refugee children have been invited to our
school where a football match has been
arranged at the end of February 2018. Mixed
teams consisting of boys and girls of all
nations are going to play football and engage
in more experiential activities.
We are all looking forward to it!