Jessica Duronio, 7/15/17
(Athens, Greece) — Tucked away in the busy streets of Athens, Melissa Day Center is a place where refugee women can go for the day to escape the monotony of life in the refugee camps. The day center, founded by Nina Christopolou, strives to provide refugee women with a sense of normalcy and community while offering language and psychosocial activities. This video takes you on a look inside.
Jessa Vivio – July 27, 2017
(Athens, Greece) – The Asylum Services of Greece already has plenty on its plate. Since 2013 the service has found itself with over 100,000 asylum applications to process. More than 80% of those 102,000 asylum applications have been received in just the past year and a half. The numbers of refugees seeking Greek asylum skyrocketed when the borders to Europe were cut off.
Continue reading Greek Asylum service work slowed by austerity measures
Melissa Deatsch, 7/18/17
(Athens, Greece) — The plight of unattended minors remains a pressing concern for those assisting refugees in Greece.
OU Refugee Reporter Melissa Deatsch brings us this look inside one of those centers helping children who are trying to navigate the journey to safety on their own. Continue reading Searching for solutions for refugee children on their own (video)
Jennifer Gerlando and Abigaile Kootsillas 7/19/25
(Athens, Greece) — Media reports of the refugee crisis have drawn thousands of volunteers from around the world. They come because they don’t want to simply sit back and watch tragedy unfold without doing something to help. A case in point is a group of of young people who came from Portugal hearing word about refugees who had moved into Athens’ defunct school building #5 as a place of temporary refuge. Here are their stories:
(AGIA PARASKEVI, GREECE) — It was his last trip abroad – November 15, 2016 – just two months before he would turn over the reins of power to the next president seen by many as anti-immigrant. As President Obama stood before a packed crowd at Athens’ Stavros Niarchos Cultural Center, he commended Greece, saying “nowhere have we seen compassion (for refugees) more evident than here in Greece.”
Continue reading Obama’s Parting Gift to Immigrants: $700,000 for refugee education in Greece
By Abigaile Kootsillas, 7/25/17
(Athens, Greece) — Greece’s far right-wing party, the Golden Dawn, is promising the possibility of protests if the government moves forward with plans to fully integrate refugee students with Greek students in the school system. Continue reading Alt-Right Greek party takes stance against refugee school integration
OU Refugee Report 