With your help, Omid Foundation is now supporting 33 Farsi speaking female refugees in Greece, enabling them to find empowerment in their quest to build a new life for themselves in Europe.
These women benefit from a range of services including: Person-centered and trauma-informed support, in housing and shelter, legal, medical, psychosocial therapeutic services, and education. A growing expert-led International team, Omid Foundation continues to recruit the best talent in developing their holistic program in Greece.
“We registered our charity in greece in february 2020, just before the start of covid in greece,” says Omid Foundation founder, Marjaneh Halati. ”Our first move was to remove ‘at risk’ women from the Moria camp in Lesvos, where the outbreak of the pandemic was believed to be eminent. We have premises and shelters in Athens and staff in Athens that supervise the refugees in our care. I myself spend four months of the year in Athens attending to the needs of the refugees in our care. You cannot care for refugees without having personal contact with them.”
On #GivingTuesday, you can make even more of a difference in someone’s life by making a donation through the Gift Matching program of employers like: Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Cisco, Deutsche Bank, Genentech, Goldman Sachs, Google, and the World Bank Group are just a few of the firms that have approved OMid Foundation for gift matching.
One of the best opportunities is the World Bank Group’s Community Connections Campaign which this year double match donations of their employees and retirees (i.e. a $100 donation turns into $300). The World Bank Group includes the IMF, IFC, IDA, IBRD, and MIGA. Please make use of gift matching if your employer has such a program and encourage your friends to do the same.
“The UNHCR believes that there are in excess of 70,000 refugees in Greece, with an ethnic composition of approximately 47% Farsi speaking, 27% Arabic speaking, and 26% other. Farsi-speaking refugees are either Iranian or Afghan, with the Afghans mainly from the refugee community who lived in Iran,” Halati adds. “The bulk of the Farsi-speaking women refugees are victims of sexual based and/or domestic violence and have experienced complex trauma. Omid’s expertise is to support marginalzied young women who have expereienced trauma.”
Funds raised on #GivingTuesday will go directly to supporting the young women in Greece and beyond to reclaim their lives and fulfill their dreams.
To make a donation, please visit: Omid Foundation.
.
.
