A growing response

REFUGEES

EUROPE

NORWAY

A growing response

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In brief

Austria The Salvation Army in Austria is small but the plight of the increasing number of asylum seekers arriving in the country has led to a response from Austrian Salvationists. The Salvation Army has just opened a shelter for up to 45 asylum seekers.

Belgium In the town of Spa, The Salvation Army – in partnership with Caritas – has converted a youth and conference centre into a reception centre to receive 70 asylum seekers. In Brussels, an integration centre is currently hosting 85 people but is in the process of increasing the number of places to 140.

Another, smaller residence provides accommodation for 24 single men.

France The Salvation Army in France is providing space for 275 refugees in various centres and offers regular meals to 60-80 migrants in Marseille.

Germany (see ‘In more depth’) Greece (see ‘In more depth’) Hungary The Hungarian Government closed its borders in October 2015, but before that The Salvation Army was involved in providing food, sleeping bags and other items to people travelling through, including some of the thousands who became stuck at Budapest railway station.

Italy The Salvation Army in Italy is accommodating and supporting asylum seekers in a hostel in Rome and at Atena Lucana, where an empty facility was prepared and readied to receive

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THE Salvation Army is continuing to build its refugee response across Europe, with new stories of care and compassion emerging almost every day. These pages seek to provide a sense of the scale of the crisis but also of the breadth of the response, from individuals volunteering to distribute sandwiches and drinks to large centres dedicated to accept asylum seekers and help them to settle in a new country where they and their families can be safe. The list is not exhaustive – almost certainly there are projects that have been missed – but it gives a sense of how The Salvation Army is continuing its 150-year tradition of helping the ‘lost and the least’.

up to 50 asylum seekers. Qualified and experienced personnel have been hired and a care and integration programme developed. The first 25 young men and women from Nigeria arrived in early November, followed soon after by another group of 19.

Lieut-Colonel Massimo Tursi (Officer Commanding, Italy and Greece) writes: ‘One of the asylum seekers is a tailor and someone lent him a sewing machine to tailor Nigerian clothes and make pillows. We have also identified two barbers in the group and other skilled people. We hope to build relationships with the townspeople and find small jobs for our guests.

They have received name tags where their professional skills can be seen, in the hope that the people in town will eventually ask for their help.’

Like many others, these young people hope to gain asylum in Italy.

The Salvation Army is supporting them through the legal procedures but also

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in other ways that will help them to integrate better into their new homes.

The Netherlands The Salvation Army has doubled its capacity for hosting asylum seekers from 75 to 150 beds, with additional beds in crisis centres for the most marginalised.

More than 1,000 have so far received emergency shelter. The Salvation Army recycling programme, ReShare, is providing clothing to asylum seekers in all shelters across the country.

Norway The Salvation Army in Norway has converted a school in Oslo to enable it to house 250 asylum seekers. A second shelter for 150 people in the south of Norway is due to open soon.

Sweden (and Denmark) Sweden is welcoming a huge number of asylum seekers into the country, including many unaccompanied

‘The focus is upon building relationships, helping asylum seekers integrate into their new surroundings’

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HUNGARY Major Haris Gianaros (right) in Athens, Greece, with an Afghan refugee family – Bahbood, his sister, her husband and their two children (see ‘In more depth’)

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children – most of whom have fled from Afghanistan. Working in partnership with the Swedish Government, the Migration Authority and charities such as the Red Cross, The Salvation Army is part of the national network that plans activities to meet the needs of these new arrivals. As an organisation formed mainly of volunteers, the Army is considered an important participant.

Most asylum seekers come to Sweden across the southern border, arriving either by ferry to Trelleborg/Ystad or by train to Malmö. Some are also arriving by ferry to Gothenburg on the west coast.

Supported by colleagues from neighbouring Denmark and by interpreters, Salvation Army team members spend several hours at the rail station in Malmö every evening, meeting At the time of writing (27 November 2015), 868,282 refugees had arrived in mainland Europe by sea in 2015 – although at least 3,551 are known to have died on the way – or are missing, presumed dead.

Top countries of origin for people seeking asylum in Europe: Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Eritrea, Nigeria, Pakistan, Iran, Sudan.

these travelling people, providing support and information and guiding them towards the initial reception centres.

In Stockholm, The Salvation Army has prepared emergency night shelters at several corps in the city.

The work with migrants is not a totally new ministry for The Salvation Army in Sweden. For more than 10 years it has been working closely with the Migration Authority in Gothenburg to integrate refugee children. The existing programme is being scaled up to include some of the new arrivals.

Switzerland For many years The Salvation Army has been operating refugee reception shelters in Switzerland. With the recent increase in new arrivals the established centres have been overrun, leading to a request for temporary shelters to be opened to cope with the need. During a visit to Switzerland by General André Cox, Salvationists were challenged to open their doors to refugees, leading to a number of corps (churches) offering to help.

In the Canton of Berne, for instance, the government requested assistance from The Salvation Army to shelter increased numbers of asylum seekers.

As of November the first two corps (Malleray und Moutier) opened their doors to house 30 people, mainly from Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq. Huttwil and Thun Corps have also offered assistance Salvation Army volunteers are also involved in all kinds of integration activities, including the provision of French lessons.

Responses have also been reported in ROMANIA and RUSSIA

In more depth Germany Report by Major Ced Hills IT’S been well documented that 2015 witnessed the largest migration of people since the Second World War. Around 900,000 people entered southern Europe, mainly through Greece and Italy, making their way northwards.

Final destination countries include Sweden, Norway, Finland and Germany.

Currently, the preferred destination seems to be Germany, where more than 330,000 people applied for asylum in the first nine months of 2015 – four times the total figure for the whole of the previous year.

The Salvation Army has a 130-year history in Germany. With around 40 corps (churches) and 60 institutions, it is certainly not the largest territory in Europe but it is well established and has a broad geographical coverage.

The Salvation Army in Germany is very active in ministry to refugees, particularly in the east of the country, where corps have good volunteer support. However, work is not limited to the eastern cities and, around Germany, Salvationists are doing what they can to make a difference.

The focus is upon building relationships, helping asylum seekers integrate into their new surroundings and adapt to a new culture. Practical assistance – food, clothing and support at appointments – is readily offered.

Language classes, community cafes, cookery groups and parent-and-baby clubs are springing up around the region.

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With such large numbers moving into the country, mediation between the community and the new asylum seekers is important and so – with little advance planning – corps are naturally responding to the needs and starting these ministries. In Germany, as with so much of Europe, the refugee situation is not expected to be a short-term crisis.

The Salvation Army is committed to a long-term response.

Leipzig is in eastern Germany, near the Polish and Czech borders. During 2015 more than 6,000 asylum seekers arrived in the city – a significant addition to the half a million people who already lived there. A small apartment above the corps building was offered to the city as an emergency shelter and 10 people were placed there. Hygiene packs and clothes helped to make the new arrivals feel at home.

The small-scale project run by the corps to provide furniture was quickly called upon to help as arrivals were accommodated in properties with inadequate furnishings. With limited stock available, and a very small warehouse, the need to upscale the project became obvious.

A hard-standing area close to the corps was made available to The Salvation Army by the city and – with financial support from the Salvation Army World Services Office (SAWSO) in the USA, a modern, heated semipermanent storage facility was erected.

In recent years the commercial logistics company UPS has become an active partner with The Salvation Army.

After a quick call, a technical specialist from the company’s Germany office was released to advise and assist with setting up this new project. The programme, which is expected to run for a few years, will help 1,000 families or individuals each year, but will also provide employment opportunities for 12 asylum seekers.

In Dresden, when city authorities were looking for organisations to help manage temporary shelters, one of the groups they turned to was The Salvation Army. An unused school gymnasium

Above: playing games with refugee children at Malleray Corps, Switzerland; right: Major Maria Konti Galinou gives out food and drink to refugees in Victoria Square, Athens; opposite page, top: refugees sleeping in this sports hall in Dresden, Germany, are cared for

by The Salvation Army; opposite page, bottom: Nigerian asylum seekers play music at the Salvation Army centre in Atena Lucana, Italy

was to become temporary home to 40 asylum seekers, and The Salvation Army agreed to supervise the project.

Every room was used. Even one of the shower rooms was converted into a sleeping and living area for six people.

Visiting the shelter in October 2015, I was surprised by the homely feeling and the relaxed atmosphere. It clearly wasn’t due to the comfortable surroundings – beds were lined up side by side and facilities were quite basic.

So what was special about this place?

One of the six Syrian men living in the ‘shower’ room invited me in for a chat.

I was made to feel like a guest – one of the others kindly offered us coffee and came back with a warm drink.

As we chatted I learned something of the exhausting journey that these men had made. I was told that, while en route to Germany, my new friend had received two significant phone messages – one broke the tragic news that his

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brother had been killed by a bomb, the second told of the safe arrival into the world of his new baby daughter.

He opened his phone and the photo of this new addition to his family was proudly shown around. As I rejoiced and commiserated with him I asked about his new situation. He told me that he was delighted to be hosted by The Salvation Army.

As I looked at his cramped living space and limited privacy, I asked: ‘Why?’ I’m sure his unexpected reply will remain with me for a long time – ‘The Salvation Army people smiled and were kind to us’. Here was a vulnerable young man, far from his home and family, and yet he was touched by simple gestures of care and compassion.

Greece Report by Major Haris Gianaros FROTAN is a young journalist from Kabul who worked as an interpreter for American and British troops in Afghanistan. When the forces were removed from Afghanistan, Frotan was left without a job and, as importantly, without protection. Having worked for

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Western forces, he was now a target for the Taliban and left with no other option but to join what has come to be called ‘The Great March’. It is a march that more than 700,000 people have joined, crossing the Aegean Sea from Turkey to Greece and then ‘marching’ on to seek refuge in other European countries.

Major Rick Shiran and I were deployed to Greece for eight weeks with the The Salvation Army’s International Emergency Services. We met Frotan and many other refugees like him in Victoria Square, in the Greek capital, Athens.

From June 2015 – when the volume of refugees passing through Greece dramatically increased – soldiers and volunteers of Athens Corps (Salvation Army church) joined their officers, Major Polis Pantelidis and Major Maria Konti Galinou, and went out to help the refugees in the parks, where many would camp for the night.

On occasions, Salvation Army team members would go out in the parks at 7am, distributing as many as 1,000 sandwiches, milk cartons and water.

They have now distributed well over 20,000 sandwiches and countless bottles of water and milk as well as many nonfood items such as clothes, nappies

(diapers), baby wipes and other hygiene goods.

The international Salvation Army has been able to channel even more funding to help the Army in Greece to further expand its response of filling gaps in the humanitarian aid that is offered by the government and many other NGOs (non-governmental organisations).

With this financial backing we were able to rent a shop near Victoria Square which will be used as a day centre for refugees and a warehouse to store and sort donated items. Two people are now employed to coordinate The Salvation Army’s response to the refugee crisis in Greece and to manage the day centre and the vast army of volunteers.

Two big containers have already arrived from overseas and many more are on their way.

The Salvation Army wants to make sure that not one soul will be lost because of the winter. To this end, Jan Noordijk, the Army’s Logistics Manager in The Netherlands, appealed for raincoats, scarves, socks and hats.

Jan was already deployed here and is due back again to help set up the warehouse and the distribution of these items as winter sets in.

The Army is also responding at the border crossing as the refugees leave Greece, providing electricity to ‘Camp B’ at Idomeni – on the Macedonian border – as well as giving out items such as raincoats, scarves and hats.

The officers and young people from Thessalonki Corps also visit the camp once a month to assist with the collection of rubbish/garbage that is scattered in the nearby fields.

I have heard many stories from the refugees I have met here in Athens. I’ve heard of people who risk their lives, crossing mountains and sea to find a country that will offer them refuge. I’ve heard of smugglers who threaten to cut off an ear or a nose if demands for more money were not met. I’ve heard of friends who were shot by soldiers as they crossed borders. I’ve heard of people who live in constant fear for their lives.

If there is something that everyone on this great march shares, it is desperation.

This desperation has driven them to leave their homes, their wider families and their countries in search of a safe tomorrow.

The Salvation Army, motivated by the love of God, seeks to restore the dignity of these people who are made in the image of God. Huddled under a canopy on a rainy day I spoke to Bahbood, who was on the march with his sister, her husband and their two children, aged 11 and one.

They shared some of the hardship they had faced and my heart broke for the inhumanity and cruelty that we humans are capable of.

As I looked at the two young children, I thought to myself that any parent on this planet would want a safe future for their children. How could they not seek refuge in a safe country? I realise that I would have done exactly the same.

Major Ced Hills is commander of The Salvation Army’s Estonia Region. He visited Germany as part of his temporary role as head of the Refugee Response Taskforce.

When not on secondment to International Emergency Services, Major Haris Gianaros is a corps officer at Gillingham in the United Kingdom Territory with the Republic of Ireland

For the latest news on The Salvation Army’s Europe refugee response go to sar.my/europerefugees, which includes a regularly updated interactive map

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