Second Tree

This week, we witnessed Zinat’s amazement at a gravity-defying circus performance 🎪, Community Engagement Coordinator Cameron Cave learning an Afghan dance with guidance from a new friend 💃, and Leila and Zeynep exploring the mountains and caves of Epirus, Greece. 🏔️ These are just a few examples of how our weekly community engagement activities offer opportunities for refugees to engage with us, each other, and the local community! You can help us create more experiences like these. Your support makes all the difference – donate today: https://lnkd.in/gy9grnhU #Communityengagement #Refugeeintegration #Refugeeswelcome #support #activities #RefugeesArePeople

Feeling hungry? 🥙 Last week, we organised a potluck picnic with people living in Katsikas refugee camp! Zainab, who rarely has the opportunity to leave the remote camp and share her delicious Afghan cooking, treated us to her signature spiced lamb Kabuli. In return, Asini, one of our newest team members, delighted the Afghan ladies with her Sinhalese dhal, which Zainab called the “best (non-Afghani, of course) dhal she had ever tried!”. 🥘 To shake off the post-feast fatigue, we played some basketball, volleyball, and danced to all kinds of music. On the bus ride home, a couple who recently arrived at Katsikas told us it was the best day they’d had in Greece so far. 🫂 To all of our supporters, thank you for helping us create memories like these, memories of community. 🌟 #refugeesarepeople #communitybuilding #thankyou #support #wearesecondtree #memories #refugeeswelcome

Marhaaban Lujain! 🤗 Originally from Syria, Lujain – fondly known as Lu to the Second Tree team – is our first full-time remote team member! Before starting her role, Lu visited us for 3 weeks in Northern Greece to get acquainted. Naturally, we bombarded her with questions as soon as she walked through the door, and Lu did not disappoint! Her name means “Liquid Silver” in Arabic, she’s fluent in Russian, holds a PhD in Syrian local governance, and now lives in Germany with her partner, Bo. As our new Research Coordinator, Lu will lead evaluations for our IN LOCO project, 8 years in the making. More on that soon! 🌍 We couldn’t ask for a better addition to face the action ahead. Welcome to the team, Lu! 🫂 Interested in our work or joining us? Apply today: https://lnkd.in/eyqJPgF #joinourteam #refugees #INLOCO #researchcoordinator #ngo #remoteworking #arabic

From life in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan to the Paralympic podium. 🏆 Zakia Khudadadi made history as the first athlete from the Refugee Paralympic Team to win a medal, claiming bronze in Para taekwondo at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games. Born without one forearm in Afghanistan, Zakia took up taekwondo at 11-years-old. After the Taliban regained power in 2020, she was forced into hiding, training in her backyard for the Tokyo 2020 Games. Just days before the event, she made a viral video plea for help and was safely evacuated by the Australian Air Force. Zakia is a prominent advocate for women’s rights globally. She hopes her medal will inspire Afghan women, who are often denied education and require male guardians to leave their homes. She insists that it is our collective responsibility to work towards equality for all the girls, for all the women and for all the refugees in the world. ✊️ Her journey demonstrates that #RefugeesArePeople capable of achieving extraordinary things through hard work and determination! #voices #advocacy #equality #refugeestories #success #humanity #equalopportunities #paralympics2024

Curious about life at Second Tree? Here’s a little peek: one moment, we’re having meetings on balconies, in cafés, or on buses; the next, we’re playing basketball, sharing a family dinner, or dancing at a community picnic. You’re always kept on your toes! 🤝 While our roles may differ, we all share the responsibility to contribute and engage in decision-making. It’s a place to gain genuine insight into how an NGO works and to experience real growth. The key to fitting in? We’re looking for people who are open-minded, brave enough to stand up for their beliefs, and ready to take on challenges. 🌱 If this sounds like your kind of place, don’t be shy! Visit https://lnkd.in/eyqJPgF and apply to join our team 🚪 #ourteam #applytoday #challenge #growth #wearesecondtree #teamwork Caroline Norton Carolina Quaranta Juliette Capoulade-Murphy Ciara Macken Aaron Kunaseelan Aidé Mendoza Amedeo Piccolo Asini L. Cameron Cave Linda De Masi Lujain Rabat

One Community, One Roof 🏘️ We are excited to share our latest international programme, HOUSE (Housing: to Overcome Unstable Situations in Europe), developed in collaboration with research centres, a municipality, and NGOs across 6 European countries! This initiative aims to create innovative housing solutions for refugees and migrants through the Community Sponsorship model. Our role? Establishing training pathways that support our partners by using our community engagement model, Refugees Are People, to foster stronger connections between newcomers and local communities. 🤓 Learn more about the latest in HOUSE by following the programme's page! #communitysponsorship #refugeesarepeople #training #internationalprogrammes #localcommunitiesforall #collaboration Caroline, Juliette, Aaron, Carolina, Isabel

🎉 GOAL! 🎉 This weekend, it wasn’t just the Pas Giannina football team celebrating their 2-1 win – 19 refugee children in our youth programme were also cheering, thanks to an invitation from Pas Giannina to experience the excitement at Ioannina’s local hot-spot: Zosimades Stadium!🥇🎟️ Eager Sina might have initially cheered for the opposing team, but we all know the magic of being among fellow fans – supporting our local team & feeling that sense of belonging! Attending this football match meant that, for a rare moment, Sina & her friends got to be part of a group united not by their refugee status, but by a shared love for the sport. ⚽️ Want to help us create more moments like this? Support Second Tree’s mission to bring refugee children on more adventures beyond the walls of the refugee camp they live in: https://lnkd.in/gy9grnhU #refugeesarepeople #team #integration #home #support #belonging #educationforall

September was full of surprises! Here’s a snapshot of all the action. 📸 1) Our team is growing! In September we welcomed 3 new team members, including our new Research Coordinator Lujain! Originally from Syria, she will be working with us remotely in Germany after having visited us on the ground here in Greece. 🤗 2) Our adult education classes are in full swing at Katsikas Refugee Camp, with attendance at our drop-in classes more than doubling compared to previous months! 📝 3) Omid and Setayesh giggle as a well-aimed water balloon explodes over their classmate's head during this month's end-of-module party celebrations! 🎈 4) @deoruns stopped by to see us here in Greece to learn more about our #refugeesarepeople policy during his epic running journey from Cape Town, South Africa, all the way to London! 🏃🏿💨 Help us keep the surprises coming in October and beyond, by donating here: https://lnkd.in/gy9grnhU ✨ #ourcommunity #monthlyupdate #activities #educationforall #newteam #surprises

Farewell, dear Pedrito 🥹👋🏽 Pedro joined Second Tree in July 2021, arriving fresh off a plane from Madrid as a clean-shaven graduate. ✈ Since then, he has taken 100s of kids on excursions, helped rebuild our fundraising department, and guided us as our administrative leader. 🤝 Over the years, he’s also grown a bushy beard and a manbun—those style choices are entirely his own! 👀 Until recently, Pedro was part of a special, yet not-so-exclusive club: team members who have been committed to Second Tree for over two years! 🏆 This level of dedication is rare in the NGO sector, but it’s common at Second Tree. More than 50% of our 18 on-the-ground team members have been with us for two years or more. Why? Because of people like Pedro, who tackle each new challenge with care, (at times annoying) persistence, and a commitment to making change. We invest time in one another, helping each other grow and thrive as a team. We also deeply believe in our work, treating refugees as the capable, accountable, reasonable, and equal individuals they are. So, although Pedro has now (quite literally) sailed off to his next adventure, he will always be a treasured member of our Second Tree crew. 🫂 Te echaremos de menos, querido Pedro!! Are you keen to find out more and join our team? Apply today: https://lnkd.in/eyqJPgF ✨ #TeamAppreciation #growth #commitment #joinus #care

Fadak Alfayadh, a community lawyer and refugee rights advocate, reflects on her own childhood experience fleeing conflict-torn Iraq and seeking asylum in Australia 🇦🇺 🇮🇶. She reminds us that even labels used with good intentions can cause harm. By labelling someone a ‘person with lived experience’, we risk reducing them to a single experience, essentially making this their entire identity. Here at Second Tree, we address the common portrayal of refugees as victims of their circumstances by advocating that a person’s single experience does not define who they are. They may be a sister, an athlete, a foodie, and much more! We engage with refugees as unique individuals with agency, capable of defining and redefining their own experiences on their own terms.☀️️💫 Find out more about our #RefugeesArePeople approach here: https://lnkd.in/dAHFP7UY #communityengagement #quoteoftheday #challange #rethinking #advocacy