A safe space is something every community needs to feel whole. In Thessaloniki, there are a large number of refugees without a friendly, inclusive space to gather. This is especially challenging for women and children. So on Day 330 with our partners Communitere, we set out to do the doable and make a safe space for women and children refugees in Thessaloniki.
Communitere engages communities in a kind of DIY humanitarian relief. They create opportunities for communities to think about and plan for their own futures, and then they help them choose from a variety of tools and models that will help them get where they want to go.
We wanted to work with Communitere to create a space that would allow refugee women and children in Thessaloniki to have a space to hold community activities. And they had an idea. Why not renovate an old space into a new, clean and usable community center?
We re-tiled the floor of an old room to make it safe for children to run around in and made the bathroom usable.
This newly refurbished community center is now the first of its kind in the city, a safe center to promote the well-being of women and children.
With just a few simple tiles, now the women of Thessaloniki can have their very own gathering place to learn and grow together.
