The YMCA worldwide family stands together in support of refugees.
“Rarely in modern history have so many been so desperate to flee. Now their brave, and tragic, journeys are reshaping Europe and the world”, reported ‘TIME’ magazine on October 19, 2015.
The shocking image of a 3 year old boy from Syria, dead on a beach, became the iconic photo of the 2015 European refugee crisis. But we, the worldwide YMCA family, cannot forget countless others; Kenya’s large Kakuma Camp in Turkana County for refugees and asylum seekers from Somalia, South Sudan and Ethiopia; and over-crowded longstanding camps for refugees from Palestine and Syria in Lebanon and Jordan.
The YMCA has responded to this extraordinary challenge and crisis with The Global YMCA Refugee Initiative. A high-level Steering Committee for the Initiative agreed during a meeting on November 4 to open a YMCA Fundraising Appeal.
Taking into consideration:
- the unprecedented worldwide scale and contexts of the refugee crisis,
- our Christian mission and dedication to fight against injustice towards young people all over the world regardless their religion, gender, race or culture,
- our historical successful longstanding work with refugees, and today’s extremely relevant YMCA work with refugees, immigrants and internally
displaced people in many countries
we ask for your solidarity and support.
Resources collected from this appeal will support current YMCA refugee work, as well as new projects of local and national movements worldwide who are ready to respond with various programmes to help refugees. Examples of existing programmes for refugees inside the world wide YMCA include:
– Emergency relief for refugees , medical aid, welcoming and integration programmes, education, counseling and advocacy.
– Centres for Asylum Seekers and Vocational Training.
– “summer camps; schools; sports programmes etc”.
The support will focus on young people, helping them to survive their first days, months, transitions and adaptations to their new lives. The support will have emergency as well as long-term impact.
“I was a stranger, and you invited Me in”.
