Refugee Crisis In Idomeni

In the second week of May, Sophia and Luana left Taste Before You Waste in the capable hands of the food heroes and set off to Idomeni to work with 

Aid Delivery Mission (ADM). There thousands of people are stuck in makeshift camps, local authorities making it impossible for them to continue their journey westwards through Macedonia. We went there to join the team of the Aid Delivery Mission, who are doing their best to help people in this desperate situation. Since they arrived 3 months ago, they have cooked more than 500.000 hot meals, distributed thousands of tents, sleeping bags and blankets, masses of dry food and vital information. They have been the emotional support and the humanity of Idomeni. They believe “an ever changing and chaotic refugee crisis calls for a flexible approach, therefore we are combining an extensive experience of mobile kitchens and providing food, with our ability to reflect on what is needed, where and when”. Since the borders have been completely closed, ADM has adapted their approach from distributing cooked food to distributing cooking utensils and food packages to be pr

epared by the families themselves to increase their level of independence. On top of that, the independent volunteers from ADM provide tailor-made care and guidance for the individual families. For example, in the periods that no other organizations were distributing baby milk to the mothers that couldn’t produce it themselves due to malnutrition and stress, ADM stepped in.

Now, more than ever, our help is needed. For the last few weeks Idomeni camp has been and continues to be evacuated. Official NGOs are forced to abandon the region, leaving people without access to water, food and emotional support. In this way refugees are pressured into moving to military camps which are strategically located “out of the way” and heavily controlled, eventually stripping the families and individuals from any independence they may have left. ADM, however, not being funded by any government, intends on continuing their vital work regardless. They are even working on setting up a school in affected areas to give meaning to the lives of the many children, but also to create a platform for the many highly-educated individuals in the camps to share their knowledge with the next generation.

We believe the least we can do is show humanity and solidarity in such a situation of urgency. Being an independently run organization, ADM is fully dependent on our support which is why with this letter we ask you to give what you can to contribute to ADM‘s extremely valuable work or join the Team in Greece hands-on! 

Donate now, every little bit helps!