While Europe's politicians flounder in the face of an
unprecedented wave of refugees and migrants seeking shelter -- many of them
from war-torn Syria -- some individuals have decided to take matters into their
own hands.
Using digital
means, they are taking practical steps to offer desperate men, woman and
children a place to stay in their own homes, or seeking to pressure their own
governments into offering sanctuary to more of those in need.
In Iceland,
author and professor Bryndis Bjorgvinsdottir has set up a Facebook page to call for her country's government
to increase the number of refugees it was planning to accept from a reported 50
-- prompting a big response and wide media interest.
And in Germany,
a website has been running for months which aims to match offers of
accommodation in private homes -- ideally shared rental apartments -- across
the country with individual refugees in need of a place to stay.
The website, Refugees Welcome
(Fluechtlinge Wilkommen,) has already placed dozens of refugees who
otherwise might be placed in overcrowded migrant centers or struggle to put a
roof over their heads at all.
Such direct
action couldn't be more needed.
Migrants are
pouring over Europe's borders in record numbers this year, according to the EU border agency Frontex,
many of them fleeing conflict in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. In July alone, a
record 107,500 were detected at EU borders, it said.
'Refugees are our future spouses, best friends'
In Reykjavik, Bjorgvinsdottir's
inspiration came from a friend who posted a status update on Facebook --
addressed to Iceland's Minister of Welfare Eyglo Hardar -- saying he wanted to
take five Syrian refugees into his own home, she said.
With just that
gesture, her friend pointed out, the number Iceland took in could increase to
55, Bjorgvinsdottir told CNN's "The World Right Now."
Struck by his
idea, she thought that she could offer to pay for the flights. "Then I got
this idea that maybe more people want to join in and give food or clothes or
even offering their houses or extra bedrooms -- and I did that just to see how
much we could raise the number from maybe 50 to 100 or 200," she said.
The idea took
off and the page already has 12,000 members, Bjorgvinsdottir said -- no mean
feat given the country's population is only about 300,000. Proportionately,
that equates to some 12 million people signing up in the United States.
A post on her
Facebook page says, "Refugees are human resources, experience and skills.
Refugees are our future spouses, best friends, our next soul mate, the drummer
in our children's band, our next colleague, Miss Iceland 2022, the carpenter
who finally fixes our bathroom, the chef in the cafeteria, the fireman, the hacker
and the television host. People who we'll never be able to say to: 'Your life
is worth less than mine.'"
Bjorgvinsdottir
hasn't yet been able to sort through the comments posted on the page to
calculate how many offers of places to stay there are. But with the help of
volunteers she hopes to pass that information on to the government in the near
future, in the hope it can be put to concrete use.
The war in Syria
has been dragging on for years, she said, and Icelanders don't understand why
they are not seeing more refugees being given sanctuary in their country.
"People
just really want to help and they really want to see actions -- and actions
taken immediately, right now, because time matters a lot in this
situation," she said.
Inspired by the
Icelandic example, a U.S. group has also been set up on Facebook, called
"Americans Supporting Syrian Refugees: Open Homes, Open Hearts."
Berlin host: 'Fantastic' experience to help a migrant
In Germany, Katie Griggs, a Briton who's
been living in Berlin for several years, is one of those who responded to the
call of Refugees Welcome and registered with the website in March.
She and her
husband own their apartment, so couldn't provide an apartment share, but could
offer a guestroom for emergency accommodation.
Just a few weeks
after they signed up, they welcomed a pregnant woman from Nigeria into their
compact, two-bedroom flat in Berlin's hip Kreuzberg district, Griggs told CNN
by phone from Berlin.
The woman, whom
Griggs refers to as Alyssa on her blog to safeguard her privacy, had been
referred to Refugees Welcome by another group in Berlin which helps trafficked
women. Realizing she was pregnant and in a worsening situation, Alyssa had left
Greece -- where she'd spent two years after traveling from Nigeria -- and made
another perilous overland journey to Germany in search of help, Griggs said.
"Of course
we had worries and then other people throw worries at you," said Griggs of
her initial reaction on being asked to host Alyssa in May. Those concerns
included questions over the penniless 24-year-old's health and their own
personal security.
But, Griggs
said, "The actual experience was brilliant, it was absolutely fantastic.
We got to learn about Africa just in our own living room. She was lovely, she
was so positive the whole time, even though she was on her own, a pregnant
woman.
Alyssa told how
she'd left school at 11 because there was no money to pay for her education,
Griggs said. Griggs tried to help their guest with German and with learning
about the baby she's expecting in November.
"But she
also gave us lots back -- we learned about Nigerian food, about Nollywood, she
would do a bit of dancing for us, teach us about African music and culture,"
said Griggs.
Six weeks later,
Alyssa felt able to lodge a formal asylum claim and was whisked off by train to
a center in western Germany the same day, clutching her meager belongings in a
plastic bag. Since then, Alyssa has stayed in touch by phone -- and Griggs says
she misses having her in their home.
Berliners lend a Syrian refugee a bike
Horrified by the images she's seen of
conflict and the tragic deaths of Syrian refugees seeking to reach Europe,
Griggs has also tried to help Syrian refugees in Berlin.
She signed up to
a Berlin-based Facebook bicycling group set up by a Syrian refugee, Monis
Bukhari, to help fellow Syrians arriving in the city adjust to their new lives.
It asks
Berliners to lend bikes for one-day bike tours, so that the newly arrived
refugees can meet fellow residents of the city, German or other nationalities,
stay active and get to know their way around -- all helping them to integrate
into the community.
The cycling
group brings together mostly people aged 25 and under, Bukhari said, with
similar interests -- important when so many of the Syrians coming to Germany
are young.
And it's not a
one-way street.
Bukhari, who
arrived in Berlin two years ago and has recently been granted a German
passport, is using Facebook to organize a "Thank
you Germany" event on
October 10, in which Syrians will hand out flowers randomly to Germans at
stations across the country and play music for free for their enjoyment.
Bukhari, who's
part of a wider volunteer group within Germany called Syrian House which seeks
to help new arrivals navigate German laws and bureaucracy, told CNN that the
event has a dual purpose.
"First of all, we as Syrians, we think that German people deserve
to be thanked because they are supporting us and helping us, and they showed so
much sympathy," he said. This is true even when the people involved share
no common language, he said.
"The other
side is that we in Syrian House think that this way of thanking will help or,
let's say, push the people who refuse refugees to accept them, to accept the
idea of welcoming refugees."
Bukhari, who ran
his own design studio and publishing firm in Damascus, knows how vital that
welcome can be. He first fled Syria for Beirut and then Jordan after he was
accused by the Syrian authorities of being a spy and sentenced to death in
absentia. He was invited to work in Germany on a project and has stayed there
since after Jordan declined his return, he said.
Next month Syrian
House will launch a photography exhibition and book by Syrian photographers
documenting the refugee experience in Germany, and the kindness of some people
they encounter, Bukhari said.
Another Facebook
page advertizes the first
concert by the Syrian Expat Philharmonic Orchestra -- which describes itself as "the
first symphony orchestra for the Syrian professional musicians who live in
European Union countries" -- on September 22, in the German city of
Bremen.
Merkel: Germany must show 'flexibility'
Amid the turmoil of recent months, as
European nations -- particularly Greece and Italy -- struggle to cope with the
migrants reaching their shores, Germany has stood out as one of the more
welcoming EU members.
Germany's
government said last month it expected up to 800,000 asylum seekers to come
this year -- four times more than in 2014.
German
Chancellor Angela Merkel said Monday that her country -- where some are opposed
to taking in asylum seekers -- must show "flexibility" when it comes
to dealing with the crisis.
For the most
part, the public supports Merkel.
Local football
clubs hoisted "welcome" banners over the weekend. Villages held
"refugee welcome" parties for the newcomers. And a recent news poll
estimated that 60% back Merkel's warm welcome.
But not everyone
in Germany feels the same way. There have been xenophobic protests, and a
planned asylum center was burned down last month.
Police in the
town of Cottbus have arrested a suspect in an attack on about 40 asylum-seekers
at a shelter in Brandenburg on Tuesday evening in which some kind of spray was
used.
It's not clear
what the substance was or what triggered the attack but several people,
including children, were brought to the hospital for treatment. None are in
serious condition, police said.
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