What is Iona doing in Greece?

I arrived in Ioannina back in April with no expectations and a vague plan to “help out for a bit.” Fast-forward seven months and I’m now the Youth Programme Coordinator, running programmes in three refugee camps in Northern Greece. 

I get to work with brilliant young people: coordinating classes, activities, trips and opportunities that help them learn, grow, and simply be themselves. It’s pretty incredible to see how much confidence and joy can come from having a routine, a space to show up in, and things to look forward to. I also work in Community Engagement, organising activities and events that help make life in the camps a little more human. 

Conditions in Greece’s refugee camps are extremely challenging, which is why the work we do is essential: creating spaces for education, community and dignity in environments where this is often limited.

As an organisation, we run youth programmes, adult classes, adult language certification, self-advocacy courses and community engagement events, and we partner and connect with other organisations across Europe to spread our model. Second Tree isn’t your average humanitarian organisation. We aim to challenge how the humanitarian sector treats and views refugees and to shift the narrative. Refugees are People. This means rejecting the usual narratives- the victimising, romanticising, and stereotyping and treating them as equal human beings with agency and dignity. Our entire methodology is built on that belief, and it informs everything we do. 

So here’s the Christmas plea!
Instead of buying someone a stupid present they’ll use once and then forget about, you could donate to Second Tree. I see firsthand how far that support goes, in the confidence it builds, the opportunities it creates, and the very real difference it makes day to day. And on a bigger scale, you’d be backing an organisation that’s working to change not just lives, but systems.

Big love and happy holidays! 

Iona