Huda is a mother who teases you for breathing. Her sister Khalida is a doctor. Bentdji collects languages. Teacher Dennis loves Afrobeat and Manchester United.
What they share with millions of others is a single word: refugee. Most people never look past it – and so refugee camps stay out of sight: floodlights all night, the nearest town in view but out of reach, barbed wire for a garden fence.
But a word that fits millions of people can’t hold a single one of them.
At Second Tree, we see people building something else. People who don’t share a language looking after each other’s children. Neighbours, local and from far away, improving the places they now share, trusting one another when little else is certain.
This feels like home because it’s built on who we are, not what’s happened to us.
Meet the people who make this community ours – and help it grow, today!
“English lets you speak to the whole world and find work.”
Bentdji, from Haiti, speaks Spanish, French, English and Turkish. When he isn’t teasing his friends Khalida and Huda – who you’ll meet next – he explains why it matters: “Before coming to Greece, many people have only done the basic English course.”
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For Bentdji, Second Tree is where that changes: “It’s a family way to know each other, to share ideas and to fight for one point, and that point is to help people learn and understand English.”
€15 covers English materials for 25 people living in refugee camps – keeping people like Bentdji learning.
“I want to be a super doctor around the world!”
Khalida is the person people turn to: a doctor, a translator and Huda’s sister. In Huda’s words, “you tell her to do something for you, she will never say no. She’s a good person and will always help.”
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She shows up for Second Tree too – one of our most dependable Farsi translators, working to get people in the camps the information they need on health, housing and legal access, so they can advocate for themselves.
€40 covers materials for 67 adults to access education – the people Khalida shows up for, learning the tools to speak for themselves.
“We want them to realise they are all one, all equal, to realise they should have the same opportunities.”
Teacher Dennis, a 52-year-old maths professor from Sierra Leone, is a character: play any Afrobeat song and he’ll out-dance and out-sing anyone half his age, shirt tucked in, tie bright red.
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He wants the children in Katsikas refugee camp to have the same chances as any child. After twenty years teaching, he still “popped in just to see” our Youth Programmes – and left impressed: “Their progress, their way of expressing themselves, tells that you guys are doing a good job for them.”
€100 funds 10 classes for 40 children who may otherwise miss out on an education – the children Teacher Dennis believes in.
“In these events, I feel like I’m not a refugee. They make us feel like family.”
Huda, from Afghanistan, is a mother of three raising her kids in Katsikas refugee camp. “Every mother is strong,” she’ll tell you – she calls herself “a super wonder woman!”
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At our market trips and community parties in the city, you’ll hear her teasing everyone while her children colour with new friends nearby, a rare chance to “find some peace.” Of our community events, she says, “We feel like everyone is our family.”
A donation of your choice supports a community people like Huda can call family – where new neighbours and their children belong, and where they are the person, not the label.
“English lets you speak to the whole world and find work.”
Bentdji, from Haiti, speaks Spanish, French, English and Turkish. When he isn’t teasing his friends Khalida and Huda – who you’ll meet next – he get’s serious: “Before coming to Greece, many people have only done the basic English course.”
Read more
For Bentdji, Second Tree is where that changes: “It’s a family way to know each other, to share ideas and to fight for one point, and that point is to help people learn and understand English.”
“I want to be a super doctor around the world!”
Khalida is the person people turn to: a doctor, a translator and Huda’s sister. In Huda’s words, “you tell her to do something for you, she will never say no. She’s a good person and will always help.”
Read more
She shows up for Second Tree too – one of our most dependable Farsi translators, working to get people in the camps the information they need on health, housing and legal access, so they can advocate for themselves.
€15 covers English materials for 25 people living in refugee camps – keeping people like Bentdji learning.
€40 covers materials for 67 adults to access education – the people Khalida shows up for, who decide for themselves what comes next.
“We want them to realise they are all one, all equal, to realise they should have the same opportunities.”
Teacher Dennis, a 52-year-old maths professor from Sierra Leone, is a character: play any Afrobeat song and he’ll out-dance and out-sing anyone half his age, shirt tucked in, tie bright red.
Read more
He wants the children in Katsikas refugee camp to have the same chances as any child. A teacher for twenty years himself, he “popped in just to see” our Youth Programmes – and came away impressed: “Their progress, their way of expressing themselves, tells that you guys are doing a good job for them.”
“In these events, I feel like I’m not a refugee. They make us feel like family.”
Huda, from Afghanistan, is a mother of three raising her kids in Katsikas refugee camp. “Every mother is strong,” she’ll tell you – she calls herself “a super wonder woman!”
Read more
At our market trips and community parties in the city, you’ll hear her teasing everyone while her children colour with new friends nearby, a rare chance to “find some peace.” Of our community events, she says, “We feel like everyone is our family.”
€100 funds 10 classes for 40 children who may otherwise miss out on an education – one that should be theirs, like any other child’s.”
A donation of your choice supports a community people like Huda can call family – where new neighbours and their children belong, and where they are the person, not the label.
Donate this World Refugee Day! For the person, not the label.
BANK DETAILS
You can either donate through the donation form above, using your credit card or PayPal account, or you can make a bank transfer using the bank details below. When making a bank transfer, please include your email address so that you can receive your donation receipt and hear about the impact of your support!
Second Tree
Alpha Bank, Aghiou Dimitriou 66,
54631 Thessaloniki
IBAN: GR3301407090709002002015702
BIC: CRBAGRAA