APRIL 2023

In April 2023, we at Wave served 1678 hot meals, welcomed 18 new arrivals, distributed 695 clothing items, 23 sleeping bags and 517 hygiene items, ran 221 showers, charged 247 phones and powerbanks, and washed 97 loads of laundry.

Happy Birthday, Wave

This month, we celebrated three years of Wave! While our founders had been previously involved in initiatives supporting people-on-the-move in Thessaloniki for a few years, Wave was formally established in April 2020 in response to the Covid pandemic. Our project has come a long way since then! In addition to providing a hot, nutritious meal, we have expanded our services to facilitate a wide range of essential support. This includes distributing clothing, hygiene items, sleeping bags, a laundry service, shower facilities, a barbershop, a charging station for electronic devices and access to WiFi. Over the years, we’ve had to adapt our services to fill the gaps in service provision for people-on-the-move and within our community.

Eid celebration

This month marked a notable occasion for Muslims worldwide and many members of our community as we celebrated the festival of Eid, a special time to commemorate the end of Ramadan. At our centre, we prepared special meals to celebrate the day! The menu was filled with traditional dishes such as olive tagine with kofte, burek and flatbread. We offered an array of sweets such as baklava, halwa, and various types of dates, alongside homemade halwa richbond and tamina!

This year’s celebration held significance as it marked the first time since 2019 that we could celebrate Ramadan communally indoors. We’d like to thank everyone who contributed to making our Eid celebration special and we look forward to the upcoming celebration of Eid al-Adha in July!

Clothing and shoe donation

This month, long-term supporter of our project, Wir Packen’s An kindly provided us with shoes, jumpers, t-shirts, jackets and joggers. At our centre, we frequently encounter people who lack proper footwear, which is crucial for their comfort, protection and mobility. With an additional shoe donation from Quick Response Team in Diavata, we have been able to distribute much-needed suitable footwear to those who require it.

Prison Packages

Our efforts to support people-on-the-move go beyond our centre. While we didn’t welcome as many new arrivals this month, we were still busy distributing clothes and hygiene items through our prison packages service. This month, we supported 68 people detained in Paranesti and Xanthi Pre-Removal Detention Centres with basic clothing, hygiene items and coffee. We rely on donations to provide essential clothing and hygiene items to people who have limited access to services, such as those detained in Pre-Removal Detention Centres or individuals excluded from the asylum system. Thanks to the generous donations, we can continue to distribute essential material supplies to our community.