December 2023

In December 2023, we at Wave served 1845 hot meals, welcomed 31 new arrivals, distributed 372 clothing items, 13 sleeping bags and 876 hygiene items, ran 84 showers, charged 210 phones and power banks, and washed 69 loads of laundry. In the past month, we supported 95 people detained in Pre-Removal Detention Centres with clothing, hygiene items and coffee.

 

PROJECT ELPIDA VISIT

This month, we welcomed a visit from Project Elpdia- Project Elpdia has generously supported us in the past, regularly supporting us with clothing collections and shipments. During their visit, Levin, Lorenz, Toni and Lina of the project spent two days with us at Wave. The team visited local shops and bought us a total of 30 sleeping bags and much-needed winter clothing supplies such as jackets, thermal sets and jumpers. They also donated nuts, dates, paints and plants to brighten up our centre as well as a new battery for our van. After the shopping trip, the team spent a day at Wave, helping prepare vegetables for the following day, packing packages to send to Pre-Removal Detention Centres and helping with the hot food distribution. Thank you Project Elpidia for your passion and generosity to our project.

WINTER FUNDRAISER AND CHRISTMAS PARTY

On the 24th of December, we hosted a holiday celebration party with lots of tasty food and sweets made by our volunteers. Although not everyone observes the tradition of Christmas, we wanted to host a feast for our community.  The menu for the day included harira, red lentil soup, a chicken and vegetable tagine, borek, Persian rice, a Greek salad and beetroot and carrot salad, alongside many sweet treats. Thanks to Project Elpida’s donation, we distributed nuts and dates as takeaway treats. There was extra cause for celebration as we reached our winter fundraising target that day! This is a huge relief for us – the money raised will enable us to buy essential winter supplies, helping to keep our community warm during these harsh winter months. We would like to express our sincere gratitude to all who donated, thank you.

WELCOMING MED’EQUALI TEAM

This month, we welcomed the medical organisation Med’EqualiTeam, who will now provide primary medical care at our centre. Since June, there has been no medical provider for the urban population we support, who, due to a lack of documents, face great obstacles accessing medical care elsewhere. We are so relieved to finally have a medical organisation that can attend to the medical needs of the vulnerable population we serve and look forward to this new collaboration.

WAVE 2023 HIGHLIGHTS

We wanted to look back on our milestones for 2023. Throughout the year, we served 19,669 hot meals, welcomed 503 new arrivals, and distributed 3,774 items of clothing, 10,135 hygiene items, and 252 sleeping bags. Additionally, we provided material support for over 740 people detained in Pre-Removal Detention Centres. We hosted our first indoor communal Ramadan and Eid al-Adha celebrations since 2019, celebrated the project officially turning three and registered as our own entity! None of this would have been possible were it not for the support of so many individuals and organisations. A heartfelt thank you from all of us at Wave!