This is what it's all about.
The OneHappyFamily community center is not being built and run for refugees, but with them. Together with people from different nations, volunteers and fled people, it will become a community. The people from the camps are not only engaged in building and running but also in idea finding and decision making. That’s how we want to give them back some independency, automotive and a sense of responsibility. Those people often live in total dependency of governmental help and NGOs. Most of them don’t want that. They want to help themselves. Self-determined instead of determined by others. The project is coordinated by the private initiative www.schwizerchruez.ch and financed by private donations.
Through the engagement of all those people the following projects have already been realized in the community center – in () the nationalities of the main actors:
• Coffee (Algeria, Greece) • Kitchen with 500 meals a day (Syria & Myanmar) • Education Center (Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, Syria, Israel & Palestine) • Internet-Radio www.ohfradio.org (Afghanistan & Switzerland) • Shisha-Lounge (Algeria, Egypt & Greece) • Tailor shop (Sierra Leona, Palestine & Afghanistan) • Cloth-boutique (Syria & Siwtzerland) • Dining room with 10 tables (Nepal, Kongo, Egypt & Switzerland) • Cinema (Ethiopia, Germany & Switzerland) • Library (Morocco, Switzerland, Syria & Kongo) • Beach volley field (Switzerland) • Kids playground (Tunisia, Algeria, Greece & Switzerland) • Carpentry (Nepal)
Of course all offers are free for every visitor. For the café, the shisha lounge, the carpentry und the boutique we introduced a local currency, the swisscross-drachma. Every visitor gets a number of drachma and can spend it in the different offers. With that, we want to give the people a feeling of normality and self-determination in their environment that is so determined by others.
For this we need support
The community center is being visited by 300-400 people a day. Men, women and children meet at that place, eat and laugh together, get creative, help each other and build the project OneHappyFamily together.
We need support to be able to cover the running cost of the project. For food, coffee, rent and material. But also to be able to support new projects from refugees. Materials and tools for the carpentry and recorders for the radio station are some little examples.
Concrete monthly costs (incomplete)
• CHF 10’000.00 – food and drinks • CHF 2’000.00 – car rent and gas (for Shuttle-Service) • CHF 1’000.00 – building rent • CHF 1’000.00 – power and water • CHF 200.00 – shisha tabacco and coal • CHF 200.00 – cleaning supplies Concrete project costs: • CHF 1’000.00 – school material • CHF 500.00 – recorders and laptop for www.ohfradio.org • CHF 1’000.00 – material and machines for carpentry • CHF 200.00 – material for hairdresser
Rewards
Price list from the community center: coffee, tea, beverages = 1 Drachma, hairdresser = 1 Drachma, carpentry = 1–5 Drachma (new cloth or modifications), boutique = 1 Drachma, shisha = 4 Drachmas.
The rewards, witch can be purchased in Switzerland, could arrive with a delay, because I’m active in Greece at the moment. But I have helpers in Switzerland who will support me bringing the rewards to the project supporters.
