City Volunteering

Second Tree

We work to change the way that society perceives refugees and that refugees perceive society and themselves, through an approach to community engagement that sees refugees as agents of their change and integration.

ABOUT US:

Second Tree is a Greek non-profit and non-governmental organisation based in Ioannina, Epirus. Second Tree was founded in January 2017 by a group of volunteers that had worked together in the Katsikas refugee camp. Since our establishment we have worked with refugee communities across Northern Greece. Our work is underpinned by a core ethos: to treat refugees as the people they are and overcome victimisation, romanticisation and stereotyping. Refugees should be treated with CARE: as Capable, Accountable, Reasonable – in one word Equal – individuals.

We currently work at two refugee sites: Katsikas refugee camp and Agia Eleni refugee accommodation site. The project works with refugees from approximately 24 different countries but the main make-up of the refugee population in Epirus is Afghani, Syrian, and Somali.

WHY OUR WORK MATTERS:

The arrival of over 48,000 refugees in Greece at the end of 2023 has left thousands of refugee children without a stable home, a safe place to play, or an environment to learn, develop, and feel part of the community.⁠ We have been working to improve the lives of refugee youth for over 7 years and we have built up extremely strong bonds with the community.

Our Refugee Youth programme helps children develop cognitive and social-emotional skills to integrate more effectively into their new communities. For adults, our language programmes focus on equipping refugees with essential communication skills, empowering them to regain agency and actively participate in society. We offer specialised training to help refugees become advocates and provide training for decision-makers and NGOs to address biases and enhance support for refugees. We also offer self-advocacy training for adults at both of our sites, empowering them to effectively represent their needs and rights.

OUR VALUES:

Our values are how we tackle the notion that refugees are only victims, and create opportunities to have humanising and dignified relationships with them. By implementing these values in all aspects of our work, we address the inherent biases that can lead to patronising, stereotyping and romanticising refugees. Through trust, fairness and engagement, we build a community that sees every member as a unique individual, regardless of circumstance. Trust: Building trust is a long-term process. It requires understanding every situation in terms of how it will impact similar situations in the future, and taking the time to assess carefully the best course of action. Many refugees had to fight for their most basic needs and had to be suspicious of any promise made to them. That is how they survived, escaped war, and succeeded in a dangerous journey through smugglers, crooks and unfriendly soldiers. In every action we need to show that things are different now, that we are different. We build credibility through stringency, consistency and care. Fairness: Being fair is what allows us to build meaningful relationships with refugees without being accused of favouritism. “You help Arabs more than Afghans” (or Kurds over Palestinians, or East Africans over West Africans) is a common allegation in a refugee camp. Many refugees come from a history of discrimination, and are sceptical towards service providers. We have succeeded in avoiding these accusations by being sound, transparent and extremely strict in applying our procedures, building a reputation of utmost fairness that precedes Second Tree and is spread and testified by the people we work with. Engagement: Engaging with someone means taking that person seriously by carefully assessing and fully addressing what they have to say. This means not avoiding disagreement or a difficult discussion just because the person is a refugee. Refugees are not irritable children or unreasoning bearers of inarticulate instincts; they are not an explosive device that has to be handled with caution and fear. Refugees are proficient individuals who can engage in a discussion, offer counterarguments, and change their minds. For this reason, engaging at Second Tree means appealing to their intellect, not to their gut.

HOW WE ARE DIFFERENT:

We believe that seeing refugees through the lens of victimhood is damaging for them and for their new communities. Refugees should be treated with CARE: as Capable, Accountable, Reasonable – in one word Equal – individuals.

Refugees are often portrayed as heroes or victims. This framing is used by NGOs, activists, academia, and individuals to foster support and counter anti-refugee sentiment. Although used with good intentions, both labels see the person only through their experience of fleeing war. These narrow depictions reduce complex individuals to a single experience – that of being victims of a war, rather than all the details about their lives that preceded that moment – making them “the other”.

While stories of heroism or vulnerability are used to create positive impact: to mobilise for help, highlight injustice or tell empowering and hope-filled stories, they also create a lens through which refugees are seen by the eyes of the world, stories that are incomplete, and that divide.

When refugees are seen as vulnerable, they are only a victim. In one word, they are patronised.
When refugees are seen as heroes, they are seen through the lens of being inherently good or that their refugee experience, and anything they do during it, is somehow worthy of being celebrated. In one word, they are romanticised.
When refugees are seen through the lens of group identity, as inevitably being an outcome of their culture, they are stereotyped.

These depictions lead to inherent biases, which our model identifies and roots out by engaging with refugees as unique individuals with agency, through an approach based on trust, fairness and engagement.

Summary