Fourth of August 2020. The explosion in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, destroyed a third of the entire city. Immediately after that, Estonian Refugee Council collected 10,155 euros in donations from Estonians. The donations were forwarded to the local partner organization Sawa for Development & Aid, which did the rescue work immediately after the the explosion. Here is one of the beneficiary stories.

Within the framework of the Estonian Refugee Council mental health project, a three-part workshop will take place in the autumn. It is aimed at psychologists/psychiatrists and other mental health specialists who may come into contact with refugees in their work and would like to improve themselves in this field. Mads Ted Drud-Jensen from Denmark and Antti Klemettilä from Finland, who specialize in promoting the mental health of refugees, will be sharing their knowledge and experience.

Annela Samuel, the coordinator of Estonian Refugee Council events and a photographer, is first and foremost a people person.

Three words with which Annela describes herself: curious, fair, doubtful

How did your morning start?

Fourth of August 2020. The explosion in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, destroyed a third of the entire city. Immediately after that, Estonian Refugee Council collected 10,155 euros in donations from Estonians. The donations were forwarded to the local partner organization Sawa for Development & Aid, which did the rescue work immediately after the explosion. Here is one of the beneficiary stories.

Estonian Refugee Council helps arriving refugees to find suitable Estonian language courses to support their adaptation to the new environment. Recently, Nour from Iraq and Sumeyra from Turkey, both living with their families in Tartu, passed the Estonian language proficiency test. The women talked about why learning Estonian is important to them.

Madle Timm

The global coronavirus crisis is hitting those who are already in a bad state the hardest - the demand for humanitarian aid is growing. More than 10 years have passed since the last refugee crisis in Georgia, but serious socio-economic problems have not disappeared. Unemployment, depression, and reduced food security are just some of them. This year, the Estonian Refugee Council (ERC) started supporting internally displaced Georgian women so that they could start their own sustainable businesses.

Madle Timm

Those, who had already difficulties before, have took the hardest hit by the Coronavirus pandemic- the demand for humanitarian aid is growing faster than ever. Estonian Refugee Council (ERC) has helped the people of Ukraine, who have suffered because of the war for more than seven years according to how the conflict and people’s needs have changed. They have supplied people with food, medicine, sanitary packages and school supplies. Also, the most vulnerable households get financial help to survive the winter.

Hille Hanso 

Photo: Shutterstock - Homs

Since 2015, Estonia has offered foreigners who have arrived here an adaptation program in English and Russian to help them settle in and adapt more easily. However, during these six years, beneficiaries of international protection have been offered a special module, possibly in their mother tongue.

Over the years, the module has grown: at a start the training lasted only one day, but as of today it is five days long.

In 2021, Estonian Refugee Council will continue to advise and train specialists working with children to ensure that children with a migratory background find themselves in an environment that supports different cultures when they arrive in Estonia. Up to ten kindergarten groups will be counselled for this purpose and several trainings are planned.