RED CRESCENT WORKS WITH REFUGEES

Currently, Syrian, Afghan and Iranian refugees can be found in many places in Turkey. Many of them cross the border near Gaziantep. These refugees are now also trying to safely make their way to places such as Greece, Germany, Austria, Hungary, and other European countries.

At school, one of my teachers told a story about one refugee family getting all the way to Sweden. Once they arrived there, they turned themselves in to obtain refugee status and they are now living in a proper house. This is one of the few positive stories related to the current crisis of refugees.

The difference between an asylum seeker and a refugee is that refugees are people who have turned themselves into the police in order to be accounted for and are taken under the wing of the government. Asylum seekers are people who are living on their own without government support. In Ankara, the beggars you see at the stop lights are asylum seekers. Refugees are more likely to survive in the long run, while asylum seekers have a higher risk of dying because they have little to no support.

People donating to the Red Crescent in Turkey can be assured their money is being put to good use to support refugees in many ways. The Red Crescent doesn’t only help refugees but also people that were in a crisis like a natural disaster or world hunger. I have a friend, Ms. Melek, who came to our Girl Scout troop and talked about how she helps the refugees by working in The Red Crescent. The Red Crescent supplies the refugee camps in Turkey and tries to make life a bit easier on them. The Red Crescent also has a program dedicated to “tracing” refugees. This is the tracking down of refugee family members who may have become separated.