Catholic Relief Services’ history working with displaced people goes back to their beginning after World War II. This history has given them important insight into how to help people most effected by war, and is currently being put to use in the refugee camps in Greece and Bulgaria.

People from Afghanistan, Syria, and some African countries flood into Greece and Bulgaria in an attempt to flee war and violence in their home countries. However, since they are not legal immigrants, the state needs help processing them, and they in turn need help integrating into their new countries and cultures. Many of the people met during this trip are highly educated, and family oriented, but can not get the jobs they were doing in their old lives due to language barriers, professional licensing and proof of education. We met a man who had been an orthopedic prosthetic maker who was working as a janitor, not due to lack of skill, but due to lack of language skills in his new country.

After moving from the camps, CRS works to get families into apartment complexes called ‘hubs’ that offer community, as well as providing weekly medical care via the Red Cross, Educational and social outlets for women, men, children and families. There are also social workers that work diligently to cover the stress and psychological care needed to help those displaced by war.

To find out more about CRS’s Refugee response, please visit their website.