Be Kind to Refugees

My name is Charmaine, I'm a 47 year old grandmother of 3 precious darlings. I love to travel and in May of this year I visited Turkey for my second time. Turkey was as lovely as I remembered but with a huge difference to my previous trip. The amount of Syrian refugees we saw living on the streets was staggering! We at home just do not see what is really going on. I came home with an image I just could not get out of my mind of a little boy living on the streets holding his blankie and knew that somehow I must go back to help in some way. While Turkey has allowed the refugees (over 2 million) to come in as "guests" they either get housed in camps (some families have been stuck there since 2011) . Many choose to live on the streets instead of camps and find menial low pay jobs to save to pay the smugglers to get them out. They are only able to bring one backpack with maybe a change of clothes, baby supplies, a disk of their photo memories however most backpacks are lost at sea, the dingys are unsafe, many life jackets are fake (ripped one open myself, horrified by what I found) they lose their shoes and swim for their lives. Once they get here they have to register then wait days for their number to come up at the police station to get processed. Once they are processed they can purchase a ticket for a ferry to the mainland where they have a long journey ahead of them crossing borders and much walking to get to a country where they can claim refugee status. Their need is great, their need for help is immediate, everything from water, food, clothing, shoes, shampoo, diapers, medicines, money for ferry tickets and buses in countries that allow it. Children are not exempt, everyone must purchase a ticket. There are some great charity organizations along their route, but not enough and sadly some are only helping refugees from particular areas. It's quite odd but it's happening, very sad. I have joined up with a great team from the UK who have been already helping here over the summer. They are wonderful and help anyone and everyone who needs it. I have self funded for the most part and brought over as much as I could I will easily spend all I've got, the need is so great. If any of my fellow Canadians would like to help me help out any little bit is welcomed and much appreciated. All money will be spent on essentials, food, medication, hygiene products, diapers, activities for children, anything at all that a vulnerable refugee would need to relieve their suffering. I can access the funds while here and every penny will go to help. Thank you, love you all.