Uyghur Therapy Hotline
Donation protected
Length of the project: 12 months
1. Proposal Summary:
Following the worsening situation of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, PRC, many Uyghurs abroad start to suffering psychological disorders or symptoms. There are at least a million Uyghur, Kazakh, and other ethnic minorities, who are detained in concentration camps, where they are subjected to indoctrination, forced to renounce their religious faith, forced to eat pork and drink alcohol. Women in China's concentration camps for Uyghurs have been systematically raped, sexually abused, and tortured, according to detailed new accounts obtained by the BBC. Unbelievable and inhuman atrocity traumatized Uyghurs both abroad and in their homeland.
The Uyghur Refugee Therapy Hotline was established in 2018 in response to the growing need for a therapeutic service that respected and worked with, the cultural and linguistic needs of Uyghur refugees and asylum seekers providing people with the opportunity to be heard and receive help in their own language. Our central purpose is to help Uyghur refugees and asylum seekers feel empowered to deal with their psychological difficulties by providing counseling, psychotherapy, and support.
We offer individual, couple and family therapy online, based on an assessment of need. The majority of Hotline's volunteers are Uyghurs, have a refugee or immigrant background, and bring with them a wealth of linguistic, cultural, and shared experiences.
All our services happen online, we use communication tools like Wire, Signal, WhatsApp, Telegram. All our servers are free of charge and maintained by volunteers and helpers. Customers have the choice of receiving therapeutic support in Uyghur or in other languages they prefer which, customers and helper both speak, e.g. Mandarin, Turkish, or English. Some people prefer not to see a helper from their own cultural background because of feelings of mistrust, guilt, shame or embarrassment about what has happened to them.
Some people simply do not want to have contact with helpers from their own background because they feel rejected by their own people and country. At the core of our work are the refugees and asylum seekers themselves.
2. Description of Organization and Past Performance:
‘UyghurAid” was registered in August 2018, initiated by Halmurat Harri Uyghur. To date, we have successfully organized and operated many different campaigns.
The organization was born out of an online campaign initiated by Halmurat Uyghur on Twitter under the hashtag #FreeMyParents in order to free his own parents from the “re-education camps” in Xinjiang. The main focus of this project and of the projects to follow has been to create awareness of the situation of Halmurat’s parent's situation as well as the situation of the ethnic minority groups in Xinjiang in general. Besides raising awareness through videos online, Twitter posts, and online petitions (one which brought the Uyghur issue to be discussed in the UK parliament), Halmurat shaving off his hair, he and around 70 others sent letters to Chinese embassies demanding information about the situation of their relatives and eventually their release.
“UyghurAid” has encouraged many other Uyghurs to testify online about the situation of their missing relatives and demand their release. So far, around 400 testimonies have been published online.
Halmurat Uyghur has been a frequent speaker at public events. During his ‘Freedom tour’, he toured many European cities, spoken to local politicians, media and created a network among the Uyghur population. This campaign encouraged many Uyghurs and has led to the formation of more grassroots movements.
Since the beginning of 2018, we have also been helping to facilitate exchanges between journalists and the Uyghur diaspora to make their stories heard. Halmurat has not only given over 600 interviews to different international media outlets himself, but he has also put Uyghurs in contact with the different journalists.
2018 winter we organized a successful Uyghur Awareness day at Helsinki University, it included speakers from Amnesty International, Pen Finland, a post-doctoral researcher from Copenhagen University and Uyghur activists from 6 different countries who attended the event. Following the event, we organized a demonstration in Helsinki, at the Senate Square, a historic tourist attraction. Both events were live-streamed online. France 24 and a Danish filmmaker came to the event for filming and used the film for their documentary.
As a result of our successful campaigns, we started to have credits to build relationships and network with politicians and diplomats. We have been to different countries to meet with human rights organizations, foreign ministries, and other activists. The success of #MeTooUyghur opened new doors, and it was one of the most successful campaigns that Uyghurs had done since the concentration camps started.
3. Problem Statement:
The genocide left tremendous pain. Anxiety and other syndromes became part of Uyghur’s every day. Since 2018, the Uyghur therapy hotline, a remote therapy service has carried unbearable loads of work, our capacity is limited, schedule kept full for months.
The problems we face are as follows:
1. There are many Uyghurs and other xinjiangese who need help with psychotherapy, but there are few people with professional knowledge who can volunteer. Therefore, in order to increase the number of volunteers and deal with the distribution of work to be done, it is necessary to provide vocational training for the volunteers.
2. The work of volunteers should be arranged and the facilities needed for their work should be addressed.
3. We need to get together with our clients for therapist volunteers and arrange a joint treatment session. Professional psychologists should be invited to the meeting to get their professional help.
4. Emergency response mechanisms should be in place. Because customers have severe depression, a working machanism needs to be in place to provide them with the ability to help them in the event of an emergency.
Project Goals and Objectives:
Victims of genocide and concentration camps have not been able to receive psychological treatment for trauma, and other psychological problems experienced by victims and their immediate relatives, due to economic, linguistic, and cultural barriers. It is our goal to provide free mental health services to such people, to prevent them from experiencing serious consequences due to mental disorders, and to help them improve their quality of life.
Activities:
So far, we have been providing remote therapeutic assistance one day a week. However, our work has been limited due to the lack of external assistance and the lack of funding and resources. If this funding is addressed, we will be able to increase the scope and scope of our work.
1. We run a psychiatric service hotline 3 days a week.
2. 24.7 Open Emergency Psychotherapy Therapy Hotline.
3. Once a year we hold a gathering of therapists and clients to get the help of experts.
Budget:
1. Manpower-
Volunteers: 500€/month 6 volunteers
Summary: 36000/12months
2. Supplies
100€/month
Summary: 1200€/12month
3. Maintains
Mobile: 35€/month/person
Summary: 2500€/12month
Website:
1) Website building: 1100€
2) Website maintain: 100€/month
Summary: 2300€
Bookkeeping: 270€/month
Summary: 3240€/12month
Collective therapy gathering:
Hospitality
760€
Transport (return flight/train) & Hotel: 7000€
Summary: 7760€
Total budget:53000€/12month
Length of the project: 12 months
1. Proposal Summary:
Following the worsening situation of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, PRC, many Uyghurs abroad start to suffering psychological disorders or symptoms. There are at least a million Uyghur, Kazakh, and other ethnic minorities, who are detained in concentration camps, where they are subjected to indoctrination, forced to renounce their religious faith, forced to eat pork and drink alcohol. Women in China's concentration camps for Uyghurs have been systematically raped, sexually abused, and tortured, according to detailed new accounts obtained by the BBC. Unbelievable and inhuman atrocity traumatized Uyghurs both abroad and in their homeland.
The Uyghur Refugee Therapy Hotline was established in 2018 in response to the growing need for a therapeutic service that respected and worked with, the cultural and linguistic needs of Uyghur refugees and asylum seekers providing people with the opportunity to be heard and receive help in their own language. Our central purpose is to help Uyghur refugees and asylum seekers feel empowered to deal with their psychological difficulties by providing counseling, psychotherapy, and support.
We offer individual, couple and family therapy online, based on an assessment of need. The majority of Hotline's volunteers are Uyghurs, have a refugee or immigrant background, and bring with them a wealth of linguistic, cultural, and shared experiences.
All our services happen online, we use communication tools like Wire, Signal, WhatsApp, Telegram. All our servers are free of charge and maintained by volunteers and helpers. Customers have the choice of receiving therapeutic support in Uyghur or in other languages they prefer which, customers and helper both speak, e.g. Mandarin, Turkish, or English. Some people prefer not to see a helper from their own cultural background because of feelings of mistrust, guilt, shame or embarrassment about what has happened to them.
Some people simply do not want to have contact with helpers from their own background because they feel rejected by their own people and country. At the core of our work are the refugees and asylum seekers themselves.
2. Description of Organization and Past Performance:
‘UyghurAid” was registered in August 2018, initiated by Halmurat Harri Uyghur. To date, we have successfully organized and operated many different campaigns.
The organization was born out of an online campaign initiated by Halmurat Uyghur on Twitter under the hashtag #FreeMyParents in order to free his own parents from the “re-education camps” in Xinjiang. The main focus of this project and of the projects to follow has been to create awareness of the situation of Halmurat’s parent's situation as well as the situation of the ethnic minority groups in Xinjiang in general. Besides raising awareness through videos online, Twitter posts, and online petitions (one which brought the Uyghur issue to be discussed in the UK parliament), Halmurat shaving off his hair, he and around 70 others sent letters to Chinese embassies demanding information about the situation of their relatives and eventually their release.
“UyghurAid” has encouraged many other Uyghurs to testify online about the situation of their missing relatives and demand their release. So far, around 400 testimonies have been published online.
Halmurat Uyghur has been a frequent speaker at public events. During his ‘Freedom tour’, he toured many European cities, spoken to local politicians, media and created a network among the Uyghur population. This campaign encouraged many Uyghurs and has led to the formation of more grassroots movements.
Since the beginning of 2018, we have also been helping to facilitate exchanges between journalists and the Uyghur diaspora to make their stories heard. Halmurat has not only given over 600 interviews to different international media outlets himself, but he has also put Uyghurs in contact with the different journalists.
2018 winter we organized a successful Uyghur Awareness day at Helsinki University, it included speakers from Amnesty International, Pen Finland, a post-doctoral researcher from Copenhagen University and Uyghur activists from 6 different countries who attended the event. Following the event, we organized a demonstration in Helsinki, at the Senate Square, a historic tourist attraction. Both events were live-streamed online. France 24 and a Danish filmmaker came to the event for filming and used the film for their documentary.
As a result of our successful campaigns, we started to have credits to build relationships and network with politicians and diplomats. We have been to different countries to meet with human rights organizations, foreign ministries, and other activists. The success of #MeTooUyghur opened new doors, and it was one of the most successful campaigns that Uyghurs had done since the concentration camps started.
3. Problem Statement:
The genocide left tremendous pain. Anxiety and other syndromes became part of Uyghur’s every day. Since 2018, the Uyghur therapy hotline, a remote therapy service has carried unbearable loads of work, our capacity is limited, schedule kept full for months.
The problems we face are as follows:
1. There are many Uyghurs and other xinjiangese who need help with psychotherapy, but there are few people with professional knowledge who can volunteer. Therefore, in order to increase the number of volunteers and deal with the distribution of work to be done, it is necessary to provide vocational training for the volunteers.
2. The work of volunteers should be arranged and the facilities needed for their work should be addressed.
3. We need to get together with our clients for therapist volunteers and arrange a joint treatment session. Professional psychologists should be invited to the meeting to get their professional help.
4. Emergency response mechanisms should be in place. Because customers have severe depression, a working machanism needs to be in place to provide them with the ability to help them in the event of an emergency.
Project Goals and Objectives:
Victims of genocide and concentration camps have not been able to receive psychological treatment for trauma, and other psychological problems experienced by victims and their immediate relatives, due to economic, linguistic, and cultural barriers. It is our goal to provide free mental health services to such people, to prevent them from experiencing serious consequences due to mental disorders, and to help them improve their quality of life.
Activities:
So far, we have been providing remote therapeutic assistance one day a week. However, our work has been limited due to the lack of external assistance and the lack of funding and resources. If this funding is addressed, we will be able to increase the scope and scope of our work.
1. We run a psychiatric service hotline 3 days a week.
2. 24.7 Open Emergency Psychotherapy Therapy Hotline.
3. Once a year we hold a gathering of therapists and clients to get the help of experts.
Budget:
1. Manpower-
Volunteers: 500€/month 6 volunteers
Summary: 36000/12months
2. Supplies
100€/month
Summary: 1200€/12month
3. Maintains
Mobile: 35€/month/person
Summary: 2500€/12month
Website:
1) Website building: 1100€
2) Website maintain: 100€/month
Summary: 2300€
Bookkeeping: 270€/month
Summary: 3240€/12month
Collective therapy gathering:
Hospitality
760€
Transport (return flight/train) & Hotel: 7000€
Summary: 7760€
Total budget:53000€/12month
Organizer
Harri Halvar
Organizer
Hyvinkää