” The thing is, love doesn’t get any less when we give it to others! The more we give, the more it grows ! “
About Us
We are a small project which offers financial and mental support for people in need
- We are a small, international team made up of different cultures and languages. That is the special thing about our team and what makes us and our project special . More about our team see here –>
- All of our activities, aid transport , sorting aid, coordinating, shopping needed items, checking the situation at the hotspots, distributing and coordinating aid supplies, working on conflicts, holding discussions, etc. get done directly by our own hands, we do not hand over to others, we make it ourselfes
- !Clothes, Hygienics, etc Donations or financial donations are adapted to the needs of the people and are always documented and verified. We provide direct help to people who are in need. Our material aid includes things that are essential for survival, things like clothes, hygiene items, food / meal packages, medication, baby items, tents, sleeping bags, insect repellent, solar lamps, toys for the children and much more. We work in the hotspots, in the camps, on the streets, in apartments. Our main focus is on refugees who have left their home countries and hope to find safety in Europe. For more informations about reasons for fleeing, see here -> We are responsible for every needy person, for every person in need. No matter refugees or local people.
- But also mental support is very important , which is made up in the form of accompaniment, bond building and emotional wound healing, trauma processing, dealing with disorders such as fear or other forms of anxiety. If there is an acute need, we will try to give the help. However, there is an important factor that supports the healing – TIME – which is only available to a limited extent during the stay. But we give the options to communicate via phone, video chat, messenger. People feel that they are being taken seriously and supported and they have the courage to express themselves. People can get in touch and share, they will be advised or passed on to the right locality. They are not alone in this.
- Our work is transparent and coordinated. We are also happy to cooperate with other projects and organizations, when we work on the same goal and follow our task to help and to stand with people. The well-being of our beloved human beings is important to us and the forgotten are unforgotten
- ” TOGETHER WE ARE STRONG AND CAN CHANGE THE WORLD TO A LITTLE BETTER “
how it began….
My name is Natalie Kling and I am social worker with specilialization in Trauma Pedagogy. It all started in 2012 when I started my full-time job in a children’s shelter for unaccompanied, minor refugees. I met young guys in the age of 13-18, who were thousands of miles away from their homes and families. They carried severeral trauma with themselfes, and were marked by scars inside and out. They talked about the situation in their countries (Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Eritrea, Senegal, ..) but also about the situation on the journey to a safe life. They suffered serious injuries in their country but also on their journey. They were neglected and broken inside and out. So I began to deal with their background, their history and the journey they have to do after they escaped their home country. I listened to their stories, I worked with them on their trauma, I accompanied them in life, I stabilized them. I gave them love and brought them back their hope. More about trauma follow here -> SeelenWunden/Trauma/Stories
I collected many informations through the stories of my boys from the shelter, through close contacts with humanitarian workers and through the media, I followed the situation and felt involved and bothered. The situation at the borders became more and more strict and violent until the borders were shut down completely and the situation went out of control. In May 2016 I made a decision to visit one of the places on the border, to visit that place of tears, suffering and separation. With a friend of mine, I went to Greec to a small village Idomeni, a place right on the Macedonian border. Refugees have stayed here for months, no way back and no way forward. The borders were closed, all hopes were lost. All hand were tied. And all options seemed lost. There was a big fence infront of that big place, an old trainstation, with thousands of people living in tents on the rails. There was only that fence which separated from Macedonia. I explain more about the Escape Journey, the route which people take here–>
Now I was right there, in the back of my mind the stories of my boys. In my backpack I only had my love and my helping hands to offer. So we tried to support wherever we could.
That trip changed my life !
Since this trip in 2016 I have been spending as much time as I can helping people who have lost everything, had to flee their home and are forced to live in terrible conditions, after they have reached that so called “Save Europe”.
In addition to my full-time job in the children’s shelter in Germany, I have tried to get back to Greece as often as possible, going to the hotspots to stand with people in need. My main focus is Greece right now, but I have already been to Bosnia and Serbia and I will expand my travels in the future.
Since humanitarian work became a part of my life, I founded the Firefly Hope Project. Over the time I built up a small network, made many new friends who are also involved my work and i was able to cooperate with some great people. People from Germany or from all over the world. It is very important to me that I have the opportunity to work on the ground by myself,and that I can make an assesment, coordinate and provide aid directly to the needy people . That means I travel directly to the hotspot, put my team together and we work directly on the ground. We determine the individual needs, procure the necessary items and distribute them by ourselves. As a nonpaid and nonregistered organization, I am very dependent on donations, which are sometimes very difficult to get, as trust must first be built and the work must be proven. In addition, many donors are unable to provide financial resources as we are not an association. Some difficulties are connected with being a small nonregistered project, but that doesn’t stop me on fighting and supporting the people in need. I will register my project as soon as I have the time and hope to have more opportunities to expand the mission and to be able to offer much more, that is my biggest wish. Until then, my team and I will do the best we can with the possibilities we have and we never give up. To give our love and our helping hands day by day, which I still carry in my backpack, as i did at the beginning of my journey in 2016, where it all began.
Special thanks goes to my boys from the children’s shelter, who opened my mind and my eyes wide, took me on their “travels”, taught me their culture and made me richer and more sensitive in so many things. Without them I wouldn’t be here today.
With all my love, Natalie Kling