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LHI just turned 8! Which means we are celebrating 8 years of making a difference in the lives of refugees. Thanks for being an integral part of the LHI family!
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FROM LIGHTBULB MOMENT TO LHI
by Hayley Smith, LHI Founder/CEO
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Hayley volunteering in Greece during the Syrian refugee crisis (January 2016)
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In January of 2016, I volunteered at an overcrowded refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesvos. Thousands of Syrian refugees were arriving from Turkey via rubber dinghies every day, having escaped a brutal civil war that had been raging for a few years already.
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A lifejacket graveyard from the thousands and thousands of refugees who arrived in Greece
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I was volunteering to pay back a debt of gratitude for the people I’d met over my years living in the Arab World. I love the language, the culture, the hospitality, the warmth.
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Example of a dinghy refugees used to cross the Aegean Sea from Turkey to Greece.
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I knew the experience would be difficult, but for reasons I didn’t expect. The best way to explain is through one particular experience. A dinghy had capsized nearby, throwing dozens of people into the freezing sea. They were all rescued, but they were soaking wet and freezing, steam collectively coming off of them as they huddled together.
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Distribution tent in a refugee camp in Greece.
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They lined up at a distribution tent that had dozens of unopened boxes of clothes. A couple of other volunteers and I tore through them expecting to find socks, underwear, shirts, pants, etc. Instead, the clothing was unsorted. For the wrong season. There were too many baby clothes. There weren't any men's clothes. There were too many t-shirts but no underwear and socks. Some even had high heels and lingerie. I started to get hysterical with frustration.
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Hayley with LHI aid boxes.
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That’s when the lightbulb went off. “There has to be a better way,” I thought. That spring, I came home and founded LHI with the goal of sending 1 shipping container of clearly marked and organized aid. That one container has turned into 95 containers to date. My journey from frustration to innovation underscores LHI's commitment to effective, meaningful assistance for refugees worldwide–whether that is livestock, psycho-social support, or basic necessities.
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In honor of LHI’s birthday, be a part of the solution by becoming a monthly recurring donor. A gift of $5, $10 or $15 a month means you provide sustainable solutions to help refugees all year long. And you’ll join our LHI2G club and receive special updates from me!
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The LHI Community Center in Serres, Greece provides hope and healing to refugees living in two nearby camps. We launched our Community Center in 2016 and it is still going strong. We help refugees like Mayaha from Iraq. Her bright and vivacious personality lights up any room she is in. While living in limbo in the refugee camp, she volunteered at our Community Center. She helped in our women’s tent with painting projects, crocheting, painting nails, and by being a good listener. She also translated around the Center for other refugees who didn’t speak English. She gained new friendships, confidence, and time to transition after fleeing her home. You can meet Mayaha and see her beautiful smile here in our viral reel!
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Goats provide a sustainable food & income source for families.
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When I visited Jordan in 2017, I met with Syrian refugee families living in isolated, desert camps. I asked them, “what can I do to help?” I thought they would ask for water filters or food packs. Instead, they asked for goats. And that is when I learned a valuable lesson. Refugees know what they need. We just have to listen. Thus, our goats program was born.
Now we’ve distributed over 3,718 goats, who have in turn birthed over 11,000 goats. These goat herds provide Syrian families with a sustainable food and income source, improving the quality of their lives. And when we expanded our livestock program to Uganda, we also gave chickens. Because, you guessed it. That is what our beneficiaries asked for.
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Beautiful Magnifique, with a big heart, adopted three of her sister’s children. Her sister died during the recent conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Magnifique and her children have resided in a Ugandan refugee camp for the last year. Magnifique recently received 15 egg-laying Sasso chickens from us. This Indian breed promises 100% profits when cared for properly, unlike the local breed's 20-30% profit. With this investment, Magnifique gains a steady income to support her family. She joyfully shares, "Now, I can afford to send my children to school."
LHI has partnered with Giving Hope to Refugees in Uganda and Association of Refugee Women in Uganda to distribute goats and chickens in Southern and Western Uganda.
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Children who participate in and benefit from social-emotional and educational programs at LHI's Community Centers in Ukraine.
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If anyone were to walk into one of our five centers in the Kharkiv region, they’d find singing, art-making, dancing, laughter, and learning. There is so much hope in the air that they might forget that each child and their family carry trauma from both living under occupation and still being under constant threat of shelling.
Social-emotional support is refugee work. Helping beneficiaries process their deep emotions and begin to hope again is refugee work.
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14 year old Nadia Abdel Nabi just had her period for the second time. “I feel an urgent need for my mother to always be by my side,” she said. She lives in a cement room with several other families, most of them strangers. She’s confused about what’s happening to her body. “I wish I could return to our house,” she added, though she thinks it has been destroyed or damaged in the fighting. “I am incredibly tired.”
Our implementing partners MECA and Atfaluna Society of Deaf Children identified 400 similar girls in Nuseirat, Deir El-Balah, Khan Younis, and Rafah that we can help. Our partners will teach women’s health and period management. The girls will also receive help to process trauma and their emotions and learn skills to protect themselves from gender-based violence.
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At LHI, we believe in collaboration–lifting hands together. It is in our name and all. So we love stories like this. A group of women in Utah started a quilting group, called The Sew and Sews. They make amazing quilts, which they donate to our Welcome program, for refugees newly arrived in Utah.
Members of The Sew and Sews came to the warehouse to drop off a batch of quilts. They were so thrilled to see the Warehouse and take a tour (if you don’t think touring a warehouse is fun, then you need to come visit ours). They decided to stay and volunteer for a while wrapping soap bars. EcoSoap donated 5,000 pounds of Dr. Squatch unwrapped soap bars. Now the whole warehouse smells like pine forest x 1,000! But we are so grateful to have such generous partners who help us put needed aid into the hands of refugees around the world.
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Go over the edge and help refugees in Utah!
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Are you ready for thrills? For adventure? To help refugees in Utah? Then go over the edge and rappel for refugees on Saturday, June 15th! The urban rappelling firm we are working with has a 100% safety record. Even if you don’t want to rappel, come watch the brave humanitarians rappel 18 stories in downtown SLC at the Hilton Salt Lake City Center on Saturday, June 15th!
A single rappel slot is $1,000. We can help you fundraise among your friends and family. Learn more here.
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The Purple with Purpose team from Health Equity volunteered at the warehouse!
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Thank you to Health Equity for volunteering this month! 21 people from the Utah office wrapped and boxed about 2,000 bars of soap and assembled hygiene kits.
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