hello!

Thanks for stopping by.

This blog is going to be a way for me to share pictures, videos and anecdotes of my first experience (so really, just dipping my toes) into the vast and complex world of humanitarian aid, via my summer internship with IsraAID on the island of Lesvos.

On the other hand, this blog is also going to allow me to keep track of my expectations, hopes, progress, experiences, challenges, successes and disappointments. It’ll be a bit of journal, both introspective and hopefully informational. Hope you come along for the ride.

So who am I? My name is Giuliana, I’m a junior majoring in international studies and sociology. I’m also language nerd, a slam poet, a bit of a singer and guitar player, and I also enjoy learning martial arts (i.e. judo, capoeira, etc).

Where am I going? This summer I will be working in Lesvos, a Greek island that became home to over 45% of the 770,838 refugees and migrants who arrived in Europe in 2015 (UNHCR). While the majority of refugees are Syrian, Afghani and Iraqi, recently there’s been an influx from the Congo and Angola as well. The increasing number of arrivals has put an extreme pressure on the island—there are regularly more than 10,000 refugees and migrants staying in the island against a reception capacity of 2,800—resulting in a severe lack of shelter, sanitation, and site management (UNHCR)

What is IsraAID? IsraAID is an apolitical non-governmental organization (which means that they have no affiliation with the Israeli government) that provides both lifesaving emergency relief and sustainable long-term solutions for people affected by natural disasters, epidemics and conflict situations all over the world. Their teams work in full collaboration with local communities while also acknowledging the desires and agency of refugees/displaced populations. While many humanitarian organizations skip doing their homework and end up miscalculating or badly executing relief efforts, IsraAID invests in making sure that their aid projects are both effective and ethical. This is super important to me, so I’ll discuss what it means in detail in another post.

Thats all for now folks! My journey starts in two weeks but I look forward to sharing more soon…