Goodwill Ambassador of UNESCO, Mrs. Marianna V. Vardinoyannis, in the framework of the “We Care” program of the “Marianna V.Vardinoyannis Foundation” for helping refugees visited the shelters of Karatepe and Moria at the island of Lesvos on April 25, 2016.

At the shelter of KaraTepe, which was created from the Municipality of Lesvos, she met with refugee families and expressed her sympathy and was informed of their needs in order to help them through the “We Care” program. Upon leaving, she stated: “The refugees are not alone in this difficult time they have and I will be at their side in this test. They are people who have survived a great tragedy, they left behind them what they have loved and now they live in insecurity. What struck me is the gesture of a little girl who I just saw offering me the apple that had been given her to eat. Humanity means culture and this is what we need to understand, all the powerful of Europe and the World.”

At the shelter of Moria, which is supported by the program «We Care» as it has already receive clothing for 3,000 refugees and food for all and basic necessities for 200 unaccompanied underage boys hosted there, Mrs. Vardinoyannis met the shelter’s manager, Ms. Daphne Spyropoulos, and the head of the Department of Migration Policy, Mrs Anthi Karagelou, with whom she talk about the needs of refugees, congratulated them for ll those working in the hosting centers and trying to cope with the difficulties with bravery, sensitivity and respect towards refugees .

During her visit at Mytilini, Mrs. Vardinoyannis had a private meeting with the Mayor of Lesbos, Mr Spyros Galinos, at Lesvos Town Hall, where she was briefed on the situation and the needs that exist in the accommodation centers, for the efforts made by the Municipality of Lesvos watching prospect of hosting refugees for a long time and she promised to contribute through her Foundation. She agreed that a part of subsequent consignments of food and clothing from the Foundation, will be made available to economically disadvantaged residents of the island belonging to vulnerable social groups. The Mayor of Lesvos thanked her for her contribution and stressed that the support is very important for both the locals and refugees.

Mrs. Marianna V. Vardinoyannis also met with the Regional Director of Northern Aegean, Ms. Christianna Kalogerou who she thanked for her support to refugees at Lesvos.

Mrs. Vardinoyannis met with Queen Rania of Jordan at a predetermined private meeting away from the limelight in the VIP hall of the airport “Odysseas Elytis”.

The two ladies, associated with long-term friendship and work in recent years in international humanitarian projects, exchanged views and discussed the prospect of cooperation to relieve the refugees. They agreed that there should be a collective international address the refugee crisis by all States and equitable burden sharing in this because the problem is too big for a single country to suffer.