Based on our long-term collaboration with a Czech NGO which produces expert trauma support for child refugees, Češi pro Sýrii, as well as our work with Dignity and UNICEF, Hibiki and Sabina designed a project to extend and expand our school’s volunteering work with refugees.
Češi pro Sýrii was founded in 2018 during the Syrian crisis. The NGO has worked with refugee children across Europe, especially those living in refugee camps in Turkey. Now the organisation is helping support refugee children arriving in the Czech Republic.
At PBIS, Vlastina campus is already offering activities for refugees on weekday evenings. After the Easter holiday, this will be extended to weekend sessions and may be available in our other campuses too.
The grant will enable our students, parents and staff volunteers to take part in special workshops led by expert trainers to help them run activities for refugee children with a focus on supporting their wellbeing and helping them feel settled in the local area. The grant will also allow us to buy resources for the workshops specifically linked to supporting refugee children with their wellbeing. In addition, we will support Češi pro Sýrii in printing their trauma handbook for caregivers in Ukranian, as well as working with them to develop their website for refugees in the Czech Republic. Finally, we plan to create Ukranian mini-libraries or “KnihoBudky” on our campuses.