Etihad help thousands of children seeking asylum in Greece

Etihad Airways has donated stationery, clothing, blankets and books to 2,450 children living in refugee camps in Greece before the new school year.

Airline employees delivered supplies for every child in the Ritsona and Malakasa camps north of Athens and to Kara Tepe, a camp for families on the Aegean island of Lesbos.

Plans are under way to provide more support to camps in Greece, where resources are at breaking point because of chronic overcrowding.

The initiative is part of Etihad Airways’ annual donations for schoolchildren living in difficult circumstances.

“Our focus is always children and support for education, so bringing children and stationery together was a focal point for us,” said Khaled Al Mehairbi, the company’s chair of corporate social responsibility.

Children between the ages of four and 15 received 2,450 school bags and stationery kits, and 4,500 blankets flown in from Abu Dhabi on a Boeing 777. The donation was made in co-operation with the Emirates Red Crescent and organised over a series of months.

It is the airline’s first step towards supporting refugee children in Greece, Mr Al Mehairbi said.

“We have talked to the director of the [Kara Tepe] camp in Lesbos and we have asked him what is needed in line with the needs of people in the camps,” he said.

“He will send us a list of items he sees as urgent and we will see how we can work to provide him with his requirements.”

Refugee camps in Greece are preparing for winter, when bad weather generally makes conditions worse for residents.

The Etihad delegation said the desire to perform humanitarian work was encouraged by the UAE’s Founding President, Sheikh Zayed. An ongoing nationwide Year of Zayed campaign is marking the anniversary of his birth a century ago.

School supplies were distributed to about 1,500 children at Kara Tepe, where Etihad volunteers also joined children in a football match.

Two days later, volunteers helped distribute donations to 250 children living at Malakasa and to 500 youngsters at the Ritsona camp in a ceremony attended by UAE Ambassador to Greece, Mohammed Mir Abdullah Al Raisi.

Earlier this year, Etihad also supported worthy causes in India and Sri Lanka. The airline also supported Rohingya refugees living in Bangladesh.

Next month the airline will distribute canes to visually impaired people in Morocco.

Equally important are the projects Etihad carried out at home, Mr Al Mehairbi said.

Local organisations and companies were encouraged to come forward and help to provide others with tangible assistance.

“If they can help, we’ll sit and talk,” Mr Al Mehairbi said.