ECHO for Refugees

ECHO is an organisation dedicated to fostering community and education initiatives in refugee camps. We hope to transform the refugee camps in which we work from places of stagnancy and waiting, to places where dreams and drive remain alive. In the face of the uncomfortable reality of having to wait months and even years in waiting while their asylum claims are processed, the task of ‘filling time’ must become that of ‘using time’. Our Refugee Library project exists to provide them with opportunities to equip themselves with skills and knowledge for the future that lies beyond this long wait. Much like the way an echo carries, the voices of those on the journey to safety can and must be heard miles from where they began, and further still. These are individuals hungry for action, for work, for education – most are former students, skilled workers, and professionals whose lives have been violently uprooted. We hope to provide them with the know-how they need to carry their experience and know-how into the next stage of their journeys. Their lives are at a standstill; they need not be.