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COVID-19 UPDATE

We are once again accepting volunteers from countries the Greek Government has deemed as safe to travel. Please see COVID-19 Volunteer Requirements below.

COVID-19 requirements

Updated in April 2021 – The current rules in Greece are that you will need a PCR test before taking your flight, and a rapid test at the airport right after landing in Athens. Then you will have to make a quarantine of 7 days on Chios.
 
We cannot provide documents to enable your travel – we can only accept volunteers who are residents of countries which the Greek Government has deemed safe to travel, and we require a minimum of five weeks (that includes the week of quarantine, so four weeks on the field) for volunteering with us.
 
Due to unpredictable changes in restrictions, we cannot confirm which of our projects will be running whilst you are here. We are not currently attending landings as we would come into contact with people who could be carrying the virus.
 
We hope you understand these precautions. We do not want to enable the spread of the virus nor put our own volunteers at risk.
 

Pre-volunteering information

Offene Arme e.V is a nonprofit organization that is run by volunteers only. All our projects are sustained by people from all over the world who are willing to put in their heart, time and power to address the situation of those seeking refuge on Chios. The open structures of Offene Arme enable everyone to take the initiative to unfold her/his ideas and creativity in terms of our projects.

But don’t forget: We are an emergency response team that deals with people in sensitive and
vulnerable situations. So, for volunteering with Offene Arme it is important to understand how severe the
circumstances of the people are. Moreover, it is necessary to reflect about your own position and
privileges in contrast to the perspectives of the people arriving on the island.

What about the accommodations options, working schedule, travel on the island… ? We cover most topics for our fellow volunteers in the INTRODUCTION PACK, please give it a read as it will probably answer most of your remaining questions !

Thank you for your interest in volunteering with us. You are only 3 steps away from becoming a
volunteer with Offene Arme e.V.

 

How to become a volunteer

STEP ONE

Write an enquiry for volunteering to cesrt@offenearme.org. Please note that we require a
minimum of four weeks for volunteering with us.

STEP TWO

We will check your documents and hopefully send you our approval and we will ask you for a criminal police check that enables you to work with children.

STEP THREE

Next thing you know, you will be part of an amazing team of volunteers !

Become a volunteer

“I felt like I had experience that could be of help in this environment, so decided to volunteer with CESRT. I enjoy being part of an organisation that helps to show that humanity still exists. I like that CESRT has achievable goals that we meet and build upon.”

Emily

29 years old from the UK, volunteering for at least 2 months

“You can see this refugee crisis in the media but you can only know and understand this reality when you are on the ground and it is important to know more. Working with CESRT team you meet so many inspiring people of all ages and nationalities with many different backgrounds. Do not forget, we are not working with numbers or statistics, we are working with humans. If we can just give them a bit of hope, positivity and real smiles, to show them that people do care. Even the small actions count.”

Camille, Laura and Cindy

from Switzerland