At the beginning of last year, the SozDia foundation in Berlin got an important assignment: to open a clearing house for 50 unaccompanied underage refugees. “Check In” was opened on 13th March 2017 as a central facility for Berlin. The clearing and pre-clearing house is the first stop for the young refugees, making sure their basic needs and any medical needs are met and helps them to make sense of their life situation and future.
The statistics show that this project was an absolute necessity: each month, around 100 underage refugees arrive in Berlin without parents or relatives. Before “Check In” was established, the youngsters, who often had a long, difficult and traumatising escape route, found themselves more or less alone in a foreign ciry and were housed in temporary accommodation, hostels or even on the streets. Besides the young people who have been in Berlin for a while, the “Check In” offers a new starting point for those underage refugees who have just arrived in Berlin after fleeing from war and displacement.
When we heard that the facility was urgently looking for all of the basics to appropriately equip their clearing house, Charity Cat e.V. donated some shirts, trainers, jackets, socks, hats and more for the first young refugees to arrive at “Check In”.
More information at: http://www.sozdia.de/ (in German)