Christina Fernandes

I am incredibly proud and grateful to be a volunteer with Bring Hope Humanitarian Foundation. Ever since the first time I visited and worked in a refugee camp (in Thessaloniki, Greece in 2016), I strongly believed that the one thing displaced people need the most -- beyond the most pressing requirements of medical care, food and shelter -- is hope and dignity. Bring Hope’s various programmes provide both of these through hard work, dedication, empathy, respect and love. Working as part of BHHF’s Healing Programme I have been amazed and deeply moved to witness the transformation that the kids go through as they learn to express themselves through yoga, music, creative writing and art.
Returning to the camps periodically and meeting boys and girls I have previously taught and who remember our lessons is wonderful. Considering the extreme trauma that many of these children have gone through and the world of upheaval they continue to live in, it never ceases to amaze me how calm they can become as they are using breathing and meditation techniques they have learned in the Bring Hope Healing Programme.
There is not a doubt in my mind that kids as well as grown-ups in the camps are reaping immense and much needed benefits brought to them by Bring Hope through initiatives that help them restore self-respect and dignity. BHHF is implementing real change and making a world of difference in the lives of many, and I am so thankful that I have been given the chance to play a small part in this amazing labour of love.