Frontlines of Solidarity: Caoimhe Butterly - live from Lesvos

In this episode, we feature an online event we ran in collaboration with Afri, Comhlámh, Doras, the Irish Refugee Council, and Uplift. The event was a live conversation with educator, activist, and psychotherapist Caoimhe Butterly, who joined us live from the island of Lesvos, Greece. Caoimhe has worked for periods over the past 11 years with refugee solidarity, support, and Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) networks.

As you may know, Greece is both a transit point and a place of limbo, where refuge-seekers from Afghanistan, Palestine, Congo, Syria, Sudan, Eritrea, Iraq, Somalia, Yemen, and elsewhere often end up in camps where both humanitarian support and access to rights prove challenging.

In this conversation, Caoimhe shares some of the motivations behind her work and some of the stories of people she has met. She discusses her approach to global citizenship education and solidarity work, as well as the broader context of people seeking refuge and sanctuary in today’s world.