On November 21, CHEERing held a training and discussion at the Athens offices of Solidarity Now, with the coordinators of the women friendly spaces from Andravida, Elefsina, Eleonas, Malakasa, Oinofyta, Thermopyles, and Thiva refugee camps. What a delightful group of enthusiastic and energetic young women at this Greek NGO! We also visited the SN space…

Thanks to Help Refugees, Indigo Volunteers, and the staff and volunteers at Glocal Roots – We Are One for hosting our infant feeding training at the We Are One Woman and Babies Center on Samos. A packed, intense evening, with, we hope, lots more collaboration to come! We are providing training and support for 2…

CHEERing’s Director Anne Merewood will be presenting at the 14th Breastfeeding Seminar by the University of Athens. Topic for discussion is “Breastfeeding among Refugees in Greece: Strategies for Managing an Infant Feeding Crisis”. There will be special surprise guests! Watch this space!

CHEERing’s National Director in Greece, Airinie Azhar, presented this week about the situation in Greek refugee camps around infant feeding, at the American Public Health Association meeting in Philadelphia, USA. APHA is one of the biggest public health organizations in the world, and their annual conference attracts thousands of attendees. To read the presentation abstract,…

Our new CHEERing Brochure provides information on what CHEERing does, how we do it, and where you can keep updated with our work!

With the recent influx of refugees to the islands and from the islands to the mainland, pregnant women and families with infants are often moved ‘en masse’ to new sites which are not always immediately equipped to help them. CHEERing’s emergency response team can conduct emergency assessments of babies’ nutritional status, and advise on supplemental…

CHEERing has been chosen to take part in the Bodossaki Foundation’s Social Dynamo program! Social Dynamo offers training, professional support and networking to NGOs and is a collaborative initiative between the Bodossaki Foundation and the City of Athens Municipality. CHEERing’s Director in Greece, Airinie Azhar, will represent our NGO at weekly sessions throughout the winter,…

Each week our sister organization in the US, CHEER, nominates a breastfeeding CHAMPion of the week. This week’s ChAMPion is a special young woman living in Greece. “Elise” (name changed to protect confidentiality) is a refugee living in an Athens shelter, with her husband and baby. The family sought refuge here from the ongoing war…

Today, September 23rd, CHEERing held an infant massage session for mothers and babies living at the Eleonas camp. Shaista Karimi, our interpreter, breastfeeding counselor, and certified physiotherapist, led the session. It is hard to describe how moving it is, when calm descends on a room full of concerned mothers and crying infants when Shaista begins…

September 2019: Thanks to funding from WABA (the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action), CHEERing held the first 2 of 4 training and support sessions for fathers this month, around breastfeeding and reproductive health. Dr Tomas Andriotti (2nd from left), a Brazilian obstetrician visiting with CHEERing from Harvard University in the USA, taught the sessions at…