We woke up and turned on the news. We learned that over 300 immigrants were rescued from the Mediterranean and that a large proportion of them were women and children (1). We notice that we are late, we go back to our routine and go to work. The subject only becomes topical again when, this time, in the evening session, a journalist mentions the scourge. But you can't pass by. It can't be someone else's problem, it has to be a problem for society as a whole.
Did you know that, according to the latest UN survey, in 2017, there are around 68.5 million refugees in the world, more than half of whom are children? And, if we add up the data for this year, can you imagine the frightening number? Do you realize that, if these 68.5 million homeless people formed a hypothetical country, it would be almost bigger than the United Kingdom and would have the 21st largest population on the planet?
I could continue with these degrading facts. When we look at them, it's as if we wake up again. And it seems that apathy disappears. Solidarity begins to take its place and we feel the desire to act. We think about the people who risk their lives for a life. We think about families torn apart, about the woman who left behind not only her husband but also a little bit of herself when, out of free will, she got on a boat without a defined direction with a child in her arms. We think about the children who, by fate or simply the bad luck of being born in the wrong country, never got to blow out the candles of next spring. And now, not only the feeling of solidarity but of will is born within us. Desire to do more.
Between 2015 and 2017 Portugal received 1520 refugees (2). In a background where every two seconds, a new person becomes a refugee, Forall Phones gives you the opportunity to act. You can make a difference in the life of a father who, in a country that is not his own, wants to be in contact. In this sense, and in partnership with the Jesuit Refugee Service (JSR Portugal), Forall Phones allows you to donate your old equipment (only cell phones) to these families who, more than our solidarity, need our action! You give new life to cell phones you no longer use, you give a helping hand to the environment and another to those in need.
Of course, the equipment must be in condition to be reused, in medium-good condition. You can make your donation in one of our stores:
-Lisbon, Forall Phones store Rua Afonso Lopes Vieira 52B< /span>
-Porto, Forall Phones store Rua Formosa 60
< span style="font-weight: 400;">We cannot close our eyes, the way forward is to take action. Let's join forces and combat a problem that doesn't concern half a dozen countries, but the world. Let's look at these people who, and above all, before being immigrants, refugees, foreigners, are people and deserve all the dignity to which they are entitled. Let's go!
Raquel Fernandes
Fonts:
(1) 18.12 .2017 2:47 pm; sic noticias
UNHCR high commission in the united nations
(2)https://www.google.pt/amp/s/observador.pt/2018/01/09/cerca-de-metade-dos-refugiados-que-chegaram-a-portugal- abandoned-o-pais/amp/
