Smiles for you all

Celine sending some smiles to us all tonight 

from the Eleonas Camp in Athens

Good to see her in some of the clothes we have bought together. The babygros from the local Sainsburys that I spotted and took out on the last trip.  Feels like she is surrounded in our love and care for her.  Indeed for all the children we have helped support with the Family Link Up project.  But making me realise she is growing quickly and will need to send a bigger size selection soon. Then big Sister Princess Leen will need some more too.  

Today Dante in Turkey is visiting his other sister in Suleman Shah camp and I have asked for an update on the children there too.  Dante is always trying to keep an eye on all - so much personal social work he does. 

Always a hand to hand link up 

Family Link Up - be part of the story.....

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Conference Refugee Studies

https://soundcloud.com/refugeestudiescentre/rsc-conference-2017-session-i-room-1-restricted-mobility-of-extremely-vulnerable-migrants?in=refugeestudiescentre/sets/rsc-conference-2017-beyond-crisis 

Busy weekend for me as catching up on the Refugee Studies conference that was held in Oxford in March of this year.  Beyond Crisis: Rethinking Refugee Studies.  A very packed programme with international speakers and stories and projects from around the world.  For those of you that have been following this Family Link Up story you will know I had submitted a paper to present to this conference.  It was a detailed look at the Shell Shock deep post traumatic stress that I have been counselling in Dante.  The themes and patterns so relevant for our care planning and pathways of support for refugees.  The conference was not just on Syrian refugees but Global displacement of people from many areas of conflict, poverty and pain.  

My paper was one of many good quality ones; and listening to the opening introduction there is no doubt all papers submitted were of good quality and focusing on a very important facets of refugee support. So the rejection of this was not a negative. However, it would have given me good exposure to show my Family Link Up project and whilst a carer/befriender my clinical background helps me understand more and see the care planning required. 

I have also submitted the paper to the nursing journals and also suggest we have a special edition of journal to look at war and conflict and effects on people the types of injuries to nurse and the mental pain to care for.  But I have had no uptake as yet for publication or action to my suggestion. 

This is my opening to my paper 

A Syrian refugee’s pain of war

A counselling narrative analysis

Author: Marjorie Bahhaj BSc RN RM  (May 2016)

Over the past few months I have had opportunity to counsel a Syrian refugee online and have managed to meet with him to help him on his pathway to healing and regain strength.

Over our time of sharing I have been on many journeys into the dark vile world of man’s inhumanity to man as he opened up on the memories of the pain.  The pictures and videos I have seen, have been uncensored and I have researched further to understand more of how this man was feeling.  My journey took me into our UK parliament committee rooms on study days to look at the whole situation in Syria and why Syrians are fleeing en masse, for us now to address the biggest refugee crisis in history. I now actively campaign for refugees and am involved with the APPG – the All Party Parliamentary Group on Syria.

So let me share the journey that my refugee has shared with me for us to understand the need for support and healing of post-traumatic stress. The most of all feeling and expressions in my refugee patient is that of constant feeling of being chased and also that of loss and grief with this the constant flash backs to the horror seen felt and heard.  So all of his senses have been bombarded with horror that has led to the whole of his being bearing an imprint of the pain. But these feelings are complex in nature of the experience and the distorted life that is now apparent. A distortion from the fact that this now is an everyday occurrence.  He may have fled the country but his desire to regain his country and remain an activist means each day he is seeing uncensored first hand reports from social media capture that activists within the battle zone are sending. 

The journey is expressed and there is an interactive report of refugee thought and expressions and the nurse counsellor response and analysis.. So clear facets are seen with action planning for healing and rebuild of broken lives. 

IF you would like me come and speak at a conference or present my work to a group contact me marjoriebahhaj@gmail.com

HELP me to continue this work and build this project to help many heal and rebuild their lives.  

Family Link Up - be part of the story.....

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Age UK link up

Spotted some unworn bargains in the local Age UK shop.  This is good as this links up our local Age UK with the Family Link Up project and helps both.  Got two body warmers for our princesses in the Eleonas camp ... good warm padded and with hoods.... Sisters can look good together :-) 

Got my first new pound coin the other day looks more like a old money threepenny bit .. sort of sums up the shrinking pound...... as that old money 3d was a quarter of a shilling with 20s making a pound... get my drift now...

But this was spent in the Age UK on this cute sun set .... now I was thinking for Sham in Turkey but we have a news black out on her, her father and her progress so not sure what is happening and so so want to know and give some love to her.  But if Dante cannot get any contact then I suppose we can send this to Celine for summer. 

 Sun dress, shorts and hat.  

In my heart of hearts I am so ready to go to where Dante is based to see the situation for myself and write up an independent report.  My reports are enhanced by the fact I am considered one of the Syrian refugee community.  I had a lovely letter sent to me yesterday in Arabic which I have translated - it was in response to some of the issues I am facing in the London Borough of Hillingdon. They have asked to all concerned that I been given the love and respect that they all have for me. Because I care for them and the family and all families in the communties.  They feel that I understand them personally, as families and the wider politically situation... For this they ask the local government to care for me and help me to help them.  I give them hope they are not forgotten in the world.  They know I am keen to help rebuild their lives. With this helps me to rebuild my life.  This Family Link Up project is my life for the rest of my life. I learn so much from this project. 

Family Link Up - be part of the story.....

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thank you

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Rebuild with Link Up

This photo come to me tonight from the camp in Athens. Baby Celine is getting used to the camera now and learning to smile and her eyes seems to enjoy mama taking photos. lool

تحياتي لكم نحن هنا في أثينا نحتاج للمساعدة لأعادة بناء حياتنا من جديد أرجو المساعدة من أجل الأمل وحياة جديدة

I have got a message from Boshra on the importance of the need to rebuild their lives and to have the hope for the future. This is my goal to help them rebuild their lives... In this they help me to live my life too and rebuild from trauma... This project is my life for sure and this family are amazing.  I hope to get you more photo of other members too soon from Turkey.  

I love the dress on Princess Leen remember we got this with the donations.  The dress has matching leggings.  Today I was in a babywear shop in London and was discussing with the manager about what happens to the end of season stock that does not get sold.  I really think if we had the funds we could do a good trade in getting a job lot of end of season clothes to send out to the camps.  This would benefit all.  The clothes we get for the camps do the rounds as one child grows out and there is still wear in them then they get passed to another and another till full worn by all that need. 

Family Link Up - be part of the story.....

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thank you

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Link up of Compassion

So ready for another visit to Eleonas Camp in Athens to see Boshra and the family again..... and would like to get over to Turkey to make the all important assessment of the needs in the community Dante is serving.   But I need funding for this and to ensure my home and needs are kept out of problems with LBH council.... I try to apply to join NGO but no offer as yet.....This project is my life and learning so much.  I gen up on all the facets of the project as I come up against the issues highlighted.  Yesterday I attended the Bloodwise meeting in London.. from a need to raise awareness that we have many refugees with cancers.  I needed to review my own knowledge since I am retired as a nurse & midwife but have an oncology background in nursing experience.  So you see I am very stimulated by the spin offs of this project. 

It was heartwarming when a patient survivor heard all about the family link up and the problems of refugees with cancer and said, "OMG we have been so lucky to have this treatment here in peace, how awful that there are others in the world that have this because of war and because of war have limited or no access to treatments."

There was a link up of hearts and compassion.... 

I am very fond of all the all the family and all they have shared and told me about and I am keen to help them. With this help the communities around them and the issues they face.  

Yesterday after the Bloodwise meeting in the Institute of Child Health I was able to nip round Russell square to SOAS to a Syria Solidarity UK meeting.  I was updating on the link up project and my visit to Eleonas Camp and the birth of Celine.  I shared my idea of a being able to train the Syrian womenfolk in midwifery and one of the members in the meeting was saying that some doctors in Lebanon had had the same thoughts too... So will link me to them.  

There is a lot of power in Link Up, so much opportunity to link up our Global Family.  Let me know if you can help me and get some funding for us to expand the links in the link up project. 

Family Link Up - be part of the story.....

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thank you

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Sheffield Conference

This has come in my facebook news feed which is perfect to get me networking for support on the project and to share with other carer/befrienders of refugees.  There is such a good feel and the centre holding the conference is rather dynamic on a number of issues so looking forward to linking up. http://www.vas.org.uk/our_services

Will be good to get back up to Yorkshire too.. my neck of the woods.... I have booked and can get up early morning of the conference day as the centre is close to the railway station.  So have booked on the eventbrite and go a place. The brief is:

Volunteers have responded to support refugees in camps and on route throughout Europe through involvement with established organisations, by responding with friends or a group or by just going out and helping.Voluntary Action Sheffield is part of a European Project with partners in Macedonia, Serbia, Hungary, Croatia and Brussels looking at the role of volunteers in responding to this crisis.
This conference will explore how volunteers respond to the refugee crisis, the value that different groups can bring and look at how we can learn from one another to improve the support to both volunteers and refugees.
There will be a particular emphasis on people supporting refugees outside the UK but there is a strong interest in how refugees are supported by volunteers in the UK as well.

There are four good workshops and all look good and valuable to share in: 
Workshop 1 - What do activists need?
Workshop 2 - Relationship between organisations and activist groups
Workshop 3 - Refugees: Being empowered
Workshop 4 - How to avoid burnout

Booking and more information on this link: 
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/optimising-volunteering-to-support-refugees-tickets-33397780661?aff=efbnreg

Thank you Yorkshire for all this thought and drive to help folk in need

-proud to be a Yorkshire lass!

Family Link Up - be part of the story.....

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Flowers by the border

Flowers for mother

ما يزال يا أمي في الدنيا قليل من متسع الهرب نحوك. 

كم أنت هنا، وكم أن الزمن الذي غيّببك، ضعيف أمامك. 
 أنتظرك، وإذا لم تستطيعي، سأقتفي عطر النفسج البري، وآتيك.

This is from Dante, as he and others have been talking of home Syria they are missing family that are still stuck there.  It is the most frustrating situation for Dante as his parents are by the border now.  They managed to escape from a besieged area and since Christmas have been by the Turkish border.  I have written to our Turkish Ambassador here in in London to ask for their passage to join the family safe in the care of Turkey, but sadly had no reply. 

But can you imagine this that there is a point where Dante can stand in Turkey and look over the border and see his mother and father, sister and youngest brother stood in Syria. Only the line on a map - the border - separating them.   But they cannot get to one another.  It is the most inhumane and emotionally torturous situation.

I have chatted to Dante in the private messaging and I can always feel when his is lost in his pain. But he has put the flowers and the message on his facebook page..... for which I have commented - These flowers one of my mothers favourites..... I miss her too .....mothers are so precious and give so many memories of care. My mother would love your mother if they could have met I am sure. Keep your spirits up we will all win over this crazy world of pain that deluded men make. Why do we draw lines on maps to make borders when Allah made the whole world for us all to share and care for one another and enjoy? We are all with you man... keep strong.....

I feel this pain as I first spoke with his mother nearly two years ago and she sounded so weary, bless her... I promised to help care for her family as I could. All the photos of her grand children Leen and Celine get to her to show I am helping and that we are all helping ... As you dear readers and those that have donated are part of this story for sure as you help me to help them all. 

I wish I could go and assess the situation in Turkey and go to the officials to plead for their union on safe Turkish soil. 

Family Link Up - be part of the story.....

Donate through gofundme 

thank you 

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Book Ideas

I have been trying to get a literary agent interested in a series of books on the Adventures of Princess Leen as she grows up in the refugee camp.  The book would be illustrated images, but it was an idea generated from the photos of our fun time in the pet shop in Athens.   I want to somehow bring in the exposure to the other languages they are hearing around them and learning. The books would give an insight into the life of the camp being home and the host country one to learn about and get used to.

These are a couple of slide pages to give you an idea.  The complete story is on file.  I would love this to help raise funds for the Family Link Up project. I am willing to share fundraising with a NGO but really have so many ideas that this can fund.  I still would like to see how we could build resources to help train the women in midwifery to support one another and help host countries.  

Please contact me on facebook Marjorie Bahhaj to chat more if you can published books with me or email me

familylinkuptogether@gmail.com

Family Link Up - be part of the story.....

Donate through gofundme 

thank you 

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Update on Sham in Turkey

baby Sham our dear brave little lady that had the large dorsal thoracic tumour removed in Gazientap Turkey. Felt so so frustrating seeing her alone in the cot and if you remember I have been desperate to go and help her and the hospital teams. 

In my Nursing & Midwifery career I have experience in neonatal care... would help SCBU whenever there were shifts to do.... My heart just went out to this case... and the horror it maybe the result of the type of weapons used in Syria.

But we do have some update from Dante and there is a problem.  Her father is insistent to return to Syria and take her back with him!  Dante and the doctors that have been caring for her are so trying to get him to rethink.  He is worried about his father in Syria the grandfather of Sham... AND there is a sort of psychological denial of the fact that Syria is no longer the place they knew. There is almost a wanting to return to the dream of the past and what it was like.  This I hear in the counselling of other refugees too as part of their grief of losing their motherland, of losing all that was part of their identity from their roots in the land.  Dante has told him of the Family Link Up project and shown him how we have supporters from around the world following and caring for the story and pain they are in.  But seems neither Dante nor the Doctor can get through to Shams father the need to stay safe in Turkey.

I do wish I could go and see for myself the issues and make you all a report. This is where I could do with being in an NGO as a paid consultant and assessor of needs to be action planned to help.  I do find the whole situation an amazing interesting challenge to help the refugees in all the facets of their care and support.  Just to love and care and show we, the world do care about them they are not forgotten people and have a worth and we do value them and respect and feel for their pain... as the Global family we are.

I have been quietly collecting toys for her with what limited funds I have. I would like to get her some nice clothes and one of the baby bouncing chairs.. those cotton books and things to stimulate her development and growth. To make her giggle and be happy.

I have asked Dante to get us some update pictures of her too ... as we have not really seen her bonnie face and so want to see her with some glimmer of happiness and light in her eyes. So so difficult bonding and the geographical and lack of finances barrier between us.  We can but pray for her and her family and the father to see to be safe is the most important base for his decision making. 

Family Link Up - be part of the story.....

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Sabah el Noor

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✿ Sabah el Noor - a morning full of light.... and full of love and so so helps me face the day with these two lovelies in my message box.......Special sisters Princess Leen with Princess Celine.... and Celine is really coming on getting bigger by the day.... Love my Princesses in Eleonas camp and cannot wait to see them again..... Sent these photos to Dante in Turkey for him to wake too... He was having fun yesterday as there was a hailstorm and flash flooding in the streets of Turkey... everyone was in giggles mood though.... 

This project and family are my life for the rest of my life..... and just shared this photo with one of my daughters too ....we all love our updates and so want to rebuild this family's life....✿ 

Family Link Up - be part of the story.....

Donate through gofundme 

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My Helper

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Miss my little Princess Leen in Eleonas - my littler helper - always seems to know I am trying my best to help link up the family together. 

It is not just shopping but being able to have the freedom to nip back and forth to visit.

Bless her ..she is holding my flyer and the laminated letter from Brussels a response from the many letters and emails to find funding to simply be able to care and befriend and help as I can.

The scattered refugee families is a long term issue with the world in turmoil... We actually need more carer/befrienders to help keep hope and give chance and opportunity to rebuild their lives. 

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Family Link Up - be part of the story.....

Donate through gofundme 

thank you 

✿ღ¸╭•⊰✿ https://www.gofundme.com/2k34fes  ✿ღ¸╭•⊰✿

Gathering things for Baby Sham

I got this touchy feely soft chime ball yesterday in the new Toys R Us store in Uxbridge... this is part of me getting a parcel together to send to Dante to take to Baby Sham..... I am trying to get updates on her recovery.... but things been fraught where Dante is and he has not been able to get an update. Turkey is full of the referendum voting at the moment. 

But for now got the House of Lords teddy and the soft ball... I would like to get her some clothes and more toys ... I sure would love to get out to see her too. I cannot get the image of her alone in the hospital cot without all the colour and stimulation of toys around her.  I would like to meet her family and get to know more of their story too. 

So many good fun things to get not only for Sham in Turkey but for both sites of my refugees Athens and Turkey.... So frustrating needing the funds to continue this project with the full heart and care I want to give.

This was a pretty little dress in the new Primark in Uxbridge and the back could be left open for comfort over Baby Shams surgical wound... I will try to get this.

There were nice light cardigans that could be worn over too. 

I hope Dante can get some photos of her update soon as it is so difficult seeing Baby Sham from a distance, bonding and then wondering and worrying about her recovery.   

Would have be great to have got her here in London for treatment and then could see her daily. 

Most of the stores around in Uxbridge have good bargain packs of babygros to get for both Sham and other babies in Turkey and the Camp in Athens..... 

I feel as if I need to get to know what stores do with end of range stock too to get a bargain lot to distribute.... if anyone reading this has ideas let me know how we can bulk buy too for both my target area camps and communities. 
Of course having funds up front to barter with is the real asset too. 

Family Link Up - be part of the story.....

Donate through gofundme 

thank you 

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Spring into Action & Shop together

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Looking at all ways to help raise funds for this Family Link Up project I joined NYR organic as an independent consultant last year... you can earn by party plan, table top sales and online sales.  I have always loved NYR products and used to buy from their flagship shop in Covent garden when I was in practice as RN RM...... I would often recommend the comfry for my mothers for "certain area discomfort" following delivery.... My paedriatric nurse colleagues would recommend the Baby Balm and Barrier cream.  So with faith and a passion for the products I could see this would be a way to help to earn now in my retirement and for the Family Link Up Project

http://marjoriesyard.blogspot.co.uk/

https://uk.nyrorganic.com/shop/marjoriebahhaj/area/shop-online/

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NYR commission to help? 
April 15th 2017 But sadly to date I  have not got any orders from NYR business plan.  I can't run around doing party plans so I am reliant on developing an online customer base.   If I could achieve a good loyal base then I can a) look after my valued customers with extra goodies and promotions,   b) I could get commission to help my Family Link Up project.  c) The business turnover would generate extra consultant products for me to put together as raffle baskets for fundraising. d) as the turnover swells I can then think of helping other charities with stock purchase for table top fundraising venues for a charity of your choice - where there can be shared donation. Plus put charity fundraising baskets together for other charities to raffle.

Boshra in the Eleonas camp 

- who is a business graduate -would love to help rebuild her life.

There is actually a NYR shop in Athens so who knows with her language learning in Greek and English and when permitted to work she could get an opportunity with shop assistant work too... as the girls grow and get to school.

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Basically I need some turn over of business activity and I can only do this with customers registering with me online.  NYR handles your order but notifies me of the order so I can send you extra gifts and promotions... all to swell your shopping basket with grateful thanks....  The products are amazingly good and are award winning.... you will enjoy them and feel and look good with their care. 

https://uk.nyrorganic.com/shop/marjoriebahhaj/area/shop-online/
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Lets win together with great winner products to look and feel good 

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