Health and Wellbeing

Here is the final piece of writing from the writers in the “Tomorrow’s Hope: Modern Creativity Group” in honor of World Refugee Day.  By Thege I am the gendarme, or pyrrhocorid, a Hemiptera insect that wears red and black colors. * I am not dangerous neither for the man, nor for the animals. I don't have an unpleasant odor and I don't sting. * I'm not a garden pest either. I do ...

Today is International Women’s Day, the theme of which this year is ’Embrace Equity’. Several women wanted to share their thoughts about the day and about the power of women and girls with messages to their sisters around the world which we will be sharing in several blog posts! Alham, a young woman from Syria, now in Ontario wrote: “Where do you find the strength?” “We’re wom ...

Razan, a woman from Syria is now living in New York State wrote this piece: Challenge game with me: How can we be fair in our feelings towards life? This life taught me a lot, and actually it still does. Its lessons were so hard; not merciful, and…not easy. It didn’t have mercy on my weakness as a woman, or my loneliness as an immigrant and my tears as a loser. I don’t know, I ...

In June 2022, Lamp Lifeboat Ladder began a writing group for survivors in the program. The aim of the group is to provide a dedicated space for survivors to learn new, or enhance their existing, writing skills and creative talents and build a community of survivor writers. It is also meant to provide an alternative to the norm of survivors often being only seen as one dimension ...

The Lamp Lifeboat running team continues to go from strength to strength! Together, the team of 15 runners has run more than a dozen races across the world this year.  This Saturday 10 December - Human Rights Day - 10 members of the team in Canada ran a 10K race and then on Sunday they ran the Santa Shuffle race in Toronto dressed up in Santa outfits! Even though it was 14 degr ...

Many of the women and girls in our Lamp Lifeboat Ladder program have experienced violence, either in the country from which they fled, or on their migration journey. We provide them with safe shelter, health care, access to psychological and other social support and community, as well as securing for them legal pathways to protection.   We stand in solidarity with all women and ...

The Lamp Lifeboat Ladder running team is still going strong, with numerous races being run in the past few months, including 4 team members completing a half marathon in September!!  Jayne, our international program director, along with Abdo and his two brothers, completed a half marathon running along the beautiful lake Simcoe in Georgina, Canada on September 11.   Abdo, who r ...

Congratulations to eight members of our Lamp Lifeboat Ladder running team who completed the Dead Sea 10K race in Jordan last week!!!  This was the first official race the team has participated in since the marathon team began and we smashed it!  My name is Saeed, I'm originally from Syria and I am the Lamp Lifeboat Ladder Athletics Director. I ran with our international directo ...

At the beginning of 2022, our director Jayne Fleming teamed up with a survivor in our project to train for a marathon together. They knew it would be tough, but it’s a great goal to focus on, and helps one get fit in the process. They picked the Istanbul Marathon in November 2022 as the race they would aim for. When Jayne shared this plan with team members and other survivors i ...

Our international project director and creative inspiration Jayne Fleming describes Lamp Lifeboat Ladder and why it is such a unique and special initiative in this video. The name ‘Lamp Lifeboat Ladder’ comes from a Rumi poem, ‘Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder. Help someone’s soul heal. Walk out of your house like a shepherd.’ The name was chosen by survivors of torture an ...