This piece is part 3 of a three-part series on the CEU community's response to the refugee crisis during Fall 2015.
Part 1: http://ceuweekly.blogspot.com/2015/10/ceu-in-action-ceu-responds-to-hungarys.html
Part 1: http://ceuweekly.blogspot.com/2015/10/ceu-in-action-ceu-responds-to-hungarys.html
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| Photo credit: Stefan Roch |
Kate Coyer, Director of the Civil Society and Technology Project at the Center for Media, Data and Society (CMDS), who launched the Wi-Fi and phone charging initiative, stated, “Like so many people across Budapest and across the CEU community, I was incredibly moved by what was happening at Keleti,” which she described as a “mixture of chaos and humanity.”
Visiting the station, Coyer quickly noticed that many refugees had limited means of using their phones. CEU PhD candidate Stefan Roch, who co-led the initiative with Coyer, explained the need for smartphone access, “It’s absolutely crucial for these people. The whole trip is completely informal and there are so many obstacles, so the only kind of security they have is information. They have whole Viber and WhatsApp groups where they can keep informed of the routes they can take, the political developments. There’s even a rating system for traffickers in Turkey – this guy is trustworthy, etc…having that kind of information is important, and probably life-saving.”
Focused on what could be done “fastest, easiest, and cheapest,” Coyer asked her contacts in technology activist communities for suggestions of how to help. Through individual online donations, the new initiative quickly raised enough money to start with a few portable phone chargers and 3G Wi-Fi hotspots.
When Coyer posted in the CEU Helps Facebook group that she needed help for the project, Roch and a friend went to Keleti to join the efforts. As a volunteer schedule had not yet been established, he decided to come back the next day and kept returning. Similarly, the project began to expand, with a growing volunteer base, added equipment, and additional equipment and support from Greenpeace. “What began as a two person project, with a few pieces of equipment in our backpacks, organically developed into this collaborative effort supported by the CEU community,” explained Coyer. But as quickly as the project was mobilized, the situation changed again. The Hungarian government closed the border to Serbia, “and then, suddenly, there was nobody at Keleti anymore,” said Roch.
With the demand for the project no longer present in Budapest, Coyer and Roch are determining how to best adopt the project to work in current refugee transit areas. This process has included conducting needs assessment trips to several border areas and working to create a manual documenting the project’s setup, equipment used, lessons learned, and other information to help NGOs and individuals in other countries set up similar initiatives.
Reflected Coyer, “I think it made all of us really aware of how important access to communication is in a crisis, and how even the smallest efforts can make a difference.”
Ilana Ullman
School of Public Policy
USA
For more information about the Keleti Wifi/Charging initiative, visit: http://keleti-connected.tumblr.com/
This piece originally appeared in the 61st issue of the CEU Weekly. To view the entire issue, please visit: http://issuu.com/ceuweekly/docs/61stissuefullforissuu
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