Our Coordinators
Our small team ensures that MEDICAL VOLUNTEERS INTERNATIONAL can continue to deliver life saving measures to disadvantaged people. The board is based in Hamburg, and works closely with our local coordinators on-site.
Moritz
Project Coordinator
Greece
What is your role within Medical Volunteers International?
I am the Field Coordinator for the Athens site and am responsible for making sure the project runs properly.
How did you first hear about Medical Volunteers International and why did you decide to get involved?
I had already worked on the island of Samos in a similar NGO and met volunteers there who had already worked for MVI. But I only really got involved with MVI when I moved to Athens and was looking for a job.
The project in Athens is diverse and varied. I found our outreach programs particularly interesting. The range of services for refugees and Greek people, as well as my experiences on Samos, finally persuaded me to apply.
What has been your most impactful experience working with Medical Volunteers International?
My girlfriend works in a Women Center in Athens and one of the women once told me that even though she has papers, she always comes to MVI with her son. “You find a solution for every problem,” she added. Another time, another woman from the center just said, “Oh, we love the MVI clinic.”
Encounters like this show me that we are rooted in the community and that our clinic is a place to go.
When not working for Medical Volunteers International, what do you like to spend your time doing?
I try to exercise regularly as much as possible and read a lot. If time and work allow it, I try to escape the hustle and bustle of the big city every now and then and go to the beach or into nature.
Frieder
Former Project Coordinator
Athens
What is your role within Medical Volunteers International?
As medical coordinator, I make sure we have the necessary equipment, keep in touch with other organisations and am always in the background for the volunteers. Basically, the field coordinator and I make sure that the volunteers can do their work.
How did you first hear about Medical Volunteers International and why did you decide to get involved?
I had been looking for such an opportunity and one evening I was at the cinema and saw the short MVI film. When I saw it, I applied and everything fell into place perfectly.
I had always been active in various NGOs and now a great opportunity presented itself for me to do this full-time.
What has been your most impactful experience working with Medical Volunteers International?
The visits to the camps and conversations with people who lived there. Here, the most basic things are lacking and the people are already happy about our little attention and every open ear.
When not working for Medical Volunteers International, what do you like to spend your time doing?
I generally do a lot of sports and like to be around people. In Athens, I also like to walk around the city and explore new corners. When I need some peace and quiet, I read at home on the balcony.
Paula
Former Project Coordinator
Athens
What is your role within Medical Volunteers International?
I’m the project coordinator in Athens, trying to make everything work smoothly.
How did you first hear about Medical Volunteers International and why did you decide to get involved?
While volunteering with another NGO in Athens, I was sharing the flat with some volunteers of MVI. Our daily talks about our work brought me closer to their area and increased my interest as MVI volunteers are the first contact with the people arriving from different places. MVI volunteers are taking care of those poeple providing them health and ensuring that each of them feels they’re attended in their needs. Considering that, in most of the cases, the people who arrive have no access to health care, the work of MVI is playing an important role, making this connection to healthcare services possible.
What has been your most impactful experience working with Medical Volunteers International?
It’s difficult to choose just one impactful experience amongst all of which.
Everyday you get to know people who are in a very hard situation but are showing their best actitude and strength, which keeps me learning about the resilience of human being and keeps me fighting, day by day.
One fact that never stops surprising me is the big lack of the system to help these people, some NGOs are covering their needs but the system is not proposing any solution for the plenty of daily cases.
When not working for Medical Volunteers International, what do you like to spend your time doing?
I enjoy traveling, getting to know other places, enjoying time with my friends, cooking and reading.
Eleni
Former Team Coordinator
MVI Lesvos
What is your role within Medical Volunteers International?
My role will be coordinating the project “Medical Volunteers for Greece in Lesvos”.
How did you first hear about Medical Volunteers International and why did you decide to get involved?
I first heard about Medical Volunteers International from a current employee of MVI, during one of my visits in Lesvos. A few days later I heard about the opportunity of the coordinator and I expressed my interest straight away. I was looking for quite a while to find a volunteering opportunity where I could apply my skills while at the same time feel like I am contributing to something greater. After spending years working in corporations, this coordinator role felt like the perfect opportunity to do something more fulfilling with greater impact in the community.
What has been your most impactful experience working with Medical Volunteers International?
I have not started my role yet, but I am really looking forward to meet the team, get hands on in the field and use my skills and experience for the benefit of the organization.
When not working for Medical Volunteers International, what do you like to spend your time doing?
In my spare time I bake a lot, I go on hikes with my cat, I meet my friends and do lots of series binge-watching!
Paolo
Former Coordinator Mental Health Programme for Children & Youth
MVI Lesvos
What is your role within Medical Volunteers International?
I’m coordinating the Mental Health and Psychosocial Support project for children, teenagers and their parents. The team – which is the core of the project! – is mainly composed of members of the asylum seeker and refugee community supported and trained by mental health professionals.
How did you first hear about Medical Volunteers International and why did you decide to get involved?
The first time I heard about Medical Volunteers International was in 2018, when I came to Lesvos to volunteer at One Happy Family Community Center. After several experiences as a short and long term volunteer, I decided to get involved with MVI to try and support the people from the asylum seeker and refugee community who are daily struggling with coping with the dire conditions they are forced to live in. As a psychologist, it came naturally to me to think of bringing professional skills into the MHPSS project.
What has been your most impactful experience working with Medical Volunteers International?
Even though I took over the project coordination quite recently, I’ve seen many children improving their mental situation thanks to the support we provide them and their parents with. Every time some of them approach the team saying that things are getting even just a bit better, we realise we are having an impact. Indeed, recently one parent came to us to say that his son stopped bedwetting and having sleep problems, symptoms which appeared after some stressful and traumatic experiences they´ve been through.
When not working for Medical Volunteers International, what do you like to spend your time doing?
I do believe that taking care of ourselves is fundamental when volunteering or working in a humanitarian context like Lesvos. I love the island and I spend my free time exploring its nature, villages, tavernas and old kafeneio (cafe’). Lesvos is so rich in culture and traditions!
Roja
Former Coordinator Mental Health Programme Adults
MVI Lesvos
What is your role within Medical Volunteers International?
Project coordination for the mental health & psychosocial project for adults
How did you first hear about Medical Volunteers International and why did you decide to get involved?
Having already been a volunteer in Lesvos in 2016, I returned last year and wanted to get involved in a project with my profession. I became aware of the mental health clinic of MVI and I work as a clinical psychologist in the project since December 2020.
What has been your most impactful experience working with Medical Volunteers International?
I am particularly impressed by the strength of our interpreters and the people who come to our project. In a system that causes, increases and chronifies mental health concerns, people find resources and show tremendous resilience.
When not working for Medical Volunteers International, what do you like to spend your time doing?
In my free time I like to visit Greek restaurants and spend time with friends in nature.