BERLIN — In 2015, as the greatest displacement crisis since World War II emerged, a million refugees and migrants arrived on Europe’s shores. Since then, with another 500,000 people arriving in 2016 and 2017, students have been setting up their own nonprofit organizations to help.
Many have been moved to action by watching the situation unfold on television. “I remember the image of the boy on the beach,” said Lucy Shearer, who set up a branch of the charity Student Action for Refugees at her university in the United Kingdom. “When I saw that I thought, this is it, I can’t cope with not doing anything anymore.”
While volunteering with an established nongovernmental organization is also an option, some feel they have more control over their impact if they create something new, spotting a gap in services or a new way in which to assist. “We are able to be flexible and react faster than a huge organisation,” said Florian Hollunder, from MigraMed, an organisation run by medical students in Munich, Germany, to help refugees access medical and psychological care.