The movement of populations due to unrest in various places in the world is not new and, up to now, the problem does not seem to be solved by officials and governments.

NGO’s, though, have done important work and some of them excel in the ways in which they are supporting people in need.

This is the case of Sir Vassili Chrysostomos and his United Refugee Green Council (URGC). In 2014, he wanted to find solutions for the displacement of people globally and the idea to form the URGC came from a few incidences in his life that left an indelible mark on him. 

Sir Vassili said that his first experience was in London in 2014. He sat outside a coffee shop in central London. Whilst sitting drinking his coffee he saw four homeless people (looking like they were from different ethnic backgrounds), across the road. They were not begging for money, they simply sat quietly trying to keep warm with their battered and torn blankets. One of them, a man had handwritten on a piece of torn cardboard, a note which read ‘’Please Help, I am hungry’’. Sir Vassili noticed people walking past ignoring them and once in a while a person would give whatever loose change he/she could spare. 

After 20 minutes of watching this, the man holding the poster gathered whatever loose change he had collected, walked into a pastry store no more than 10 meters from him, and purchased a French baguette. Before he resumed his position on the street again, he took out the bread and tore it by hand into four pieces and shared it with the other three people. They devoured the small piece of bread like they had not seen food for days. Sir Vassili sat back feeling emotional and tearful from such an act of kindness.

Sir Vassili went on to explain that after he had finished his coffee he crossed the road and spoke to the man who shared his bread with the other three and asked where he was from to find out he was British, of Nigerian origin. Sir Vassili told him that he was moved by his generous and selfless actions and despite his own crisis, desperation and hunger, he had applied such a kind and virtuous act, his reply was that, although he did not know the other three people, he would not be able to eat that bread knowing that the other three were as hungry as he was, and that went on to express his faith by quoting that Jesus teaches us to share. 

Sir Vassili asked if the other three homeless people would have done the same for him and he replied no, they do not share. He went across the street to the coffee shop and brought bottles of water, juice, coffees and various sandwiches and pastries for all four and handed to each one of them, they were very grateful, he returned after a couple of hours from a brief shopping spree with four camping sleeping blankets, hats, gloves, thick socks and scarfs for all four of them so that they can keep warm and a shopping bag of hygiene essentials and some dried foods and drinks. I noticed that one of the four was a woman whose lips had turned blue from the cold, and could no longer feel her fingers. All four were immensely grateful. 

This brief experience showed that despite the great suffering and desperation of such people, they were people just like you and me, who had fallen upon hard times and had no one to turn to for help, and despite the desperation and hunger of one man who had nothing more in life, other than his faith and whatever small physical possessions he held on to, upon that pavement spot, he temporarily adopted as his home, he still had unwavering compassion for his fellow man, to the degree of sharing his only food with three other strangers.

Kindness, compassion and virtuous acts are what truly defines us as human beings, and although the vast majority of us have these qualities, we do not express them enough.

The URGC was formed and created by Sir Vassili as an organization that would not have links to a government, political party, the United Nations or its related agencies, religious groups or any other group. It was important to be completely independent of all, He further applied a policy of not selling products or membership, and would not accept any donations, be it in monetary, asset or gift form. 

Sir Vassili was, and still is, known internationally as a philanthropist and his endeavors to aid and promote human welfare is respected and commended internationally. It was upon his good name that many people from around the world were attracted to his new organization the URGC.

The people attracted to the URGC, who had requested to be part of the URGC, are a wide mixture of people. They include members from many of the world’s royal houses, titled nobels, dignitaries, VIP’s, archbishops, priests, nuns, rabbis, imams, gurus, judges, lawyers, police officers, accountants, architects, engineers, business owners/directors/presidents of companies, film directors and producers, actors and actresses, journalists, lobbyists, NGO owners, consultants, analysts, environmentalists, scientists, ecologists, airline pilots, commercial sea captains, professors, Teachers, Doctors, nurses, psychiatrists, psychologists, other therapists, as well as food-security, water-security, renewable energy, emergency aid, agricultural, botanist, husbandry, dairy farming, construction, financil and infrastructure experts; bankers, commodity traders and other lay people, all of which share the ethos of URGC and all act equally as URGC Ambassadors, promoting human welfare, and they do so without any pay or gift or any other form of benefit, all that they do, is applied from their own time and virtuous selfless acts to humanity.

Today, URGC Ambassadors are based in 170 countries worldwide. The URGC says that there are more displaced people today than there was during the first and second world wars combined. 

According to the 2020 UNHCR’s latest report, “some 82.2 million people had been forced from their homes due to persecution, conflict, and human rights violations.” That number includes 29.6 million refugees, 4.2 million asylum seekers, as well as 45.7 million internally displaced people. War, conflicts (both existing and new) and the coronavirus pandemic have all contributed to increasing those figures as the year has passed.

The figures do not include the displacement of economic backgrounds and those that do not have permanent homes, such as the homeless and street children and adults of the world, individuals and families living in makeshift shelters all over the world, and those who migrate due to lack of infrastructure and facilities and other reasons that threaten their very survival. This forces people to migrate so as to help increase their life chances, all are estimated to be over 500,000,000 people worldwide. And these numbers grow daily. 

Every single minute 24 people flee their homes due to economic migration, natural disasters or human rights violations or war, which equates to 34,560 people/refugees per day, which equates to 12,614,400 new refugees each year, each year.

How do we resolve this and who should resolve it? And who will cover the astronomical cost that no one wants to face?

In addition to this displacement we have also additional issues pending that need to be resolved, which is so serious that it will affect all of humanity globally, and that issue is food security, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reported that global soils were degrading so quickly that the world’s remaining topsoil will be gone in 60 years. In other words, due to progressing desertification, we have only “60 harvests left”.

Whether we are to agree or disagree with the United Nations FOA, does not take away the fact that our present agricultural lands are strained in producing enough food to sustain our present global populations, let alone our near-future global population expansion.

We cannot create more agricultural lands without destroying more forests and our environment, thus creating an even larger environmental issue for our planet. If we reduce our meat intake then we can use animal feed lands to grow more human crops for us, but what will happen to those animals that we no longer need for food, they still need to eat and run wild naturally grazing on all lands that they can find, so that is no solution, so what is the solution to sustain food-security without causing further damage to our environment, well the URGC has solutions, sustainable green solutions, as follows:

1. URGC hydro-technology requires only 52 acres of ‘’non-agricultural land’’ in any location and in any environment, to create the same yields of e.g. vegetables, as a farmer can produce on 8,000 acres of agricultural land;
2. The URGC 52 acres will require up to 95% less water, no fertilizers, no soil, will operate on 100% renewable energy sources, be insect-free and disease-free, 100% on-GMO organic crops;
3. Can produce healthier crops;
4. Can grow crops on suburbs of every major city, town or village in any location on the planet;
5. Cn cut transportation down up to 90%;
6. Zero CO2 emissions;
7. Each URGC Hydro-technology plant will have a 100+ year life span and be built with 100% recyclable materials. These are built on 52 acres of non-agricultural lands that can produce the same yield of crops of 8000 acres of agricultural land, which increases food production without the need to destroy more of our valuable earth resources and is kinder to the environment and planet and meets all our planetary food needs for centuries to come.

The URGC had extended its technologies into the construction of social housing, whereby housing units can be built 90% faster than conventional methods, all materials are 100% recyclable, each housing unit creates 100% of its own renewable green energy and is earthquake, fire, heating and termite-proof and has a 100+ year life span.

All the URGC technologies are created in collaboration with the Vassili Group, founded by Sir Chrysostomos Vassili, who also founded the URGC, which focuses on sustainable long term green solutions in infrastructure development, aiming to create solutions that increase life chances, improve quality of life, creates jobs, reduces poverty, and creates social and socio-economic development.

The URGC is not an organization that is just represented by good and virtuous people, it is an organization that seeks to find realistic long term green solutions for humanity, pushing the boundaries to help create and offer positive changes.

Sir Vassili has expressed that the Vassili Group and the URGC plan in 2022 to make some structural changes that will enable them to make a physical impact on promoting human welfare.   

During these times of COVID-19  and all of the uncertain economic hardships that come with it, including the loss of jobs and not being able to plan ahead, the Vassili Group and URGC have put plans in motion to better our global situation, there is no reason why we all cannot do this when the direction of the wind changes. It then becomes prudent to adjust our sails and sail in the direction of the wind to keep moving forward and to create a new and better way of life, and a better greener world.

Let us not all sit and wait for changes to be made only by politicians, they are not miracle makers. They cannot do it all alone and be part of making such changes for the betterment of ourselves, our families, our environment and our future. Let us all look at what was lacking or missing and wrong, and now build it better. 

If we want a better world for ourselves and our children, we need to do it ourselves by rolling up our sleeves and starting the process. This world will not fix itself. We all need to fix it together. Start making the change today, make our homes and lives greener, build back greener and better, apply a new attitude towards a greener and kinder way of life for ourselves and families and plan a greener and kinder future for us and those we love and express that kindness upon other, you will be amazed how infectious kindness is. 

Sir Vassili has made steps that has influenced people from all forms of life in 170 countries, who all follow his/URGC ethos to promote human welfare, and this was achieved by his sharing a universal need within a universal language, which is compassion and applying virtuous acts which he describes as simply being ‘philotimos’. 

There is no reason why we all cannot do the same.

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By: Nicholas Waller
Title: Refugees: A global unresolved problem
Sourced From: www.neweurope.eu/article/refugees-a-global-unresolved-problem/
Published Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2022 16:58:37 +0000

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