It got taken up in November 2017 by a group consisting of two Syrian refugees and an American woman who was volunteering in the refugee solidarity system. The name had been given by our team as “Thoristirio” which means the giving place, however it got turned to Zoristirio as this is how an Arab person would read it. This twist gave it another layer of meaning as in Greek Zoristirio would mean “the struggling place”.

In it’s first version, Zoristirio created a quite efficient model of providing clothing for people in need, yet those working on it were not sustainable, as in that model the space was not creating any income.

We are now planning a new version, in which Zoristirio will feature 3 areas, combining a clothing donation area, a selling area for items repurposed in the Butterflies & Camels workshop, and an area where local makers can showcase their items.

The challenge has to do with balancing our social action with meaningful business.