Our projects
Integration through leisure
Objective Mont Blanc !
Each year, YAMBI helps a group of young refugees
refugees to train for mountaineering with the goal of climbing Mont Blanc together. In 2021, YAMBI has enabled 3 refugees to become the first refugees to ever reach the summit of the Mont Blanc, an ascent that was done in the company of two freeride world champions.
In the air, there's no borders
Every year, YAMBI organizes several paragliding courses for refugees living in Haute-Savoie. Two to three days away from the worries of everyday life to learn how to inflate the glider and get off the ground before taking off in a tandem flight with our instructors.
Winter sports & Yambilympics
In winter, YAMBI allows refugees in Haute-Savoie to learn the basics of alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, biathlon, snowboarding, ice climbing, and snowshoeing with the objective of taking them to the point of autonomy in the practice of these sports. At the end of the season, we organize the Yambilympics in Saint-Gervais Mont Blanc - friendly olympics during which our beneficiaries can put into practice what they have learned during the winter.
Summer activities
In summer, YAMBI organizes many outdoor activities to allow refugees to get away from the city and enjoy nature in the company of locals. Activities include hiking, running, climbing, fishing, sailing, and cycling. YAMBI has also made it its mission to help refugees learn how to swim.
Yoga, meditation, & personal development
Refugees often have a very fragile mental health. Our yoga, meditation and personal development retreats help them rebuild their lives, better manage their emotions, and overcome difficulties more easily. As mental health is absolutely non-existent in their countries of origin, they discover the importance of taking care of their bodies as well as their minds.
YAMBI vegetable garden
In France, exiled people often lack the resources to access quality organic food. Thanks to the city of Annecy, we provide them with a vegetable garden so that they can grow their own organic vegetables with us. YAMBI is also a partner of several vegetable farms.
Ukrainian Concerts
When we went to the Ukrainian border, we met Vitalina Fomina, a violinist from the Kiev opera who came to seek refuge in France aboard one of the buses we chartered as part of our Citizen Corridor for Ukraine project. We staid in contact with her and thanks to the support of Can Art Change the War, we booked her for two concerts: on June 30, 2022 at the Refettorio Paris, and on September 22, 2022 at the Brise Glace in Annecy on the occasion of YAMBI's second anniversary.
World cuisine workshops
Refugees often come from countries with a great culinary wealth. YAMBI regularly organizes world cuisine workshops during which each person can cook a dish from his or her country, which we then taste together during a relaxing and convivial moment. This allows us to highlight their culture and their know-how.
Socio-professional integration
From sports to socio-professional support
Through mountain activities, YAMBI helps refugees regain confidence in themselves, in the future, and in their ability to accomplish things. Once they are back in the saddle, we then seek to help them get back on their feet and take the road to autonomy in France by accompanying them in their socio-professional projects. To date, we have helped several people find a job and we have financed several driving licenses and school supplies.
French courses & French cafés
With the help of an associate professor, YAMBI offers quarterly French courses and organizes weekly 'French cafés' to help refugees learn the language faster and thus integrate into their host society more easily. Sports, artistic, and cultural outings with a buddy system are organized in addition to the courses so that students can build social ties with locals and put into practice what they learn in class.
Initiations to digital technology
To fight against the illiteracy from which many refugees suffer, YAMBI organizes workshops to teach them how to use a computer. We also make computers available to our beneficiaries so that they can easily use them to carry out their administrative and other tasks.
Citizen Corridor for Ukraine
Within the framework of Citizen Corridor co-founded by our president Clélia Compas, the YAMBI team went to the Polish-Ukrainian border from March 5-19 2022 transporting over 400 tons of humanitarian supplies from Annecy, Marseille, Besançon and Paris to Ukraine. In collaboration with humanitarian centers at the Polish-Ukrainian border, YAMBI then set up a system of registration of people wishing to go to France which was combined with a system of centralization of citizen initiatives of solidarity buses from various French cities. YAMBI was thereby able to organize the evacuation of over 700 people from the Ukrainien border to France.
While Citizen Corridor was at first only an initiative of YAMBI, we decided to make it a full-fledged association. Also presided by Clélia Compas, Corridor Citoyen continues its operations in Poland with the support of YAMBI and in coordination with local actors and the French Embassy in Poland. Visit the website Corridor Citoyen to learn more.
Media & public awareness
Since the creation of YAMBI, our projects have received significant regional and national media coverage. This media coverage is for us an important tool to raise public awareness and deconstruct prejudices about asylum. It allows us to convey a more positive image of refugees than what we usually see in the media. This media coverage also allows us to give back courage, pride, self-esteem and ambition to refugees.