ABOUT US

AMURTEL (Ananda Marga Universal Relief Team, Ladies) is an international women’s NGO founded in 1975 in India, initiating projects managed by women for women and children. AMURTEL Greece maintains safe women’s spaces that focus on the period of pregnancy up to two years after birth.

We understand that for many women in times of crisis, their concerns focus around the well-being of their children and family. We are also aware that disasters can make women more susceptible to post-traumatic stress, depression, or lingering shock and grief. Pregnant and postpartum women are often especially vulnerable.

AMURTEL maintains a day center in a central area of Athens as well as providing services in refugee camps, shelters and local NGO venues.

OUR AIMS

Mitigate the effects of crises by supporting women to be
the best possible mothers they can be and thus give their
children the best possible start in life.

Empower women through discussions about infant care with an emphasis on breastfeeding and infant nutrition, as well as sexual reproductive health and gender based violence.

Create community in order to overcome the often devastating effects of isolation due to lack of a supportive network of family and friends.

WHO WE ARE

Didi Lee

Regional Coordinator
As the Regional Coordinator of AMURTEL in Greece, Didi began coordinating programs for pregnancy and infant care during the unprecedented influx of refugees in 2015. Stemming from the 1970’s when she lived in the US and, as an RN, assisted mothers and families in giving birth at home, Didi has been committed to mothers and babies experiencing pregnancy, birth and the first years of life after birth in the best possible way.

Hengameh Tajik

Project Manager
Studied hardware engineering in Tehran but had to leave Iran in 2012. Having volunteered with AMURTEL and other organizations as a Farsi interpreter/cultural mediator, Henna has taken over as AMURTEL’s Project Manager since January 2021.

Georgia Stavrakis

Fundraising and
Communications Manager
Australian born, Georgia settled in Greece in 2018 after spending most of her vacations travelling between the two countries all her life. Soon after, Georgia joined AMURTEL Greece as the Communications & Fundraising Manager. Georgia has worked for charities most of her career and loves the direct contact and measurable impact AMURTEL has with mothers and babies.

Eleftheria Kourliti

Finance Manager
Eleftheria studied sciences but the social aspects of the human world have always been the shore she could not leave behind. Soon enough she realized she has a penchant for organization, detail, data management, maths, problem-solving, and communication. All that lead her to be supporting as a volunteer and/or as an employee for non-profit social organizations with their financial and HR management. Her motivation has always been making a real positive impact on people’s lives, on a personal and a professional level and she addresses obstacles and difficulties as opportunities for further improvement and development.

Rebecca Werwath

Lactation Consultant
Has a degree in Medicine from AUTH (Aristotele University of Thesalloniki), has completed a 4 year course in Homeopathy (2012-2016), and has been a La Leche League leader supporting breastfeeding mothers since 2015. She loves helping mums in need as well as getting to know the amazing staff and volunteers at AMURTEL. Having been born and raised in Greece with an English mother and German father, Rebecca is married to a Greek and has a 13 year old son.

Maria Bobou

Lactation Consultant
Has a BA and MA degree in psychology. Her two daughters, now adults, brought her in contact with the joys and challenges of mothering and breastfeeding. For 20 years she has been a breastfeeding counselor, at first with La Leche League International and from 2007, as an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC). She has been involved with refugee support with AMURTEL as an Infant Feeding counselor since 2015.

Rana Abdulsamad

Arabic Interpreter / Cultural Mediator
Rana Abdulsamad is from Lebanon. She has a BSC in physiotherapy with a specialization in women’s health and an MS in Quality in Healthcare. She is trained in supporting breastfeeding families and counselling for breastfeeding online as well as facilitating breastfeeding and infant care support groups. Rana speaks three languages and is a full time mother of 2 boys.

Dafni Potiraki

Midwife
Is a midwife at AMURTEL. She has two loves in her life, her son and midwifery! Having worked in doctors’ offices and hospitals in the past, she felt like she belonged at AMURTEL from the first time she visited the center. Dafni feels that the word ‘care’ is AMURTEL’s motto and she hopes she can continue giving care to mothers and babies at AMURTEL for a long time.

Litsa Anastasopoulou

Receptionist
Has been the intake officer/receptionist at AMURTEL since 2016. She really enjoys working in a place with women and babies (in her own words: “what working environment could be sweeter?!”) She believes in the empowerment of women and is glad to make even a small contribution to this empowerment. Litsa hopes to continue this job for many years and help as many women and babies as possible. She is married and has a son 18 months old.