Charity

Sweetbox Belgium is an initiative of the organization Miss & Mister International Models.
The boxes are put together and sold together with the finalists of the Belgian Miss & Mister pageant. A part of the profit made from the sale of the sweet boxes will be donated to the Red Cross asylum seekers’ center in Sint-Niklaas. By selling the sweet boxes, we help the asylum seekers center financially to provide the basic needs for asylum seekers.

Asylum seekers are people who left their home country and apply for protection in a new country. ‘Seeking asylum’ actually means seeking protection.
Every year a lot of people leave their familiar lives behind. They often have to do that suddenly. They leave to survive, to escape persecution or violence.
Other people leave their homeland because they live in poverty. They go in search of a better life.
When they arrive in a new country, these people can apply for asylum. For example, in Belgium.
In 2021, 25,971 persons applied for international protection in Belgium. That number is 54% higher than in 2020.

Fedasil logoWhat is an asylum seeker entitled to?

03/01/2020

Fedasil shelter
From the moment a migrant registers a request for protection in Belgium, he is entitled to material assistance. What does this mean?
Applicants for international protection (asylum) are entitled to material assistance during the examination of their asylum application. In the first place, this help concerns the basic needs: a place to sleep, meals, sanitary facilities and clothing.

Fedasil organizes this material aid in collective centers (of Fedasil itself, the Red Cross or another partner) or in individual homes managed by a CPAS or an NGO. In total there are almost 27,000 reception places available in Belgium.

The asylum seekers therefore receive no financial support.

  • The asylum seeker is staying in a reception centre

The reception center provides for all the basic needs of the asylum seekers: shelter, food, medical care. The center also organizes individual social counseling. Adult asylum seekers receive 7.90 euros in pocket money per week.

  • The asylum seeker is staying in an individual home

In most individual homes of the OCMW or another organization, the asylum seekers have to cook for themselves. They receive about sixty euros living allowance per week for this. With this they have to buy food for three meals a day and also hygiene products, such as shampoo and razors.