Since April 2, when some of our beneficiaries were tested positive for COVID-19, the situation at Ritsona camp, where I work, has changed radically. Police cars and police teams were patrolling the camp’s entrance. The beneficiaries, now excluded from any service, were in greater need than ever. We continued our presence at the camp, responding daily to the needs of the people; providing them with basic necessities but also taking care not to miss essential services. We couldn’t abandon them.

My presence at the camp stopped as soon as I finished my work. But my daily life was not as it used to be; it had changed. With an almost daily presence at the camp and next to the refugees, I had to protect my relatives and friends at the same time, staying away from them. So, all this time -and apart from going to Ritsona- I remained locked in my apartment without any social contact. As a result, I have not seen my own people, even if with some of them we live in the same building. At the same time, I have not visited my friends and I have significantly reduced my everyday movements to the absolutely necessary. Certainly, this new living context it’s hard for me. But I had the opportunity to “put myself” in confinement and the luck not to live in a small space – in a room or a tent – with up to 10 more people, as often happens in refugee camps.

Restriction within a particular place, inability to meet relatives and friends, reduced travel and limited access to services… Immediately there is a clear parallel that becomes a real fact…

This is the situation for the people we help. They face this situation daily and for a long period of time. They left their homeland, separated from their own people, escaped a war or other life threatening risks, and are now trapped inside camps with limited mobility and access to services, not only because of COVID-19, but because “this is the reality of a refugee”.

My containment will be over and sooner or later, I will return to my daily routine. However, the confinement of these people will continue for a long time.

I am Grigoris Papafragkas and I am a Lawyer and Team Leader at the Ritsona Open Accommodation Center. I am working at the Child & Family Support Hubs project, which is implemented by SolidarityNow with the support of UNICEF and IOM Greece and funded by the European Commission.

Many things have changed during this crisis. All the important activities in the field of labor market and education were “frozen” or suspended. An immediate priority in the Employability Service at the SolidarityNow’s Athens Solidarity Center, was the adjustment to the new reality as to continue being on the side of our beneficiaries; and most importantly, respond effectively to their most urgent needs.

During this period, the biggest challenge for me is to continue to provide my services and help people who are having difficulties, while at the same time having to deal with my own challenges. The abrupt adjustment to a new reality, with all the psychological consequences that this may bring along, is something that concerns the people we support and with whom I communicate daily; but it concerns me as well.

In these new conditions, while we were trying to do our best, a new liaison project has emerged between the Employability Service and a large human resources company, which is active in the field of tourism. So, we started to gradually send to the company the resumes of 160 beneficiaries of SolidarityNow and of 9 more NGOs – that is, people who had previously visited our employability counselors seeking for a job. The company, in turn, invites beneficiaries to telephone/or online interviews.

As I took this new initiative, I realized that this businesslike process was developed on very “human terms”. During my communication with the Advisors, there were many moments when we shared our worries, our fears and our anxiety about the most vulnerable people. We also shared our optimism, our gratitude for the existence of this initiative and also, our estimates for the future opening of the tourism market, and the new opportunities that could be created, such as the benefits of teleworking.

The beneficiaries gladly agreed to be interviewed and, in fact, were relieved to find out that the labor market had not “died”. I first contacted them to let them know about their interviews. At the same time, however, I encouraged them and discussed how they experience all this. They wanted me to support and strengthen them – something that helped me as well. I felt their relief in the tone of their voice. It’s unbelievable that after these communications, which involve a lot of personal effort, my fatigue started to disappear.

During this period, I was particularly moved by a beneficiary from Greece. I will call her Maria. Maria is over 45, has no relatives, is unemployed and finds it very difficult to find a job. I did some phone sessions with her so we could prepare her resume and send it to potential employers. The first time we spoke on the phone, she was crying because of the frustration she felt about the “collapse”, as she believed, of the job market, but also about the fact that she was unable to meet even her basic needs. It took an effort on my part to make her understand that her sadness came from her thoughts and beliefs about the job market but also about herself, which were wrong.

We sent many applications together. I referred her and prepared her for a telephone interview with a company of our network, with very good results. I encouraged her to claim and eventually receive, the support allowance for long-term unemployment – she was not aware that she entitled. After many phone calls, sessions, it is now clear that Maria is another person. Not only in terms of her mood, but also in terms of attitude towards life. And that’s one of the things that makes me proud of my job: I can help improve the lives of the people and present them new opportunities. Because opportunities exist, even in the midst of this crisis.

I am Evangelia Tsilimigkra and I am Employability Advisor. I am working at the Employability Service of SolidarityNow’s Athens Solidarity Center. The Athens Solidarity Center is financed by EEA and Norway Grants, with HumanRights360 and CROWE Greece as the fund operator. The Center is also supported by the Municipality of Athens.

Working as a psychologist at the Athens Solidarity Center, every day I challenge myself through people’s different and usually, harsh stories. Stories of people facing the effects of poverty, the anxiety of unemployment, the uncertainty of migration, the effects of fear caused by the experience of war or persecution. I often tell people that if we compare our lives with a journey, my role is to be a helpful travelling companion for them until they feel confident enough to continue the journey on their own. When I see my work through this perspective, I feel fortunate for being able to travel through people’s lives and thus enrich myself with experiences, knowledge, and feelings. For all these, I am grateful.

, Currently, we have all been called upon to deal with an unprecedented situation. At the Athens Solidarity Center, we quickly tried to adapt to the new conditions in order to continue providing our services to those who need them most. The team’s lateral thinking, flexibility, and goodwill moves me every single day.

I wondered where all this energy and strength came from. So, I thought that for all those who are seeking help at the Center, the crisis did not start with the coronavirus pandemic. For undocumented individuals, a walk outside was always a scary thing. For the people who don’t have health security, any disease can be threatening. For the people who have been waiting countless years for the completion of their asylum case, uncertainty has always been a part of their life. For homeless people, the message “We stay Home” sounds ironic.

The energy and the strength are part of the skills we need to have in our work so as to bridge the gap caused by fear, threat and uncertainty. The numerous ways that people find to meet and overcome the challenges, their lust for life, all these, are our inspiration.

I am Giannis Kafkas and I am a Phycologist and Coordinator of the Psychological support – Counseling Service at the Athens Solidarity Center, which is financed by EEA and Norway Grants, with HumanRights360 and CROWE Greece as the fund operator. The Center is also supported by the Municipality of Athens.

Αthanasia Papiggi, Student Group Coordinator STARTnow

A few months ago, none of us would believe someone saying that we would be forced to stay home for a long time. We would say that all this is a bad joke. But COVID-19 changed our lives and the bad joke became reality. After the first shock, we come to awareness and then we start dealing with the problem. The students – volunteers of SolidarityNow’s STARTnow program, although being isolated in their homes, have searched and found solutions to spend their time creatively.

It is worth noting that, SolidarityNow in collaboration with STAR UK implements a program named STARTnow. In particular, refugees, migrants and asylum seekers, by participating in conversation clubs, come into contact with Greeks and learn Greek. Learning the Greek language through unconventional methods of education (discussion, interactive games, audiovisual media) can lead to faster and smoother integration of people into the Greek community. Due to COVID-19, and for precautionary reasons, scheduled meetings were canceled. However, the students, volunteers of the program, tried – even from their homes – to share with us their new daily life.

Maria, a volunteer, who studies Psychology at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, tells us that because of the quarantine, she cleaned her whole house. In addition to cleaning, exercise and dance are two of the most favorite pastimes of many students. Two volunteers, Vicky, a student at the Pedagogical Department of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, and Glykeria, who is studying Psychology, confess that they attend online dance classes, as well as concerts. Universities may be closed, but lectures continue through various video platforms. Movies, books, documentaries, and TV are also some of our students’ favorite habits, as well as cooking. Apparently, quarantine boost our creativity in the kitchen too! Painting, decorating, board games, but also taking care pets or even gardening are some of our volunteers’ favorite activities.

Talking to them, we are amazed at how many things people can do when they are “locked” in their homes. There is a question on all our minds. Does quarantine and isolation give us eventually the opportunity to discover new aspects of ourselves?

We would like to thank our students-volunteers Maria, Anastasia, Christos, Angela, Vicky and Glykeria, Natalia, Maria, Elena and Christina and Zoe who described us how they are experiencing home quarantine.

* STAR UK is a national charity of 34,000 students welcoming refugees to the UK.

** STARTnow is a SolidarityNow project in cooperation with STAR UK. Its main aim is to bring university students and refugees together, to encourage and educate university students in order to offer real help to refugees as well as to promote equal opportunities for everyone, no matter what their origin, sex, mother tongue or colour is.

by Dimitris Bakas*,

lawyer, SolidarityNow, Thiva open Accommodation Center

It’s been a year since I’ve joined SolidarityNow. I am a lawyer and member of the team working at Thiva open Accommodation Center. Within this one year, I had the chance to meet great colleagues and beneficiaries, with whom we spent many hours together. I developed a special relationship with everyone. This year was special for me not only professionally but personally as well.

After 15 years as a lawyer and now working in the humanitarian field with people who have fled from their countries, I have realized that every single information, a simple phone call or just filling out an application, can be more useful than anything else. In the past, I’ve gained satisfaction out of my job, but through this experience I feel joy by helping people in need, by providing my support. In the future, these people, might talk about us in their stories, like somebody who has helped them to pursuit a better life.

Given our everyday life, it is difficult to understand 100% how a person is living at a refugee camp with many restrictions. COVID-19 appeared out of the blue and changed everything. Schools closed, a curfew was imposed, we lost our everyday communication with relatives, friends and colleagues and we are stressed about whether we will receive proper medical care. Besides that, thousands of workers are waiting for the state’s announcements about the special allowance. We are at a “war” with an invisible enemy.

Hundreds of Greeks abroad want to return back to their country, but many borders closed down and many remain trapped in airports, for at least a few days. Many people in Greece left the big cities and traveled to the countryside. And while many demand the lockdown of refugees and migrants at the refugee camps, at the same time, they run off to the beaches.

Suddenly, all these become familiar to us. Maybe now we can understand the anguish of people whose lives changed violently. Maybe now we feel their desire to be in a safe environment, to reunite with their family members, to have acess to medical care and education.

Now it’s important to stay safe and continue to do our work.

* Dimitris Bakas works as a lawyer at the “Child & Family Safe Hubs” program, which is implemented by SolidarityNow with the support of UNICEF and IOM and funded by the European Commission.