#ReadyStudyGo! We have chosen this hashtag for our tribute, to honor the International Day of Education. Starting today, and for the next five days, 5 different stories will unfold through SolidarityNow’s website and social media. This hashtag encompasses what we do as an organization: we provide access to education for all, we strengthen skills and talents, we provide the necessary tools to people as to empower them to claim their own life. This is because education is one of the fundamental human rights. And at SolidarityNow, education is at the heart of all our programs.

Children, adolescents and adults due to war, forced displacement, illness and social and racial stereotypes, economic and humanitarian crisis have been deprived of their right to education. Open and equal quality education and lifelong opportunities for all, this must be our primary concern to finally break this vicious circle that leaves people spiritually poor.

On the occasion of the International Day of Education, which is celebrated on the 24^th of January, SolidarityNow introduces us Kamel, M., Mahram, Said and Abdo, who had the will, the dream and the faith to continue their studies.

“I was eager to grab every opportunity, in order to improve myself and my skills, so I applied and won the scholarship at Perrotis College”, points out 26-year-old Kamel from Syria.

The 25-year-old M. from Africa applied and got accepted in the postgraduate program LLM in Transnational and European Commercial Law, Banking Law, in the International Hellenic University in Thessaloniki. “But I did it, because I have always had a positive attitude towards life and I have honestly believed that everything would be fine”, he says.

19-year-old Mahram from Afghanistan is registered at a night school. “I do not know if I am the best student, but I’m doing my best. I want to find work and go to the University. And if I get good grades, I want to study medicine!”, he states.

“Aphrodite, my social worker, helped me a lot. I told her that I want to learn Greek and helped with the courses offered by the University“, says 26-year-old Said from Syria, who attends Greek courses at the Modern Greek Language School of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.

20-year-old Abdo, stays at the Youth Shelter, operated by the organization and studies computer science because he loves computers. And he just can’t stop talking about it because: “The main reason that makes me happy is my studies!”

Education is the real answer to poverty, racism, gender discrimination and it leads to integration and empowerment. SolidarityNow makes the next steps; one towards refugees’ and migrants’ social inclusion into Greek society and the other by creating opportunities and strengthening the skills for all vulnerable people by providing free access to specialized knowledge.

In the framework of the lifelong learning program entitled “Education Matters”, implemented by SolidarityNow since December 2017, the organization adapts actions that respond to the participants’ everyday needs and enhance their skills set as one of its objectives, access to labor market.

During the last year (2017-2018), indicatively 5,900 educational activities were carried out in the framework of the accommodation program and 2,000 lessons were provided to adults and children in the Blue Refugee Center in Thessaloniki.

#ReadyStudyGo introduces to us Kamel, Mahram, Said, M, Abdo.

These are their stories!

#EducationDay #RightToEducation

“Μy biggest dream is to study medicine”

We ask him if he wants to send a message to the children who will read his story. “I want to say to the children who have left their countries that they should not waste time, and learn Greek, go to school and participate in all activities”. 

“My name is Shuja but I prefer to be called Haider”, says our 17-year-old friend from Pakistan. We met him a few days before World Children’s Day, November 20^th, at SolidarityNow’s Solidarity Center in Thessaloniki where he has been attending Greek lessons the last months. We sit in one of the classrooms. A large world map is on the wall. How far is Pakistan from Greece…

Haider arrived at Greece with his family a year ago. Last year he was registered in the A grade of Lyceum and this year he goes to the B grade. “At the beginning I had a big problem with the language. I did not understand anything in the classroom”, he points out. However, this year he has made great progress. He keeps his own notebook, where he writes the verbs and all the new words he learns. “This is my technique, I learn verbs and words and I try to speak Greek”, he adds, smiling. He believes that Greek is a difficult language, but he likes it. SolidarityNow, his teachers at school and his classmates have played an important role in his progress. “Our teachers are disciplined and punctual. They teach us and give us homework, while at the same time they make us laugh with their jokes. They also teach us ethos and how to build a strong character”, he underlines. As for his classmates, the majority of them are not able to speak English well, but they encourage him to speak Greek, like his friend Savvas, with whom he plays basketball and soccer.

Haider came to the Thessaloniki Solidarity Center five months ago to learn Greek. We ask him who is his favorite teacher and he tells us that he cannot choose. “I give my credits to SolidarityNow for its Greek language lessons. I learned many new words!”, he tells us.

Τhe educational courses at Thessaloniki Solidarity Center are designed for refugees, asylum seekers and migrants and are provided free of charge with the support of UNICEF. As Haider tells us, the atmosphere in the classroom is very pleasant. Children help each other, and he is the one who encourages his classmates to speak only in Greek. “I have made many friends from Syria, Iraq and Turkey. I urge them to speak only Greek“, he explains.

Algebra, biology, chemistry and computer science are his favorite lessons. Beyond a diligent student, Haider writes lyrics and sings in English. He has already written three songs, the first one is about love, the second about sadness and the third about happiness. “I was listening to songs and I thought that if I can write my own lyrics and sing them, feelings will be more intense”, he says. He tells us that when he was in Pakistan, he has started to write a novel about revolution. His goal now is to complete it. Our friend is a musician, a poet, an artist, a writer. “I want to do it all, I don’t want to leave anything behind. If I’m not good, I’ll leave it. I have many dreams, let’s see what will eventually come true. However, my biggest dream is to study medicine”. Destiny sometimes plays strange games. When Haider was still in Pakistan, he read about ancient Greek medicine. He had promised himself that one day he would come to Greece to study medicine. Now he is here, and we wish him his dream to come true.

Before we finish our conversation, we ask him if he wants to send a message to the children who will read his story. “I want to say to the children who have left their countries that they should not waste time, and learn Greek, go to school and participate in all activities.”  

*Thessaloniki Solidarity Center is supported by Open Society Foundations.

*The SolidarityNow Educational Program at the Thessaloniki Solidarity Center is supported by UNICEF, with funding from the European Commission’s humanitarian aid department (ECHO).

«My dream is to become a doctor and help other people”

On the World Children’s Day, she wants to send a special message to all children: “I want to tell them that they have to study, be kind and help each other without making any discrimination”

The teaching room at the SolidarityNow’s Thessaloniki Solidarity Center is empty. The chairs are set up around the table and the whiteboard is clean. Nikos, the Greek language teacher, has come up early and makes photocopies for his students. The 17-year-old Maryam from Afghanistan has come an hour prior to her lesson so as to meet us and talk about her life in Thessaloniki.

Maryam has beautiful green almond-shaped eyes. She reminds us the Iranian princesses, those from the traditional Persian tales. Timid and shy she sits across from us holding her books and notebooks. “In Afghanistan, I was very noisy in the classroom”, she says, smiling. We ask her to share with us some memories of her life back in Afghanistan. She remembers the time she spent in her classroom with her classmates and the Christmas dinner with her family. Her father passed away seven years ago. Together with her mother and her four brothers traveled to Greece. Her mother took the decision. “We were not safe. I hadn’t attended school for one year”, she notes. Their journey from Iran to Turkey was very difficult. They had to follow a very difficult path through the mountains and the cold was unbearable. “My younger brother’s feet were frozen”, she confesses.

Their lives changed for the better when they arrived at Greece in May 2017. Maryam and her family are hosted in the context of Caritas’s accommodation program. At the same time, she and her siblings attend classes in Greek school and in the afternoon, she takes Greek, English and mathematics classes at the Thessaloniki Solidarity Center. Her favorite teacher is Nikos, “because he is very good”, she notes. Maryam goes to the B grade of Lyceum and her favorite lessons are physics, chemistry and biology. She wants to study medicine. “As a doctor I will be able to help other people”, she tells us. At school, due to the language barrier, she had many difficulties, she still has. “I do not understand Greek well yet. But is important to learn the Greek language, because if you do not learn, you cannot do the things you want”, she stresses. In her class she is the only refugee girl. However, her classmates have supported her; Martha, her Greek friend from school and Suzanne from Iraq, her classmate from her afternoon lessons at Thessaloniki’s Solidarity Center, are standing next to her.

Maryam in her leisure time helps her mother with the housework, she studies, plays football and volleyball with her brothers and sisters, and tries to persuade them to do some housework too. She listens to Greek and Afghan music, she sees films and spends time with her mother, who is her best friend. We tell her that this must be the life of a child, a teenager. On the occasion of the World Children’s Day, she says that she wants to send a special message to all children: “I want to tell them that they have to study, be kind and help each other without making any discrimination”.

*Thessaloniki Solidarity Center was established and is supported by the Open Society Foundations.

* SolidarityNow’s Educational Program is supported by UNICEF, with funding from the European Commission’s humanitarian aid department (ECHO).

Konstantina Ganotis, aesthetics trainer

In the duration of spring, 15 beneficiaries of SolidarityNow from Syria, Africa, Pakistan and Afghanistan attended free manicure-pedicure seminars at the “Institute of Professional Development”, a vocational training center in Thessaloniki, which are part of the organization’s training program. “Manicure-pedicure has nothing to do with beauty and grooming; above all, it involves our health, and besides, it is an art that is taught and can also become a means of livelihood”, Konstantina Ganoti explains. Konstantina is a seminar trainer, also known as “Dina” to her students.

Despite the fact that she studied Theology, Konstantina decided to get involved with the aesthetics of the upper and lower limbs professionally. Indeed, she has been actively involved in teaching this art. The collaboration with SolidarityNow arose when the institute’s manager proposed to take over this department. “I was told that this section will be different from the rest, by pointing out that the instructing language will be English. Naturally I was very positive. I had never done anything like that before”, she tells us. Apart from having a lot of difficulties, the whole process was very interesting and beneficial for both students and the trainer. “English was not the mother tongue for any of us. In addition to that, this was the first educational experience for some of the students. Others have never worked in their lives. All of this was of particular interest. It was an unprecedented experience for them, but also for me, but above all it was very pleasant”, says Konstantina.

The 60-hour courses were held every Saturday. The majority of the 15 students were very diligent, they never missed a lesson and they were always on time to learn the technique by asking questions and asking their teacher for help. When asked if she can pick out any of her students, Konstantina said “all of them had a very good attitude, so I can not single out anyone”. Now, they have all obtained their certified graduation diploma, which enables them to work as hand and foot care technicians. “Several of the people showed great interest, some even have great skill, but it is now up to them to become even better”, she says. This particular object needs a lot of practice and the acquisition of the necessary equipment, which, as Konstantina tells us, comes at a price. “I believe that if they get the chance, they can evolve and work on that particular subject”, she concludes.

Today is the last day students and teachers meet. Konstantina is congratulating her students on the completion of the seminars and is handing their diplomas over to them. At the end of their graduation we can see them all smiling and posing for a group photo. “The entirety of this experience was very nice. I have met people much different from me with different attitudes and perception. I have also learned new things”, she tells us. Before we say goodbye, we ask what solidarity means to her personally. “Solidarity means supporting each other, giving without expecting to receive something, being able to help selflessly”.

* SolidarityNow’s Blue Refugee Center is supported by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees for UNHCR and UNICEF and funded by the European Union Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection (ECHO).

** The SolidarityNow Education Program is implemented with the support of UNICEF and the European Commission Humanitarian Aid department (ECHO).

For those who don’t know, their name is synonymous with the word persecuted – for a Rohingya is his nation, the word that defines him; however, Sayeed Hussein says he cannot interpret it into something perceivable by others – a country, a mother tongue, tradition and customs.

Sayeed describes Rohingya as people who over the years have remained in a static situation without being able to ‘grow up’, evolve, instead of just surviving. Rohingya are expelled from everywhere.

What it means to be Rohingya

Sayeed speaks Rohingya (or Ruaingga), an unwritten language. He is moved by the question “what does it mean to you to be a Rohingya”, but tears are not apparent, he doesn’t cry; it seems like his body is crying. “They expel us. There is no homeland for us. In Myanmar we have no papers like the other citizens, we are not citizens, we only exist to be eliminated“.

Since 1982, Myanmar in Southeast Asia, has decided not to grant citizenship to Rohingya and that’s what Sayeed says – that he is officially stateless. But unofficially “my heart is still in Myanmar” because this is the place he knows as motherland: “Myanmar is where I was born, where my parents were born. This year is the tenth year that I haven’t seen them. I don’t know whether they live or not, I don’t know anything”.

“They hate us because we are Muslims. All my life I’ve worked in the rice plantations; rice is our food and we also had some chicken and cows“. The school was and still is forbidden for the children of Rohingya and Sayeed and his siblings didn’t have the chance to attend it. We ask him about the area he grew up in. He tells us that it is where most Rohingya live from ancient times – their presence in the area is historically documented since the 9^th century – the western province of Rakhine State, which now belongs to Myanmar. Previously, Rakhine, the area bordered by the Bay of Bengal to the west, was called Arakan, and is due to the commercial roads opened by the sea that many residents of the area adopted, over the years, the Muslim religion.

Rohingya through the centuries and until today are Muslim people living in a Buddhist country, Myanmar. Sayeed says that Rohingya live as prisoners. They are not allowed to move without permission and they live in camps deprived of basic human rights. In fact, it is impossible to identify human rights that are not deprived of in a country that has been repeatedly denounced by Amnesty International and the United Nations (https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2018/country-chapters/burma).

The story of Sayeed

The personal story of Sayeed looks like, as he says smiling bitterly, in that of the majority of Rohingya. “I got tired; they were stealing our animals, burning our camps, hitting us and I could not tolerate this any longer. When I said that I was 21, today I am 29. I have traveled a lot. However, in these eight difficult years, my life got a meaning that has the name of my children: Nour, Kulsum and Maria“. They are the three children he has with Mobina. Mobina is also Rohingya. She met Sayeed at his third ‘station’ in Pakistan, after his fleeing from Myanmar.

“My first stop after Myanmar was Bangladesh. I only stayed there for two months because I was not safe without having an identity card; I was afraid they would send me back”. The next station was the neighboring India and the area of Hyderabad, where Sayeed lived and worked for two years at a large fruit store. He left again, this time for Pakistan. Four years in Karachi he worked in buildings’ construction, met and fell in love with Mobina. “That’s why I went to Pakistan. To meet my wife“, he says and smiles with his heart.

Sayeed, Mobina and little Nour left together from Pakistan. The authorities didn’t give Sayeed an ID there either. “I could not bear any more without identity. I couldn’t live like this“. They arrived at Iran. The family stayed there for four months and Mobina gave birth to their second child, Kulsum.

From Iran to Turkey and from Turkey to Lesvos. In Lesvos, along with Sayeed and Mobina, arrived thirteen more Rohingya – Sayeed says that all of them live in Greece today. Shortly after arriving in Greece, Sayeed learned from his brother that he also managed to get to the country with his family.

On the island that marked their entry into Europe, Mobina gave birth to their third child: “Fortunately, she did not give birth during travelling“, Sayeed says and embraces her. Mobina doesn’t understand anything Sayeed says to us because we speak English with him, and she doesn’t know a language other than that of Rohingya. She embraces him too.

Sayeed was taught the English language in Lesvos by attending the classes provided to the refugees by humanitarian organizations. Moria, Kara Tepe, but then “luckily, the moment came, and we were given a home“. His family joined the SolidarityNow accommodation program in December 2017, following a referral from the NGO Iliachtida.

Education, a non-negotiable right for his children

And since then, dreams have begun to find a place for the parents of the three little Rohingya who will live in Europe; the descendants of a long-suffering and at the same time unique people, a racial mixture that gives Rohingya, Indian, Mongolian and Indo-European physical characteristics.

Having a home and getting the decision to reside in Greece, have allowed Sayeed and Mobina to dream of a better future for their children, something they could not even imagine a few years ago. “I only need a job and everything else will come, I’m happy here“, Sayeed says with a more optimistic voice tone when the discussion about the past has finished. “I want my children to go to school; to learn Greek – I want to do more than I did“.

It is noteworthy to observe the tension with which Sayeed speaks about his children’s school and education. He has never had the opportunity to go to school, but he recognizes its importance and considers it as his children’s non-negotiable right. And now it is coming true; their older son, Nour, four-years old, attends nursery school and he learns his first Greek! When Nour is not in school, the whole family together makes daily walks in the city. Their beloved one is from their home to the area of the National Technical University of Athens and of the ‘Pedion Areos’.

Sayeed wants his story to close with his own words and it could not happen otherwise: “I cannot imagine my life without my children. I see people alone from Bangladesh and I cannot even imagine it! I lost all my family, but I have my children. As for the Rohingya, I am proud to belong to this people. Rohingya have never hurt anyone, they don’t love the war. In Greece, which is not a Muslim country and it is not my country, I am safe. In my own country, why am I not? I’m afraid of Rohingya, I’m worried about their future, although I feel safe now“.

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, more than 1 million Rohingya refugees have fled from violence in Myanmar in waves since the early 1990s. The latest outbreak of violence against Rohingya, that has been described as ethnic cleansing and genocide by the United Nations, the organization Human Rights Watch, international bodies, and that began in October 2016, led in August 2017 another big wave of Rohingya to Bangladesh, reaching the total number of asylum seekers there at 723,000.

Find out more about the Rohingya: https://www.unhcr.org/rohingya-emergency.html, https://www.hrw.org/tag/rohingya-crisis, https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/08/21/myanmar-security-forces-torture-rohingya-returnees, “Myanmar’s ‘Gravest Crimes’ Against Rohingya Demand Action, U.N. Says”

*The family of Sayeed Hussein lives in an independent flat in Athens, in the framework of the SolidarityNow accommodation program which is part of ESTIA-the Emergency Support to Integration and Accommodation program, supported by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and funded by European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO).

Mr. N.,

beneficiary of the psychological counseling and psychotherapy service at the Athens Solidarity Center

It’s afternoon on Tuesday 11 September 2018 and Mr. N. is about to attend one of his scheduled sessions with the psychologist at the Athens Solidarity Centre (ASC). In a few minutes, he will be informed that he has been granted refugee status. One year ago, in October 2017 Mr. N. came to Greece from Yemen, fleeing from his birthplace, on the grounds of his religious beliefs. Upon his arrival in Greece, the first three months were extremely difficult, considering his mental condition caused mainly by his relationship with his family the members of which remain in Yemen. Having spent all his money in his effort to make ends meet, Mr. N. decided to visit ASC in order to be assisted on his troubles.

The first day at the ASC, Mr. N came along with a friend of his and he was informed about the pro bono services provided; however, he did not feel comfortable to speak with a social worker in front of his friend in case the latter considered him weak. A few days later he visited the Centre again and met with a social worker. As he was explaining to the social worker what he has been through, he burst out in tears. Having understood how vulnerable he was, the social worker advised him to attend psychological sessions. One of the psychologists of the Centre immediately responded to his request. During the sessions, the psychologist managed to help him in his efforts to settle things down in Greece and to re-establish his relationship with his family. As he mentioned, he felt safe with the Athens Solidarity Center team. Specifically, he stressed out that without psychologist’s and interpreter’s support he would have gone crazy somewhere in Omonoia square.

Besides, the psychologist suggested him to speak with a lawyer so as to put an asylum claim on, as he knows nothing regarding the legal matters. Finally, he attended appointments with the lawyers of Refugee Legal Support (RLS), one of the most recent partners in ASC that support and reinforce the Center’s existing services through fruitful and flawless collaboration. RLS lawyers worked towards Mr. N.’s case trying to reach his goals as far as the asylum procedure was concerned, being very informative and paying attention to every detail. Today, Mr. N. says that “SolidarityNow helped me a lot in all this process and now the psychologist, the interpreter and the lawyers are like a family to me”.

* Mr.N is one of the beneficiaries receiving pro bono services provided to vulnerable population groups (Greeks, refugees and migrants) at the SolidarityNow Athens Solidarity Center. Find more about the Athens Solidarity Center: https://www.solidaritynow.org/en/kentro-allileggiis-athinas/.

Today Sana is very happy, not only because she received her certified diploma in the art of onyoplasty, but also because she is celebrating her 22nd birthday. During the small celebration organized by SolidarityNow’s Blue Refugee Center in Thessaloniki for those who successfully attended the manicure-pedicure seminar, Sana has come along with her mother, who feels proud of her daughter.

Sana comes from Pakistan and has been living in Greece for the last 7 months. She speaks fluent English. She has studied mathematics, just like her mother. Actually, she had begun a postgraduate course, but she was unable to complete her studies since she had to leave her country. Her dream is to continue her studies and do a Ph.D. Her mother raised her and her two brothers to love math. “Mathematics is my love”, she states. They say math needs imagination. “Mathematics is a real-life fantasy game. It is real. People believe the unknown x does not exist, but it’s always there, and you need to be open-minded to see it”, she explains.

Sana is a woman of many pursuits and an avid individual. She writes poetry, has a strong interest in literature and wants to publish her own poetry book. She has already pictured herself interviewing journalists for her book. Her willingness to learn Greek and to continue her studies in Greece led her to SolidarityNow’s Blue Refugee Center in Thessaloniki. She was already attending Greek lessons in another structure, but she was not satisfied. Someone spoke to her about the training program implemented by the organization and so she decided to come and enroll in the classes. She initially booked an appointment but, with the Christmas vacation ensuing, the lessons would start later, and this fact discouraged her. Eventually, however, she came and started attending Kostas’ class. “Kostas is a very good teacher, both I and my mother love him very much, like all his students”, she points out.

From 9am till 5pm each Saturday Sana and her classmates went to the “Institute of Professional Development” in Thessaloniki to learn the secrets of the art of manicure-pedicure. As a more positivist mind, she had some hesitations at first on whether she would like the lessons. Basically, she thought they would bore her, but her perspective changed when she started attending the seminars. “I noticed that many women had very neat nails. So, I wanted to know how they did that. I learned a lot of new things. There are so many different techniques that I had never considered. I loved the lessons, our teacher was very nice and I had many pleasant moments with my classmates”, Sana says.

She never missed a lecture; she was one of the first to come to the classroom. Before the lessons, she used to stay home on Saturdays, but the seminars gave a new meaning to Sana’s Saturdays. She now holds her diploma in her hands. “This diploma is my birthday present!”, she says proudly. The goal now is to attain her own beauty salon. Can math be combined with manicure-pedicure? Sana replies yes. “When you work with math all day you feel tired. The manicure-pedicure relaxes me, and I feel like taking care of myself as a woman” she points out to us.

How does life in Greece treat a young girl from Pakistan? Sana replied with a title of a Beatles song: “Here we are free as birds; we can go wherever we want”. The good weather, the friendliness and the smile of the people are some of the main reasons that make her want to stay in Greece. “You never feel alone in Greece; you constantly have people around you, especially in the Blue Refugee Center. Anyone who comes is welcomed with a smile. The staff here has a very strong relationship with people. I cannot find a word that accurately describes this relationship. I realized that the feeling I have developed here is something I lacked back in Pakistan. Everyone feels unique in their lives, and here I have also become unique”, she explains.

Sana is optimistic about her life and her future. She claims that her mother has raised her in a similar manner: “she gave me all her positive energy”. “Even when other people think everything is dark, I say no, there is always a light out there”, she says with confidence, convincing us as well. Listening to her talking about life, we recall the lyrics of a Smiths song, “there is a light that never goes out”.

Closing our vivid discussion, we ask her if she wants to send out a message. She smiles and putting her hands on the table stoically, tells us a well-known phrase that the first Pakistani Nobel laureate physicist, Abdul Salam had said “Never stop learning, because life never stops teaching”. “We are obliged to constantly learn new things and evolve. At first, I thought the seminars would not be interesting, I thought they would be too simplistic. But then I thoroughly enjoyed them. I am very sorry for those who missed the opportunity to attend, but I feel very lucky to have completed the lessons and to hold my diploma in my hands “, Sana concludes.

* The Blue Refugee Center is supported by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and UNICEF and funded by the European Union Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection (ECHO).

**SolidarityNow’s Education Program is implemented with the support of UNICEF and the European Union Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection (ECHO).