The over-aged Laila and her beloved granddaughter

 She was a squatting figure in the room for about an hour. Suddenly she stood up and came to my side. She squeezed my hand and speaking a language unknown to us, showed me the front door. I couldn’t realize how we finally got to the door, how this woman drifted me with her slow pace up to there and why; when her grandson and personal interpreter said that “she tells you, let’s go, let’s go to Germany, let’s go to Nasrin!”, we understood why. The scene left us silent.

Grandmother and granddaughter: the first is 110 and the latter, 26 years-old.

These two women are separated by 80 years of living but bonded by great love. A kind of love story that must overcome a series of obstacles -poverty, war, closed borders, bureaucracy.

However, today it must endure yet another battle – the eternal one between man and time. The time is not on their side, especially with Laila’s who seems to live only to meet her beloved granddaughter, Nasrin. Nasrin lives in Germany with her husband and children and is also looking forward to the day of her encounter with Laila; this meeting will reunite some of the members of a very large family.

A story of a 110-year-old doesn’t fit into a short text. And what makes this story even more special is that it is still in progress, towards its 111^th year!

The Kurdish Laila was born in 1907 in Kobanî, Syria. It was there that she grew up, got married, became a mother, a grandmother and a great-grandmother. For the last many years, she lived in the same house with one of her seven children, her son Ahmad, his wife, grandson Kahlil, and her two great grandchildren, Azar and Ari. All seven left together from Kobanî to flee war.

They describe a never-ending journey. In the hard moments, Khalil carried Laila in his arms. Khalil is the only member of the family to speak the Kurdish dialect spoken by his grandmother. During their journey and until today, Khalil always try to explain Laila where they are, why, where they want to go and their efforts to reach Germany. It is hard to explain the situation to Laila. Laila doesn’t know where she is, where Greece is and where in the world is Germany – the desirable country. She only knows what she feels and what she feels keeps her alive.

Today, they all live together in one of the SolidarityNow independent apartments in Athens, in the framework of the ESTIA* program. Prior to that, they had spent many days in Turkey and several months in the Moria refugee camp in Lesvos. They don’t want to remember these days – days when Laila slept in the cold and rain, in cardboard boxes.

Now, the family awaits for the approval of their relocation request to Germany. In the meantime, and along the organization’s support, they learn Greek and the children go to school. They talk to Nasrin every day, making the most of the technology. Laila sees Nasrin and every communication ends leaving the family members deeply moved. In the organization, Laila has become our grandmother and we try to speed up her family reunification in every possible way for her…

To beat time. 

*ESTIA, the Emergency Support to Integration and Accommodation program, is implemented by SolidarityNow, supported by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and funded by European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO).

“Yusef is the father of my children. We are together 35 years.

Either we live together, either we die together”.

We sit in a small coffee shop at Langada village. Just a few kilometers away from the Kavalari refugee camp. Today is extremely cold. Spring seems very far. However, Hansa feels the spring coming. She is 63 years old and comes from Syria. In Greece she came with her husband, Yusef Salah, 65 years old. They have been married for the last 35 years; a lifetime.

They sit next to each other. Hansa does not wear a scarf. She smokes a lot but wants to quit smoking. She is a beautiful woman. She coincidentally met her husband in a friend’s house. “At the beginning we didn’t love each other. We met there. We stayed together for 28 days and then we got married. Love came afterwards” she tells us. Yusef doesn’t smoke. He sits in his chair, enjoying his tea. He speaks some English, but he gives the floor to his wife. Sometimes he intervenes and speaks only to support her.

At the early years of their marriage they lived in Kesab. Then they moved to Aleppo. She was a good mother and a good wife. Her husband was working as a bus driver. She was 26 years-old when she gave birth to their first child. They now have 4 children, 2 boys and 2 girls. She lost 2 children at birth. The years were going by and the family enjoyed a happy life. “We were feeling safe and we had money to live. I was very happy”, she says. “My husband has never hit our children. He only used effective ways to discipline them. Every day he was going to work at 5 in the morning and was returning at 4 in the afternoon as to go to his second job. He was doing all these things just for us. I have taught our children to love and respect their father. When I say something negative about him, they tell me not to speak badly about him”, says Hansa.

The couple love each other. The difficulties have brought them closer. “Yusef is the father of my children. We are together for 35 years. Either we die together either we live together”, she says.

The family was separated during the war. Their sons and one of their daughters fled to Sweden. Hansa and Yousef left later. They came to Greece and were placed at the Kavalari refugee camp. “When my children left from Syria, I felt that someone pulled the rug from under my feet. I urged them to leave. If they had stayed, the state would have recruited them. When the conflict started we sold our houses and left. My second daughter stayed with her family in Syria because they did not have enough money to come with us”, says Hansa.

The couple’s dream is to reunite with its children. “We’re tired of this long journey. If our children were not in Sweden, we would like to go back to Syria”, says Hansa. The couple didn’t have the right to family reunification but SolidarityNow helped them by preparing a file supporting their vulnerability and the importance of being close to their children. With our contribution and Danish Refugee Council’s legal assistance the couple is permitted to join their children in Sweden. “Your team gave us a second breath of life. You helped us”, she says.

Days go by and Hansa and her husband talk to their children and their grandchildren on the phone. They have a 3 years-old grandson who they have never met and a 7 years-old granddaughter who they haven’t seen since she was three. “I still cannot believe that we will leave. I will believe it when on the plane. All I want is to see my children, hug them and sleep”.

Anna found a job…and something more!

 “I believe that I have an inquiring mind, but Anastasia inspired me to pursue things more. She believed in me”.

Anna Vougka, 34 years old, comes from Neurokopi but she lives in Thessaloniki. She studied Anti-Pollution Technology in Kozani and she did her internship in the General Chemical State Laboratory. Today, she works as a seller at a large department store. Anna is restless, she always sets goals and fulfill them. She found about Thessaloniki Solidarity Center and the Employability Program through a friend. They both came seeking advice on how to enhance their skills and on how to search for a job.

Anastasia Koukidou, Employability Advisor, contacted them to inform them that they had the chance to take free online English language classes. Anna’s friend didn’t make it, but she gladly took the opportunity. Anna was visiting Thessaloniki Solidarity Center for two months -duration of the courses-, where she was also using the computers at the Center’s computer corner.

“It was very nice. We learnt so many things. Actually, Anastasia guided me. At the beginning I was hesitant. I was disappointed, and I went to her to cheer me up. I had given up English for many years and I believed that my level was poor. Anastasia encouraged me not to give up, and she was right”, says Anna smiling. Anna feels that she took the right decision to continue the classes. It is worth noticing here that Anna got her diploma few months ago. “After this, I feel more confident. I finally have a diploma on my hands. It is very important to prove to someone that you hold a degree. However, skills are demonstrated at work”, she adds.

For Anna, the English language classes were just the beginning. In August, due to her personal desire to expand her knowledge and enhance her skills, she asked Anastasia to let her know when new educational programs would become available. In August she started to attend online computer classes. “I came back to SolidarityNow because I was very pleased with the courses, the atmosphere and the employees, like the secretary girl, the gentleman at the reception. They are all very kind. I personally feel calm and safe. Even when Anastasia is not around, they help me by bringing me the headphones”, says Anna.

Anna cannot imagine herself not working. She is workaholic, as she confesses. She just wants to work without caring about the type of the work as much as the work itself. “I think what really matters to me is to do something, to feel that I’m offering, and that makes me feel good”. Anna is thinking of finding a different job in the future. Now, she wants to enhance her knowledge and get more diplomas. On her mind is to get a degree in sign language. “I believe that I have an inquiring mind, but Anastasia inspired me to pursue things more. She believed in me”, she adds full of gratitude.

Anna Vougka is a beneficiary of the Employability Program of SolidarityNow’s Thessaloniki Solidarity Center. Employability service is provided to Greeks, Immigrants and Refugees by the Center’s qualified stuff.

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

“Let the women wait…”

Τhe small spa town of Volvi, is located just a few kilometers away from Thessaloniki. In the past, the place was popular among Greeks, who received vouchers for subsidized vacations, through the state’s social tourism program; people from the neighboring Balkan countries and Russia. For the past year, the old tourist accommodations have been housing Yazidi families, as well as people from Congo, Somalia, Eritrea, Afghanistan, Syria and Pakistan.

In 1998, Stavros Tsiolis filmed there the popular Greek -classic- film “Let the women wait…”. The director has never imagined that 20 years later some refugee women would wait there to be reunited with their families. One of these women is Barfi, a Yazidi, who comes from Shingal, a small town in Iraq. Barfi is waiting to go to Germany to meet her daughter. “We left our place, our home country to come to Greece”, she tells us.

Barfi lives with her son, his wife and their children at the Volvi Accommodation Scheme** for the last 1,5 years. She is the oldest of the Yazidi women. She is 65 years-old, but she looks much older. People who have pulled through hard times inevitably look years beyond their true age. Barfi is well respected in her community. “They all love me, and I love them too. If someone is in pain, we all are; we support each other”, she underlines. The Yazidis have built strong community relationships. Barfi always wears white clothes. Even in the winter she wears her white dress under her dark-colored coat. White and red play a significant role in the Yazidi culture. “Our grandparents wore white, it’s in our tradition. When we become brides, we are dressed in red, and when we get married, we wear a white scarf”, she explains.

With Barfi and other Yazidi women we have gathered at the new outdoor oven, where the Yazidis make their traditional bread. The Yazidi men have built four outdoor ovens. “I proposed to the community to build an oven here, like the ones we had at Shingal”, says Barfi. Children are waiting for the bread to be ready and some other help in the baking process. The Yazidi bread has the shape of a thin pie. The women offer us some. It’s delicious. The ovens serve as a meeting point for the Yazidi women and the community. “We meet at the ovens and chat. We share our thoughts and discuss our problems. If we won’t do that we will feel depressed”, she notes. The ritual of baking has ended for today and the women collect their breads and return back to their homes. Barfi prefers to stay with us. We walk together around the area.

We sit on a bench in front of the lake and we talk about the past. It’s so quite here. Barfi starts to sing a sad song in her language. “This song is about the Yazidi people and what we went through. We came here and you gave us strength. I dedicate this song to my people” she says.

Despite the traumatic experiences of the past, the Yazidi women of Volvi put all efforts to start all over again and rebuild their lives from scratch. They are very active. In the mornings they come to SolidarityNow’s Woman Friendly Space*** where they participate in creative activities. “We get up in the morning, we send our children to school, and we come to SolidarityNow; we also take long walks, and this is how our day goes by”, she says. The Woman Friendly Space serves as a gathering place, and a place of interaction between the women of Volvi. “People here are good and we are doing very well together. Kurdish and Muslims joined the camp. We do not speak the same language, but we do not have any problems; we are all brothers and sisters”, states Barfi.

* Yazidis are a predominantly Kurdish religious minority from Mesopotamian region. Since 2014 they have been targeted and persecuted by ISIS.

** Iliaktida as UNHCR’s partner has the management of Volvi Accommodation Scheme, through IATAP.

*** The Blue Dots program is supported by UNICEF and funded by the European Commission – Civil Protection & Humanitarian Aid Operations – ECHO.

Ismini, beneficiary of the psychological counseling and

psychotherapy service at the Athens Solidarity Center

She is just 22.

She was born and raised in Crete and she has two turquoise eyes, the same as the seas of her favourite island, that change colour according to light.

The last months she visits the organisation’s Athens Solidarity Center once a week, as a beneficiary of the psychological counseling and psychotherapy service offered pro bono to those in need – Greeks, refugees, migrants.

The conversation with her is enjoyable because Ismini speaks very nicely with a young person’s cheer, while she manages to describe accurately what led her to the Center. In recent years, Ismini is experiencing intense anxiety which sometimes takes the form of panic attacks.

A beautiful young girl whose need to always be very good at everything, causes her anxiety she cannot control. The first panic attacks occurred after the final high school exams -the ticket to her University studies. Years later came the time to face periodic crises as a result of the stress caused by the studies’ demands at a sought -after University. She has been studying in Athens for the last four years and is concerned that she will not be able to complete her studies in the typical time, but later. A concern that sounds unfair for herself, but very important to Ismini.

There is no obvious reason, in the eyes of a stranger, for Ismini’s anxiety, especially because as she admits “whatever I decide to do, I complete it and I do it successfully.” Her life proves it; two caring and loving parents, Ismini herself a very good pupil, champion of synchronized swimming, an excellent University student, a social extrovert young woman who loves cinema and travel.

Ismini’s family is always by her side, whereas she tells for her mother “she is the person with whom I am truly myself and the one who always helps me to overcome any crisis.” Now, also the psychologist at the Athens Solidarity Center stands by her – the person who supports her and who is certain that Ismini will acquire the skills that will enable her to manage her anxiety and have a life in line with her expectations and inclinations.

Gradually, Ismini will succeed and chase her dreams that include postgraduate studies, love, travel and success as she means it. 

*Ismini 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/.

Artemis Gadala,

Interpreter | Solidarity Homes program

In the last few months I have been working as an interpreter in the SolidarityNow program, Solidarity Homes, and I have already so many moments to recall that make me feel proud of the work being done and of my participation in the program’s working team.

My work is about facilitating communication between the beneficiaries of the six families hosted in the Solidarity Homes and the SolidarityNow team since language is the only thing that prevents them from direct communication. An impediment, of course, that we are trying to overcome within the framework of the program.

How? By providing with free Greek and English language courses the program’s beneficiaries who are refugees; people who have been displaced and who have left their beloved ones behind carrying only memories, unpleasant memories, by an unreasonable war like every war is.

The small number of our team members combined with the small number of the program’s beneficiaries have helped us to develop a close relationship that goes beyond the formal professional context and makes our collaboration even more efficient, but mainly more meaningful. I am impressed and moved by our beneficiaries’ behavior as well as by the trust they show us, treating us in some way as if we are members of their family. The way they welcome us in their homes, their hospitality and their need to share with us even important family issues, make us proud of our efforts.

For me, even more significant than our relationship with the beneficiaries is their own personalities and how they unfolded over time. We were fortunate to meet people who, despite the severe conditions they faced until they found shelter in our country, they remain decent, polite and willing to try and learn new things.

A five-member family, one out of the six families hosted, were homeless during their first months in Greece, while the mother was pregnant in her second child. Today, this family seems to have left behind the difficult past and enjoying the new life. The parents and the grandmother attend the Greek lessons provided in the framework of the program and have invented pleasant ways to learn the language – in one of our visits to their home, we found out that on small household objects, small papers were stuck with the Greek name of each object. They confess that they learn faster this way! At the same time, they are looking for work and they constantly express their gratitude to the country and its people that welcomed them.

This family isn’t the exception – all our beneficiaries have the will and sincerely try to improve their lives; we are trying with them. We share moments I will never forget.

*Artemis Gandala is 22 years old and comes from Egypt, born and raised in Greece. She works as an interpreter at SolidarityNow for the Solidarity Homes program.

Help us support more Families to find a safe Home – A Solidarity Home. Click here: https://www.solidaritynow.org/solidarity-homes/ 

*Solidarity Homes is a program implemented by SolidarityNow in collaboration and with the support of the organization Help Refugees. Through the program, which was initiated in June 2017, accommodation is offered to the most vulnerable population groups – Greeks and refugees – on the sole criterion of their urgent need.

Anna, 40 years old

beneficiary of the psychological counselling and

psychotherapy service at the Athens Solidarity Center

She speaks softly; however, the most are expressed through her eyes –her pretty, brown, wet eyes, part of a white face that is composed of elegant female features. What Anna does not say with her voice or eyes, she does it unconsciously with her rich, brown, long hair – she touched it when she was feeling shy; when she didn’t want to answer a question; when she took a while to think.

One year ago, she faced an emotional and professional impasse. She didn’t have a job and she didn’t have someone to turn to for support – “I needed to talk and know that I would not be judged, but at the same time I needed guidance and advice to see the future clearly; a future that only frightened me in those moments.”

A series of random however fortunate events led Anna to the Athens Solidarity Center operating by SolidarityNow and in her first meeting with the head of the psychologists’ team. At first, she was reluctant and cautious, but quickly as she says, “I felt intimate with my psychologist, who encouraged me and made me trust myself as to move on relying on my own strength.”

Anna is not her real name. However, she chose this name to introduce herself to the readers of her story. The 40-year-old woman narrates unpleasant family memories; these memories led her to abandon her home when she was 16 years-old. Since then, Anna has lived a life of good and bad moments, many difficulties and always hard work and great effort. At some point in the past, a man, later her husband, appeared in her life. Although there are no longer a couple, she has kept good memories of this marriage.

Anna didn’t finish school because after she left her home she was forced to work for a living. She has changed a lot of occupations, some of them more some less interesting, whereas she has spent two years working in Britain. Last year, in addition to unemployment, she faced a temporary, but serious health problem. Her health was restored, as opposed to employment, resulting in a huge emotional gap.

It was that moment when Anna felt she needed help and looked for it. In the last year, she visits the Athens Solidarity Center once a week, receiving free support through psychological counselling and psychotherapy service. “My psychologist ‘builts’ me from scratch; he helps me to believe there is a share of hope for me too. He helps me to think positively and remain composed apart from rational.”

The outcome; Direct!

Anna is now a student at her neighbourhood’s night high school and in June she will graduate. Her next goal is to improve her English and get a relevant certification which will help her find a full-time job. In the meantime, she works as a private part-time employee.

But Anna’s most important achievement is that she gradually gains confidence both in herself and in others. She still needs to win the fear that other people will not respond to her expectations. Thus, Anna tries to be more lenient towards herself as well as the others.

And she seems to be doing really well.

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

This solidarity home hosts the Nour family – the father is called Nour, after his mother’s name. Mother and son are now in Athens together, but it’s not just the two of them. Nour has made his own family with Gofran and they have two children; the 3-year-old Mira and Elias, 7 months old, who was born in Greece.

In the middle of 2016, they all made the known trip from Syria’s Duma to Turkey, and then arrived at Greece with first stop at the island of Lesvos. Greece, and Europe in general, represented for them their rescue from war; the living hope for a safe life again.

“Today, I will cook mandi and tabbouleh”. We will eat with them. Grandmother Nour invites us while the young couple of Nour and Gofran reassure us that we shouldn’t miss the opportunity to taste her cooking! Until lunch time comes, a table full of fruit has already been set in front of us. Grandma doesn’t stop bringing in dishes, peeling apples, bananas, pomegranates and pears. “We always eat a lot of fruit. My mother has taught us that it is better than food“, says Nour.

They are great hosts and feel lucky being in Athens living in one of the six solidarity homes under the same name program implemented by SolidarityNow, in collaboration and with the support of the organization Help Refugees.

While the fruits are being peeled, Gofran tries to talk with us in Greek. She’s learning the language, like all “the Nours”, by attending Greek courses offered to the program’s beneficiaries by SolidarityNow educational teams. “The National Bank is between the pharmacy and the post office“. In today’s lesson, this is the sentence Gofran must learn to write, and has already learned to say. “I walk straight and on my right-hand is the supermarket and on the left, the pharmacy“.

Gofran wants to learn Greek, find a job and stay in Greece. At the same time, she confesses that she wants to learn piano and that she is a painter! She loves painting! Her father played the accordion and thinks she looks just like him and therefore, loves arts. But the discouraged Gofran, who is only 20 years old and mother of two, is still afraid to dream. She is now trying to change the belief that she doesn’t have the right to dream – “let things come, I don’t need to dream” – now she feels safe again.

And Grandma Nour wants to stay in Greece. She likes it very much, she thinks that Greeks and Syrians are very much alike and will do everything she can to find a job and offer her support to the family. She believes that she will also manage to bring her daughter to Greece; her beloved daughter who is still in Syria with her family.

Recently, grandma Nour and Gofran attended a photo seminar organized in collaboration with the Hellenic Center for Photography for the beneficiaries of SolidarityNow hosting programs. With the use of her own photos, Grandma Nour created a collage and wrote a short text related to her daughter, their unique relationship and expressed her feelings caused to their separation.

In the meantime, Nour continues to fix things in the house – he is very young and eager to start a new life in Greece. In Syria he was a baker; he believes he can be a baker in Greece as well.

Mandi and tabbouleh are almost ready, and the table looks wonderful. Gofran has Elias in her arms; she shows us our seats and we all enjoy homemade Syrian food. Life flows the same as it does in every home where there is a warm, welcoming and loving family, wherever its members come from.

Help us support more Families to find a safe Home – A Solidarity Home. Click here: https://www.solidaritynow.org/solidarity-homes/ 

*Solidarity Homes is a program implemented by SolidarityNow in collaboration and with the support of the organization Help Refugees. Through the program, which was initiated in June 2017, accommodation is offered to the most vulnerable population groups – Greeks and refugees – on the sole criterion of their urgent need.