by the Athens Solidarity Center of SolidarityNow

The 48-year-old S.K. visited the Athens Solidarity Center (ASC) of SolidarityNow one year ago requesting psychosocial support. S. was in a bad psychological condition, angry and frustrated, as he could not have access to the services he needed so as to deal with his serious health problems. A Greek man who faced a bureaucracy that made it impossible for him to claim his rights.

With the coordinated efforts by the Center’s Social Service, S. was able to overcome bureaucratic obstacles and receive the disability allowance he is entitled, which created a new reality for him that empowered him both financially and psychologically. 

Thus, a trust relationship was established between S. and the Center’s professionals, and today he continues to receive social, and psychological support, while he also consults the Legal and Accounting Services on various issues.

Mr. S.’s remarkable progress in a very short period fills us with optimism and is an excellent example of how effective the collaboration among the different services that work complementary within the Center is.

* Since August 2022, the Athens Solidarity Center is financed by EEA Grants, with ΣΟΛ Crowe and HumanRights360 as the fund operator.

**From 1/7/2021 till 30/6/2023, Kahane Foundation supports the Psychosocial service of the Athens Solidarity Center.

***The Center is also supported by the Municipality of Athens.

by the Athens Solidarity Center of SolidarityNow

The 38-year-old Tasos was born, grew up, and lives in Athens. Some time ago, he visited the Athens Solidarity Center (ASC) of SolidarityNow requesting support from the employability service. Tasos mainly needed help in the better preparation of his resume, to become more competitive in the labor market.

Indeed, the service’s employment officer found that although his resume was well structured, it was nonetheless incomplete. Like most people seeking similar support, Tasos’ resume referred to his education and work experience but had no reference to his social skills. The employment officer explained to him the importance of these skills as they enhance the existing work experience and are a hiring criterion for employers.

When Tasos was asked about his hobbies and activities, he hesitantly replied that he likes board games and online role-playing games, where every player creates a character and interacts in a fictional world.

Referring to Tasos’ answer, the officer emphasized that mentioning hobbies and interests in an interview can play an important role, as they highlight aspects of the person’s personality and help recruiters perceive their abilities more quickly. For example, skills such as collaboration, teamwork, and initiative were derived from Tasos’ hobbies and interests and are traits that may prove particularly useful to him in pursuing jobs in the private sector.

A few months later, Tasos achieved his goal! He interviewed and was hired as a sales trainer at a company of English interests. And not only that! He found another fan of his hobby! His employer happened to love role-playing games, so the conversation was devoted to sharing their experiences. Naturally, a more favorable climate was created between them and played an important role in the recruitment of Tasos.

After the first days in his new job, Tasos contacted the ASC Employability Service and warmly thanked the consultant for his valuable advice!

* Since August 2022, the Athens Solidarity Center is financed by EEA Grants, with ΣΟΛ Crowe and HumanRights360 as the fund operator.

**The Center is also supported by the Municipality of Athens.

by the Athens Solidarity Center of SolidarityNow

The 65-year-old Ms. E.K. is an economic migrant from Moldova that has been living in Greece for many years. As she suffers from dementia at an early stage, she faces psychiatric problems and gets medication.

She addressed the Athens Solidarity Center of SolidarityNow requesting support initially from the accounting service and then legal assistance to resolve a labor issue.

Mrs. E.K. is a typical case of a modern form of slavery. She worked for many years in a house, enclosed, without insurance, holiday allowances -Christmas, Easter, and summer-, for 24 hours a day, because even at night she had to be on guard and look after the old lady she was taking care of. When she found the courage to claim her legal rights from her employer, he fired her, “throwing” her on the street without any compensation.

Nevertheless, Mrs. E.K. found the strength to visit the local competent Labor Inspection Body, where she was confronted with injustice and indifference. While submitting her request, the employee said that she should consult an attorney to correctly calculate the amounts of accrued wages along with related allowances and leaves, and then submit her complaint.

The case of Mrs. E.K. was examined by the legal department of the Centre and was offered the option of an out-of-court settlement, after accurately calculating her accrued earnings, including her night work, weekend work, Christmas, Easter, and summer allowances. Now, Mrs. E.K. can submit her complaint to the competent Labor Inspection Body to resolve her case.

 * Since August 2022, the Athens Solidarity Center is financed by EEA Grants, with ΣΟΛ Crowe and HumanRights360 as the fund operator.

**The Center is also supported by the Municipality of Athens.

by the Athens Solidarity Center of SolidarityNow

Mrs. A.R. is a young Greek woman, a part-time worker, who lives with her partner in a rented residence in Athens. A sudden health problem of her partner – loss of vision – led them to a dire financial situation. The debts along with the constant pressures from their creditors, caused mental health problems for the couple. Under these circumstances, they turned from one day to another, from decent tenants to victims of their landlady, who did not hesitate to send them threatening messages, insult and slander them, and even enter their home, completely illegally. In fact, she tried to humiliate them by shouting in a shared area of ​​the apartment building. The reason why she did all these illegal acts was a slight delay of a few days in the payment of the monthly rent.

Therefore, A.R. visited the Athens Solidarity Center (ASC) of SolidarityNow to receive legal support and put an end to the long-term, highly offensive behavior of the landlady.

Initially, the couple was given legal advice and detailed explanations about their legal rights as tenants. Then, the mediation with the landlady and her attorney stopped her illegal behavior. After many efforts and many months of providing legal services, the beneficiary’s case was finally resolved with the smooth and extrajudicial solution of the lease.

 * Since August 2022, the Athens Solidarity Center is financed by EEA Grants, with ΣΟΛ Crowe and HumanRights360 as the fund operator.

**The Center is also supported by the Municipality of Athens.

by the Athens Solidarity Center of SolidarityNow

S.M., is a transgender woman, originally from Pakistan. She is 26 years old and lives in Greece since December 2019. She was forced to leave her country because her life was at risk, both by her family but also by the social environment.

Before Christmas 2020, S.M. visited the Athens Solidarity Center (ASC), following a referral, initially seeking support to get her legal documents. For this reason, she started meeting with the ASC professionals in Legal and Social Services, being helped by an interpreter.

Her asylum application as a vulnerable person was accepted in priority since she had also been a victim of violence during her first stay in Greece. Subsequently, the legal service assisted her during the stage of submitting her application for international protection; during the preparation stage for her interview as well as during the interview itself which took place in the examination of her application in the first instance, where the service’s lawyers represented her.

Also, the social service tried to find safe housing for the beneficiary by submitting a request to the Ministry of Migration & Asylum so that S.M. could be housed in a protected environment. The result was positive!

Finally, she got asylum status by the Asylum Service. First, her application was examined in terms of the “Safe Third Country” concept, as she had passed through Turkey, but it was considered that the link within the meaning of the provisions of Law 4939/2022 cannot be considered sufficient and therefore her application was deemed admissible. Subsequently, the service examined the merits of her case, and it was decided that, even though her country of origin, Pakistan, is included in the national list of safe countries, the applicant nonetheless has a well-founded fear of persecution in her country, because she belongs to a certain social group.

S.M.’s case is one of the many cases of LGBTQI+ people that ASC deals with every day and an excellent example of the efficient collaboration among the different services which function complementary within the Centre.

S.M. thanked the whole team: “I feel that I love you, you helped me like no one else, I am very happy”.

 * Since August 2022, the Athens Solidarity Center is financed by EEA Grants, with ΣΟΛ Crowe and HumanRights360 as the fund operator.

**The Center is also supported by the Municipality of Athens.

by the Social Service of the Athens Solidarity Center by SolidarityNow

The Greek society, without having fully recovered from the ten-year economic crisis found itself once again confronted with the consequences of a crisis i.e., the one caused by Covid-19 pandemic as well as the broader international adverse conditions. As a result, a large share of the population continues to experience conditions of work and financial uncertainty, which fatally lead to situations of poverty and social exclusion. The Athens Solidarity Center (ASC) by SolidarityNow with the services it offers, is an enduring hub of solidarity and support for individuals and families who live below the poverty line and find it difficult to cover even their most basic, daily needs.

Such a case is the one of the 58-year-old E.X., who has been a beneficiary of the Athens Solidarity Center for more than 4 years. The first time she visited the ASC, Ms. E. was overwhelmed physically and mainly psychologically, due to the very serious financial problems she was facing. Being long-term unemployed, without any income, family or other supportive environment, the privately owned residence in which she lived was her only asset and at the same time her only protection against exposure to conditions of absolute poverty or even homelessness.

From the very beginning, the ASC experts along with Ms. E., tried to implement an integrated plan to lessen the great difficulties she was facing, so that she would once again be in a position to claim her active social reintegration.

For her empowerment, she continues to this day to have sessions with a psychologist from the ASC Psychological support Service, as her very poor living conditions burdened even more her already vulnerable psychological state. This kind of support helped her to trust herself and abilities again and actively seek work, with the constant assistance by the ASC Employability Service.

At the same time, with coordinated actions of the Social and Accounting services, Ms. E. managed, due to the health problems she is facing, to become the beneficiary of a monthly allowance (Guaranteed Minimum Income). Finally, during all this time, lots of actions have been carried out both by the ASC volunteers as well as through collaboration with other organizations, which aimed to improve the living conditions of Ms. E., encourage her, and meet her basic needs.

Ms. E.’s case is one among many that the Athens Solidarity Center’s services have called upon to manage in latest years. A great number of our fellow human beings, regardless of nationality, are already living in or directly threatened by conditions of poverty and social exclusion, while the constant appreciation of even basic goods is particularly burdensome for almost all households.

Solidarity, combined with specialized actions, can and must be in the forefront during this particularly turbulent period.

 * Since August 2022, the Athens Solidarity Center is financed by EEA Grants, with ΣΟΛ Crowe and HumanRights360 as the fund operator.

The Center is also supported by the Municipality of Athens.

by the Athens Solidarity Center of SolidarityNow

The case of the 57-year-old Greek woman who sought support by the Social service of the Athens Solidarity Center (ASC) was one of the most difficult and important ones. E.C. (her initials) informed the service’s specialized personnel that she has been a victim of systematic abuse by her close relatives, almost for all her life.

Ms. E.C. was forced to remain mostly at home, she was not given the chance to study at the University and was not allowed to work, not even when she became an adult. After decades of restrictions and isolation, she found the strength to visit the Athens Solidarity Center, in an attempt to win her life back, walking on a path into the light and facing the economic, social and psychological ‘suffocations’ she had suffered.

In the Athens Solidarity Center, after a thorough assessment of her needs by the Social service, she was referred to the Center’s Psychological service in order to be supported and empowered to build her self-esteem and perform small but crucial steps toward becoming a socially active individual.

In a very short time, E.C made remarkable progress which enabled ASC’s Employability service to intervene and support her effort to look for a job. Finally, with the coordinated efforts of the Social and Accounting services, E.C. managed to arrange financial and property issues and become a beneficiary of KEA (minimum guaranteed income).

Unfortunately, the recent decision by the Greek Ministry of Finance which raised the objective (estimated) property values in the city of Athens, resulted in E.C’s exclusion from the KEA program, along with thousands of other beneficiaries.

On this matter, SolidarityNow through its Advocacy Department published a press release, bringing this “injustice” to the spotlight. After the issue was raised, an independent Member of the Greek Parliament informed the organization that she has submitted a related question to the Minister of Finance seeking a solution so that the most vulnerable members of society can continue to benefit from the KEA, regardless of the recent changes in tax policy.

*Since August 2022, the Athens Solidarity Center is financed by EEA Grants, with ΣΟΛ Crowe and HumanRights360 as the fund operator.

**The Center is also supported by the Municipality of Athens.