The story of Bashma and Nazim through the eyes of Sophia Ioannou, Head of Communications, on her journey to Samos, along with the photographer Giorgos Moutafis, for the production of the second 360o video entitled “Stranded in Samos”. The article describes the conditions under which the refugees are forced to live in the camp and focuses on two, although different people, however with common worries, fears and hopes.
Category: ΕΓΡΑΨΑΝ ΓΙΑ ΕΜΑΣ
The Best: Refugees talked about their lives in Greece – “Refugees are not a problem, they can be creative”
After the completion of the open discussion on the occasion of the World Refugee Day, organized by 16 NGOs, the author of avgi.gr (online edition of the newspaper) describes in the article how it is when the refugees speak for their life and their endless journey towards safety and peace. More than 200 people participated in the event and listen to the refugees’ stories; Abdulkarim and his son from Syria, SolidarityNow beneficiary, was among the refugees who narrated their story and they were luckily more optimistic for the world than we are.
Sto Kokkino: “The racist attacks in Goritsa, Aspropyrgos in the last eight months are coordinated and recurrent”
SolidarityNow along with four other organizations, publicized a press release regarding the racist attack on a Romani neighborhood in the city of Menidi, Attica, requesting and suggesting immediate measures to be taken for the protection of Roma population as well of the Greek population in the area.
Left.gr: The racist attacks in Goritsa, Aspropyrgos during the last eight months are coordinated and recurrent
SolidarityNow along with four other organizations, publicized a press release regarding the racist attack on a Romani neighborhood in the city of Menidi, Attica, requesting and suggesting immediate measures to be taken for the protection of Roma population as well of the Greek population in the area.
Protagon.gr: Refugee cooks up taste of Syria in Athens
The journalist of protagon.gr, dedicates her article to Barshank Haj Younes, the beneficiary who participated in the Refugee Food Festival.
ekathimerini.gr: Refugee cooks up taste of Syria in Athens
Barshank Haj Younes may not have much to celebrate, but the young Syrian is cooking up a feast.
His menu features hummus and moutabal – a smoky eggplant salad – and lamb and chicken dishes typically offered to guests at home, about 2,000 km away in war-torn Syria.
For one night this week, the young Syrian Kurd, who fled to Greece a year ago, showcased his cooking talent alongside a Greek chef in a packed Athens restaurant to mark World Refugee Day on June 20.
Beyond giving diners in 13 European cities a taste of Middle Eastern and African cuisine, the French-born Refugee Food Festival, backed by the United Nations refugee agency, is hoping to promote integration.
In sweltering conditions, Younes and Greek head chef Fotis Fotinoglou barely have any room to move around as they frantically prepare a menu of 14 Greek and Syrian dishes in the cramped kitchen.
The menu includes dakos – a Greek barley rusk salad – tomato and zucchini fritters, Syrian freekeh – roasted durum wheat – as well as slow-cooked lamb shank and bulgur with chicken marinated in tahini, yoghurt, spices and cumin.
“There’s cumin in everything!” Fotinoglou says.
“You want garlic? Or onion? You want water?” he asks Younes, a gawky 25-year-old with slicked back hair who stared at him blankly.
They end up communicating with elaborate hand gestures to get by.
Beyond offering a brief respite from the daily grind of refugee life in Greece, Younes hopes the food will draw attention to the plight of the tens of thousands of refugees and migrants stranded in Greece.
“(I want to) remind them that there are refugees here, there are still Syrians here,” Younes said. “And I want them to remember that there are Syrians everywhere who are in need.”
Younes, who studied computer engineering, began experimenting in the kitchen five years ago, driven by necessity rather than a passion for food.
In the early years of Syria’s civil war, he fled the mainly Kurdish northeastern town of Amuda for Iraq, where he hoped to make enough money to pay for his journey to Europe. In hotels he worked first as a waiter, then as a cook.
He arrived by boat from Turkey in March last year, a week after the European Union and Ankara enforced a deal to stem the refugee flight to Europe, cutting short his plans to travel north to Switzerland or the Netherlands.
“At times I don’t want to leave, because I really like the people here, they are very kind,” he said. “At other times I want to.”
Whatever the future may bring, the message Fotinoglou wants to bring home is clear.
“The circumstances which forced (the refugees) to leave behind their homeland, their home, their families, their birthplace – it could happen to any one of us,” Fotinoglou said.
“We’re here today to say that in cooking, in the kitchen, there are no differences. We’re all the same, we’re all human,” he said.
Left.gr: Aspropyrgos: A report of racist attacks was submitted to the Supreme Court
SolidarityNow along with four other organizations, publicized a press release regarding the racist attack on a Romani neighborhood in the city of Menidi, Attica, requesting and suggesting immediate measures to be taken for the protection of Roma population as well of the Greek population in the area.
Athina 9.84: The life of refugees and migrants in Greece in the event organized by 15 NGOs
15 NGOs, among which SolidarityNow, organize an event entitled “Together” for the World Refugee Day. The event will take place in the garden café of the Numismatic Museum on June 21st at 18.30. The objective of the event is to listen the refugees themselves; During the event, the beneficiaries of the NGOs will narrate the next day, that of integration, the difficulties that they faced concerning their adjustment, as well as their hopes. Among the refugees who will present their story will be the family of Alhajji Abdulkarim, the father of six children, who live in an independent flat in Athens, in the framework of the Hosting Scheme Project.
VIMA: Visit of representatives of the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the SolidarityNow Solidarity Center in Athens
On June 9th the President of SolidarityNow, Mr. Stelios Zavvos, welcomed the representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway as well as the Ambassador of Norway in Greece who visited the Athens Solidarity Center, in the framework of the overall SOAM Program “Supporting Organizations that assist migrant asylum-seeking population in Greece”
Protagon.gr: Visit of representatives of the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the SolidarityNow Solidarity Center in Athens
On June 9th the President of SolidarityNow, Mr. Stelios Zavvos, welcomed the representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway as well as the Ambassador of Norway in Greece who visited the Athens Solidarity Center, in the framework of the overall SOAM Program “Supporting Organizations that assist migrant asylum-seeking population in Greece”