
Μ. found hope again, with the support of the Personal Counseling and Psychotherapy Department at the Athens Solidarity Center
Vicky Anastasiou,
Reception Officer at the Athens Solidarity Center
“I am looking forward to leave; I will travel to find my children. I am waiting for the ticket to Germany. If I hadn’t come to Athens Solidarity Center I would have committed suicide; I wouldn’t be able to do anything. I felt sick, I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t sleep, and I had a constant headache. Now I am attending sessions with the psychological team at the Center and I have started thinking positively”, M., a 28-year-old woman, mother of two, from Kandahar, confesses.
The six-year-old A. and the four-year-old R. contact with their mother by post. She sends them letters and they send back drawings. This irregular way of communication has been going on for a year and a half, as long as they have been separated, since the mother was arrested during their escape travel, while the kids continued the trip with the rest of the team. Months went away until she had news from them.
Μ. was widowed at the age of 24. She left Afghanistan when Taliban murdered her husband. Her life was in danger. “They could have kidnapped me, made me marry a Taliban and recruited my children. I was left alone, and I decided that I would either die or pursuit a better life.”
*Μ. is one of the beneficiaries receiving the services provided pro bono to vulnerable population groups in SolidarityNow Athens Solidarity Center. Learn more about the Athens Solidarity Center, https://www.solidaritynow.org/en/kentro-allileggiis-athinas/.
Athens Solidarity Center has been financed by SolidarityNow and Open Society Foundations (OSF/OSIFE), while complementary services are funded by EaSI ( Employment and Social Innovation) in the context of “Employment enhancement and Social services integration in Athens Municipality (ESTI@)” program.