Sanaa from Syria lives in Greece along with her two sons and her mother for the last couple of years. At the beginning, her husband was also with them, but he left for Germany to begin a new life there for himself and his family. However, they still live apart.

The 40-year-old Sanaa, her mother, the 11-year-old Hussein, and the 4-year-old Mohammed arrived to Athens from Lesvos and since then, they live in a house rented by SolidarityNow as part of the ESTIA program, while all family members are now recognized refugees. Today, they are among many other families of recognized refugees who must leave their apartment rented by SolidarityNow in the framework of the *ESTIA program. This four-member family has to find housing, in a market that, prefers to turn apartments into short-lived homes (airbnb), do not rent to foreigners (refugees and migrants) and, at the same time, requires advance payment of the amount of the guarantee.

Until now, in SolidarityNow 20 people have left their apartments in Athens and Thessaloniki.

The lovely Sanaa lived “a beautiful life in Syria“, as she says, smiling shyly; she looks as if she is afraid of smiling. Their house was bombed, her father remains missing, “we took what was saved and left“. Now, she is happy and safe, she is glad that her children are going to school and she is anxiously waiting for the moment when everyone will arrive in Germany together, “I miss seeing my husband“. Until they manage to leave, however, they first must face the exit from the *ESTIA program. Sanaa is looking to find a new home for her family with the little money she has saved. With their savings they must pay in advance all the expenses and that will enable them to join the **HELIOS program and the 6-month rent subsidy.

Through her stories we listen to many unpleasant moments she experienced while looking for a house. The rents are expensive, the owners are cautious, the questions that need to be answered every time, are tough. Nevertheless, Sanaa is trying, and is empowered by the organization’s social worker, Sofia Theodosiou. In such social conditions, Sanaa, like so many other people, must find the strength to adjust and gradually become autonomous. She will make it. Her motive is time – as it is for everyone, until they can leave for Germany.

Sanaa shared her story and agony speaking through a protective mask. We were all wearing masks, but we managed to communicate, and in the end, we almost hugged. However, for everyone’s protection, we stayed to look each other in the eyes. We wish every success to Sanaa and we promise that we will continue to be by her side until she takes the next step towards her independence and dreams.

* ESTIA, the Emergency Support to Integration and Accommodation programme, is implemented by UNHCR and funded by the Asylum, Migration, and Integration Fund of the European Union.

**HELIOS program is implemented by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) financed by the Directorate General Migration and Home Affairs of the European Commission (DG HOME).

The 42-year-old from Togo has faced many challenges in her life since she was a child. Today in Greece she must face another one; the one that derives from the new ministerial decision regarding the housing of the recognized refugees in the country. Palanga and her son are among the recognized refugees who had to leave their apartment rented by SolidarityNow in the framework of the *ESTIA program.

The single-parent family from Togo, like so many other people, had to find housing, in a market that, prefers to turn apartments into short-lived homes (airbnb), do not rent to foreigners (refugees and migrants) and, at the same time, requires advance payment of the amount of the guarantee.

Until now, in SolidarityNow 20 people have left their apartments in Athens and Thessaloniki. Palanga and her little son are among them. On the occasion of the World Refugee Day on June 20th, we met Palanga in a small but cozy house in Athens city center.

“I was looking for a house for a long time. At first I thought people were afraid of me”.

Palanga, an exuberant dynamic woman, did not wait until the end of May for a decision to be made for herself and her son; “I will do everything in my power for my life”. And she did it. Her 2.5-year-old son, whose name is Godwill plays in the house she found, rented, and takes care of all on her own. Finding a house enabled her to join the **Helios program implemented by IOM (International Organization for Migration).

But Godwill’s mother must deal not only with the difficult conditions in a foreign country, the traumas of the past, the daily frustrations, and constant efforts for a safer present and future, but especially with her child’s health problems. For the safety of this child, she left Togo pregnant to escape from an abusive family environment. She travelled to Turkey, where she was imprisoned and was victimized by traffickers. She finally managed to arrive to Greece, at Moria of Lesvos, from where she fortunately left quickly.

She gave birth to a beautiful boy in Thessaloniki and lived in an apartment that SolidarityNow rented for her for the first seven months. However, when Godwill was diagnosed with Down syndrome and a heart problem, they had to move to Athens.

Palanga in Athens learned everything about her child’s health problems. Following the recommendation by Pantelis Kontogiannis, one of SolidarityNow’s social workers, Palanga collaborated with the experts of another organization who helped little Godwill to walk and communicate better. In the meantime, she participated in Helios program workgroups and she learned everything she needed to know about the procedures for joining the program. At the same time, she worked voluntarily and offered support to other people in need, “people who are foreigners like me“.

Now she dreams of their future. She wants for Godwill to complete all the necessary medical tests and treatments, and if she cannot find a job in Greece to leave for Germany. “In Germany I have acquaintances, not friends or relatives. I have no family anymore. I speak a little German; I was learning at school. I will never stop trying for having my own home“. Pantelis Kontogiannis, the social worker supporting her through all the way, believes the same about Palanga – “She is one of the most active women I have ever met, and I admire her. Few women have the courage to leave harsh environments, especially in countries where women are not treated as equal members of the society“.

* ESTIA, the Emergency Support to Integration and Accommodation programme, is implemented by UNHCR and funded by the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund of the European Union.

** HELIOS project (Hellenic Integration Support for Beneficiaries of International Protection) is implemented by International Organization for Migration (IOM) and funded by Directorate General Migration and Home Affairs of the European Commission (DG HOME).

Trying to find a house was a quite difficult process due to racism and high rents

According to a ministerial decision, people who have been recognized as refugees in our country and lived in accommodation structures – apartments, hostels, open structures – had to leave their homes by the end of May. Those who are housed in apartments rented by SolidarityNow as part of the *ESTIA program were also required to do so. These people had to find housing in a market that, prefers to turn apartments into short-lived homes (airbnb), do not rent to foreigners (refugees and migrants) and, at the same time, requires advance payment of the amount of the guarantee.

Until now, in SolidarityNow 20 people have left their apartments in Athens and Thessaloniki. On the occasion of the World Refugee Day on June 20th, we decided to talk to a family that has managed to find a job and its own apartment, in difficult times for human rights and public health.

Μ. is 26 years old and comes from Cameroon. She met her husband, who comes from Ivory Coast, in Turkey, where they got married. In 2017 they arrived together in Lesvos and then went to Athens. M., being in an advanced stage of pregnancy, was hosted in a women’s shelter, living for a long period away from her partner, who, having no papers, sought refuge in squats in Athens. The couple reunited and moved to Thessaloniki, where they stayed in an apartment in the UN High Commissioner for Refugees’ accommodation program. M. managed to get asylum, while her husband confronted obstacles. However, the lawyers of **NRC, who were then managers of the program, managed to get papers for her husband as well.

When the management of the program passed to the hands of SolidarityNow, Iro Kotsopoulou, Social Worker, started supporting the family. “For a long time, the man did not have legal documents and could not work, so the wife had to look for a job. That’s where a very admirable effort begins on her part,” says Iro. Determined to support her family, M. managed to find a job in a factory. All this time her husband had taken care of their young child. He felt inactive and upset that his wife had taken on such a difficult role. “It was a family that did not rely on the  monthly allowance. They told me that they have dreams and that they want their own house,” adds Iro. M. from her first meeting with the social worker, had expressed her need to live in her own house and decorate it as she wishes, and not as it’s provided by an organization.

The man as a member of a refugee family, took eventually his legal documents and found work at the same factory as his wife. The two of them asked to work different shifts in order to take care of their child. However, not having time together as a family, an attempt was made by the social worker to enroll the child in a public kindergarten in their area, but there were no places. So, they chose to support financially a woman from their community as to watch over their child. Shortly before the announcement of the exit of those who lived in the accommodation programs, the couple during the lockdown and the COVID-19 pandemic, managed to find their own apartment. Their effort was quite difficult, racism, high rents were deterrents. Their frustration was big, as was their anxiety, but despite all the obstacles, they made it and now have their own house, with their own furniture, decorated as they had dreamed. “That’s what they wanted from the first moment. I hope they continue like this,” says Iro, adding, “I admire this woman, and all other women, who manage to stand on their own two feet despite the difficulties”.

* ESTIA, the Emergency Support to Integration and Accommodation programme, is implemented by UNHCR and funded by the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund of the European Union.

** The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) is an independent humanitarian organisation helping people forced to flee.

During the first days of the announcement of the measures against Covid-19, I was in Athens for a seminar. It was the last time I was in another city. Since then, everything has changed. I think the scariest thing was the picture of people in masks and plastic gloves on the street. Like a scene from a movie. But the scariest thing is that we got used to it.

The quarantine didn’t bother me. Those of us who are parents, there is always a quarantine period when children get sick. It bothered me that for about two months I had not seen my mother.

Then I had to think about work, what would happen at work? Suddenly the group activities stopped, the distances increased, the people were locked in their homes. Some things for us who work in the field have always been self-evident. Antiseptics, viruses, all kinds of diseases. Restrictions on access to services, hospitals and jobs are always present issues at refugee camps. The difference is that now, we all face the same problem. Something that annoyed me was some people’s talks, claiming that refugees and migrants living in the camps have the virus.

The space where I work in Thebes was transformed into a quarantine place for people who may have been infected with the virus. This hurt me a lot, but I overcame it. Now we all work on all fronts, serving immediate needs. Strange as it may sound, all this time we have come closer to people, even from a distance, we have developed relationships of trust, we have helped them and made them feel better.

Among the most difficult incidents, which were and are many, I single out the case of a family with four children, who arrived at the Thebes camp just before the restrictive measures were announced. They came from an island in the Northern Aegean, without clothes or food, and were placed in a tent. The mother was very ill and was taken to the hospital, where she remained for a month. The father, who was visiting the SolidarityNow team every day, was desperate and had to take care of the whole family and their two-month-old child alone. Our team stood by him from the beginning, with constant support and counseling on how to take care of his children. We supported them as much as we could with food and with the necessary transportation for buying medicines. And we were there to see the family reunite the day when the mother was released from the hospital.

All people in the field have lived similar moments and in the end, this is what counts. Nothing can be compared to the beneficiaries expressions and feelings when we fight together to overcome difficulties and problems. .

But COVID-19 had, let’s say, some positive impact. We acquired new technological skills, useful for the post-coronavirus era. We gained a few pounds, but we gave a lot of love. We became better cooks, our babies said new words faster, we wore masks, but we took off the “masks” of everyday life and we all became more vulnerable, but also stronger.

My name is Katerina Stamelou, I am Phycologist and Responsible of the Female Friendly Space at the Thebes Open Accommodation Center for Refugees. I am working at the Child & Family Support Hubs project, which is implemented by SolidarityNow with the support of UNICEF and IOM Greece and funded by the European Commission.

I remember one morning, being in the organization’s van and listening to the radio about the World Health Organization’s emergency meeting. I’ve heard for a new disease that seemed to be spreading rapidly and affecting more and more people. Back then, I discussed with my colleagues, our driver and cultural mediator, how bad the situation sounded, but at the same time how far away from us. Things were still normal, we had a lot of things to do, and our work with the people included medical escorts, referrals, discussions about the present and the next day.

When we were informed on March 12^th about the suspension of the operation of schools, as the first measure to deal with the coronavirus pandemic , we found ourselves in front of, the biggest challenge, that our team had faced until then. We had to act calmly and in a coordinated manner. This was followed by updates, long discussions, and the need for answers that we did not know.

Just a few days later, most of our direct services provided in the context of the SolidarityNow accommodation program had to stop. Personally, I felt very insecure. As a social worker, the heart of my work is the personalized meetings with the people we support. Dialogue and discussions have always been the most important elements of our work; sitting in front of the person who has something to tell you, listening to him/her carefully, looking him/her in the eyes – sometimes, holding his/her hand, reminding him/her that you are there. How could we maintain the valuable “relationship” with our beneficiaries when being in distance? What should we tell them? And, if we ourselves experience something so unprecedented and frightening, how could we rise to the occasion?

The truth is that people have more cognitive reserves than one can imagine.

In the following weeks we were asked to change our way of working. “Meetings” are now held by scheduled telephone appointments. The emergencies are not absent of course – and, now, their management needs more flexibility, as, over time, restrictive measures have become stricter. And how to explain to someone who had survived a war, that this time their safety depends on staying home…

We spent many hours in telephone communication. A big part of the population is dealing with health problems, so we had to ensure they have access to medicines, but we also needed to reschedule their medical appointments. Doctors in the public healthcare system responded with unprecedented readiness. The beneficiaries showed patience and understanding. That was a small victory.

A few days later, we had to think of the children, our beneficiaries’ children. There was a great concern among parents about their education – basis for their integration into Greek society, which was abruptly stopped. The time for the next battle had come, this time with the digital platforms and the language gap, as none of these tools were provided in a language understood by the beneficiaries. But we made it! And we did it mainly with the children’s help and patience.

And, of course, life did not stop. Our beneficiaries’ worries remained the same. Their hopes remained the same. During this time, little Fatime did not stop her blood transfusions. Ali continues his meetings with the psychologist. The family of Zahra and Karim managed to move into their own apartment, happily completing their cycle in our program. And our daily phone communications still go on: for the SMS texts as to obtain exit permission, for the renewal of the asylum card, for the electric power cuts, for a child with a toothache, and so on.

We are now facing the prospect of the next day. It finds me somewhat numb, but also determined. Since we have managed to keep ties in the age of social distancing, we can succeed anything.

I am Evi Papagianni and I am working as a social worker in SolidarityNow’s ESTIA, the Emergency Support to Integration and Accommodation program, which is implemented by UNHCR and funded by the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund of the European Union.

Alexandra: Everything went smoothly, almost smoothly, until one day we heard this tongue twister: a coronavirus, that emerged in Wuhan. At first there were a lot of jokes about the virus, but none of us understood the importance of the situation. Despite the cancellation of the carnival events in Patras, many people took the risk and paraded. Some of them were dressed up as coronavirus. But a few days later, we came down to earth. The prefecture of Ilia soon became the focus of discussions, not for Ancient Olympia, but for the confirmed COVID-19 cases that emerged. We suddenly realized the urgency of the situation. Vassiliki, a friend and colleague of mine, was terrified. However, she soon overcame the first shock and with the right help and support by the SolidarityNow team, she was able to cope and overcome her fears.

Vassiliki: The fact that me and Alexandra were both assigned as security personnel was something that initially brought us mixed feelings. At first, we were scared, as the situation was still unknown. We were worried that we might get the virus. On the other hand, we saw it as a challenge to gain experience as professionals working in the field, always with the support of SolidarityNow and our team, who were by our side and supported us. We quickly realized that we were “the lucky ones”, because being at work – which we love so much – we were not in quarantine at home, something that helped a lot to our psychology.

Alexandra: The time at Andravida Open Accommodation Center was passing slowly, so I decided to organize a sewing workshop applying all the relevant safety measures. Along with two refugee women and with the… support of two sewing machines and materials that already existed at the women’s space, we made health masks to protect against the virus! It is an activity that we organized due to the lack of masks in pharmacies, at that time, and because of the inability of our beneficiaries, who do not have the financial means, to deal with an extra expense. The women-beneficiaries responded very positively. All this was a challenge for me. However, together we managed to face the difficult and unprecedented situation we experienced in a creative way. Our goal now is to give the masks to the most vulnerable people living in the camp.

Vassiliki: On the contrary, it was very hard for me to deal with the whole situation, since part of my job is to accompany minors to hospitals and medical services outside the camp. During the pandemic, I had to go to the “Children’s” hospital in Patras several times. It was a difficult situation for me, as I had to deal with my personal anxieties and fears. Many times, I had ambivalent feelings, but the faces of the children when they looked at me and when they felt safe with my presence next to them, won. I think that I reached my limits and questioned my abilities but now I feel satisfied and I believe that I am doing my job very well.

Alexandra: We both try to stay creative. Another initiative we took during this time was to create a weekly magazine for the people of the community. With the help of our interpreters, we were able to make a news magazine, consisting of recipes and advices on good physical and mental health, as well as sections dedicated to women and children. The purpose of the magazine is to strengthen our presence in the camp and to remind of our supportive role to all the families living here. Our goal is to continue publishing it after the end of the pandemic.

• Vassiliki: We look forward to the moment when we can hug everyone again! I am Vasiliki Spiliotopoulou and I am a Social Scientist, working at the Andravida Refugee Open Accommodation Center for Refugees.
• I am Alexandra Tzavella and I am a Social Worker, working at the Andravida Open Accommodation Center for Refugees.
• We both work at the Child & Family Support Hubs project, which is implemented by SolidarityNow with the support of UNICEF and IOM Greece and funded by the European Commission.