Fawzia came to Greece from Afghanistan at the age of 17. Today, she is 19 years old and a mother of a 1.5-year-old girl. She is also a volunteer in Generation 2.0 RED, as a teacher’s assistant on the advanced class of the Greek language courses. Her dedication and inclination in learning languages helped her speak very good Greek in less than 2 years. Now, […]
Ahmad is 8 years old. He has brown hair and his dark eyes look around astonished. His brother, a few years younger, looks like him, only a little bit shorter. Both very quiet, they are playing together. Their mother wears pink trousers and her hijab is full of colors. With her green eyes she looks at her daughter, the youngest among her children. Next to […]
Written by Anna-Maria Vouzouneraki, Career Counselor of Generation 2.0 RED Many young people who are looking for a job today would like to be asked the question: What do you wish employers knew about you and your skills? They would definitely have a lot to say about their positive characteristics, their potential, the treasure that each of them carries within and wants to share. But […]
This is Yasser. He is only 20 years old, which makes him the youngest person of our column until now! He comes from Afghanistan and has been living in Greece for two years now. With a very discrete presence and the most polite nature, Yasser is the kind of person you don’t forget, for he is such a good and sweet young man. After this […]
The Choosing to Dream column this time hosts Saeid, a 31-year-old man from Iran. He has been living in Greece for something like more than a year now, and he already speaks so good Greek that makes you wonder: How does one learn such a difficult language so quickly? Very polite and willing, Saeid gave us a meaningful interview that answers the previous question. When […]
When you live in another country and you don’t understand what’s going on. An article by Silvia Giulini 23rd of February 2016. I was outside ROMANTSO, waiting for my supervisor. She told me to come at 10:00 but she was not there, yet. In front of me there was a bar, a door and a weird door phone without names, only numbers. The place was […]
Our next interviewee is Henry Morris. He is 43 years old, from Nigeria and has been living in Greece for 13 years now. What to say about this guy? Full of energy, always smiling, more communicative than most of us, always up to something new and willing to keep on going! Let’s hear it from him. “I am occasionally working at a pastry shop in […]
Written by Nataliya R.* – Good morning, I’m here to sign up on the Population Register, I said proudly as if I came to receive a scholarship for the Oxford University. – When did the decision arrive? The voice behind the glass. – A week ago. My voice in front of the glass. – Oh, then no… you will come after 20 days in order […]
Our third interviewee for the “Choosing to Dream”column is Foroozan Amiri. Foroozan is a young woman, only 25 years old, who comes from Afghanistan. She arrived in Greece last year and has been working as a cultural mediator for some time now. But how did she make this fresh start? We will let her speak for herself. “I am currently working with Save the Children […]
By Silvia Giulini In the middle of Flanders, in Belgium, 30 minutes from Bruxelles by train, there is a small city called Mechelen. Its beautiful main square is enclosed by small symmetrical houses and, behind some of them, the cathedral raises majestically. Although significant, there is something even more beautiful than its monuments, which makes this city unique: The fact that 138 different nationalities live […]
Mr. Mahmoud is 63 years old and Bangladesh is his country of origin. He has been living in Greece for more than 20 years and he sets the example of a person who has not only faced efficiently the difficulties that came his way, but he also made good use of the opportunity he saw. Always with his backpack, after having handed out his CV […]
We launch a series of narratives concerning individuals who made a fresh start in Greece. They share their story with us, along with the difficulties they had to face, but also the new opportunities they took advantage of. Our first interviewee is Mawhib, 34, from Eritrea. He has now been living for 9 months in Greece and has been granted the refugee status. “I work […]
It’s not long since we last spoke about the safety gaps in the camps, specially the one in Moria. The media talk about “unfortunate incidents” and “individual events”, but the truth is nowhere near these statements. When the tents in the camp of Moria were completely covered in snow and destroyed, topical media talked about policemen that did not let anyone inside nor outside of […]
By Ganna Milenko A knock on the door of the classroom. The teachers stops the lesson. All eyes on the door that opens. The Vice Principal stands by the door with a A4 paper on hand. He apologizes to the teacher and takes a formal look. “The foreigners, please, stand and follow me”, he says with a loud and steady voice, as if we are […]
The message of a young refugee leaving Athens “Well, here we are it is my last hours in Greece, Holly Greece, I really don’t know how to thank you and your people, for everything you gave to me: Love, adventures, good company, and for helping me to Rebuild my personality. Athens I am so sorry cuz I am leaving, you are my 2nd home I’ll […]
“My kids are asking me ‘Where are we going daddy?’ and I respond ‘We are going to the garden’. They think we are going to a garden so they can play. ‘Where is this garden?’ and I ask them to wait until we get there. They are just kids, in the end. They don’t know where we are going. We tell them fairytales to give them hope. But […]
By Nataliya R. I was born in 1987 in Symi, Ukraine, to my mother, who was a social historian and my father, who was a taxman. A few years later the Soviet Union collapsed. All the academics lost their jobs because they were supposedly undermining the new regime. So, in 1993, my mother took me and my brother and moved far away from an abusive […]
Another child of immigrant origins that has gone to Greek school and graduated Greek University but still has no access to the labor market in her studies sector, not because she does not have the necessary skills, but because she does not have the Greek citizenship. “I am Anna from Thessaloniki, I come from Albania and I have been living in Greece for 18 years […]
My name is Yohana Bryan, I am Assyrian and Ι was born on the 10th of August, 1984, in Tehran. My parents took the decision to leave the country since it was involved in a conflict with Iraq, plus the regime was theocratic (Islamic),thus opposing “infidels”. On the 11th of March 1987 we acquired the much-desired visa and came to Greece. I was two-and-a half […]
What does Greek citizenship mean to you? To be Greek? For me, to have a Greek citizenship means that my rights are recognized as a citizen of the Greek society, not only because I was born and I live here, but because I have the Greek education. What does the country of your parents mean to you? I consider the country of my parents as […]
By Andriana Mardaki, Lawyer Many times, while searching information that interests me on the Internet, I see that what is more interesting, are the comments that accompany the articles or the opinion of the author. I also note that the more I read them the more I forget the original text, which was after all the main reason that attracted me to read them. The same […]
By Eleuteriou Olga & Fani K. The following thoughts are sincere and spontaneous, appropriate for each active and integral part of the Modern Greek society. However, it is about deeper personal speculations of a researcher and a philologist who both shared from a young age common moments, values and goals. The law of citizenship was held to be unconstitutional and since then much has been […]
By Joan van Geel In 2007, I visited Vietnam, accompanying my beloved friend Tuyet-Bang. We had been close for a long time and she invited me to join her on her annual visit to her family, which included her grandma and many aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews. It was a unique chance to discover Vietnam in such an intimate sphere of this hospitable family. Seeing […]
By Nikos Odubitan My parents came in Greece from Lagos of Nigeria in the late 1970s to study. My father studied law and my mother economics. I was born in 1981 in Athens. I was brought up and went to school in Patisia. My parents thought school was of great importance. They wanted me to definitely go to university and study like they did. I […]
By Nikos Odubitan Sometimes I wonder how would my life be if my parents were not migrants. If I was not a “2nd generation” child, as they call us, like we are so different that a new special category was needed to be made for us. However, the point is, that even if I do not feel different, the world around me is constantly reminding […]
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