Under the moto “Digital Skills for All”, the DAISSy research team of the Hellenic Open University collaborates with organizations from all over Greece to offer educational activities from 25 March to 7 April 2019. The actions aim to promote and to prove that the development of digital skills benefits the wider social community.

This effort is part of the All Digital Week European-wide educational campaign that has been taking place since 2010, during which schools, universities, libraries and non-profit organizations offer 100,000 European citizens every year on digital transformation activities and its results. Participation in all activities is free of charge (www.alldigitalweek.eu).

Within this framework HOU-DAISSy and Olympic Training Ltd  promoted WEMIN project since the development of digital skills of MRW is enhanced through training and empowerment sessions. Furthermore, the operation of the WEMIN peer learning e-platform serves as a powerful tool both for the MRW and for the host community to implement collaborative activities with the help of tutors, to participate in forum discussions, create blog posts, upload episodes and announcements related to integration. For more info please check the two announcements of WEMIN project on ALL DIGITAL WEEK website link1 , link2.

Συνοπτική αναφορά: Το ευρωπαϊκό έργο WEMIN: Migrant Women Empowerment and Integration” (Ενδυνάμωση και Ενσωμάτωση Μεταναστριών)  είναι σε πλήρη εξέλιξη, με στόχο την εφαρμογή και προώθηση ενός πρωτοποριακού μοντέλου ενσωμάτωσης στις κοινότητες υποδοχής, για γυναίκες πρόσφυγες και μετανάστριες όλων των ηλικιών. Συνδυάζει εκπαιδεύσεις, συνεδρίες συμβουλευτικής, μάθηση μέσω εμπειριών και καλλιτεχνικές δραστηριότητες (για να τονωθούν ο διάλογος, οι διαπολιτισμικές σχέσεις και οι ανταλλαγές) καθώς και λειτουργία ηλεκτρονικής πλατφόρμας για την προώθηση της μάθησης και της δικτύωσης.

Το έργο χρηματοδοτείται από το Ταμείο Ασύλου, Μετανάστευσης και Ένταξης της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης (AMIF-2016-AG-INTE, αρ.776211), περιλαμβάνει διακρατικό εταιρικό σχήμα σε οκτώ κράτη-μέλη Ε.Ε. (Ελλάδα, Γαλλία, Ιταλία, Ισπανία, Πορτογαλία, Ιρλανδία, Γερμανία και Σουηδία) και στην Ελλάδα υλοποιείται στην Αθήνα από το Ελληνικό Ανοιχτό Πανεπιστήμιο – Ερευνητική Ομάδα DAISSy (Συντονιστής / info@daissy.eap.gr) και την Ολυμπιακή Εκπαιδευτική & Συμβουλευτική ΕΠΕ (Εταίρος  olykek@olympiakokek.gr).

Επιμέρους στοιχεία από την υλοποίηση ποικίλων δράσεων του περιλαμβάνονται στο Ενημερωτικό Δελτίο αρ.2 (Μάρτιος 2019) “εδώ”

Για περισσότερες πληροφορίες επισκεφτείτε www.wemin-project.eu / Follow #WEMIN

The story of “Bahar” from Afganistan
“My goal is to create a very good work portfolio so as to apply for a student visa in Canada. I want to continue my studies in fashion design”

“Bahar” was born in Afghanistan but she had to leave the country when she was 6 months old. She lived most of her life in Iran and in exile. She is 24 years old and comes from a big family. She came in Greece in 2017, almost one and a half years ago. After a short stay in a Greek island’s hotspot, she came in Athens where she struggles to make her dreams come true.
“Bahar” is a very dynamic young woman, full of energy and positive thinking. She told me she was the one to convince her parents and family members to leave Iran: “One day I gathered all my family and I told my brothers and sisters: look at our father. If we stay here, we will grow up and be exactly like him. There is no possibility to change our fate. Is this what you want?” Sometimes she feels responsible for all the difficulties they have faced and still facing since they came in Greece, but she does not regret it and hopes for the best: “I like to set goals in my life. Every day I write down one goal. Exactly three years before we left Iran, on the same month, I had written it down in my diary, that on three years from now we will leave.”

“Bahar” has been trained as a seamstress in Iran, following her mother’s profession and will. Although she didn’t like it in the beginning, her job experience in a well-known designer made her change her attitude. Realizing her talent and skills, she decided to attend a school for fashion design. It was not an easy decision, since in order for her to find the money to pay the fees, she had to persuade her previous boss to give her a loan. Her boss loaned her the money but to assure that “Bahar” would pay her back, she kept her passport. Until today, she hasn’t taken it back.

Her last job in Iran was in a local clothes industry. She was designing and cutting patterns. Asking her what are her favorite colors, she replies: “I like green and red, but when I design I usually use grey, black, blue black. This kind of colors. I don’t know why”. She shows me some of her designs. Very beautiful, original and of a modern aesthetics. A black long dress with a colorful embroidery in the front, drew my attention. “Bahar” explained that it is a typical traditional embroidery of her country.

During the last period, “Bahar” has been working in a Greek dressmaker’s lab. Although “Bahar“ does not speak Greek and her employer does not speak English, they manage to cooperate. However, “Bahar” states that she is not treating her in a good manner and that she makes her work too much: “She all the time tells me do this, do that, and speaks me in a bad manner. I am a human too, I can’t stand it. I am just staying because I am in need of the money.” In parallel, “Bahar” is working tirelessly to make her dream come true, that is to put on a fashion show in Greece with her own designed clothes. She keeps designing and trying to find a place for the show and to gather money to buy the garments needed to make the clothes. She is very optimistic and while being in Greece she has met different people who are willing to help her. When I ask her why she wants to hold this fashion show and what is her ultimate goal, she replies: “My goal is to create a very good work portfolio so as to apply for a student visa in Canada. I want to continue my studies in fashion design. I never had the chance to study. In Iran I didn’t have the right because I was from Afghanistan. I want to go to the university. I like reading and learning and I always read.”

Being a very sociable person, who enjoys meeting new people, the hardest thing for “Bahar” in the beginning was not being able to communicate because of the language gap. She does not yet speak Greek but WEMIN’s courses have helped her start reading. However, after coming in Greece she has learned English quite well and she can in that way communicate with people from different nationalities.

You can be informed about WEMIN implementation, by visiting www.wemin-project.eu

For further information, please contact info@daissy.eap.gr and olykek@olympiakokek.gr

Hamia is from Algeria. She is 40 years old, married with five children. She came in Greece in 2017, almost one and a half years ago, and her last child was born in Greece.

She has completed journalism studies in Algeria and she has done many different jobs such as seamstress and teacher of Arabic and French languages to children. She didn’t wish to speak about the last job she performed before leaving her country.

The trip from Algeria to Greece was especially difficult for Hamia, since she was pregnant and her health condition had worsened. When I asked her about the things she has brought with her from her country of origin, she replied: “The last night before I leave my country, my mother had given me golden jewels as a gift and also my sister’s family had all given me something as a present, but it all got stolen during the journey. It was like a jungle. We were walking up to 10 hours in the dark. It was very difficult. We lost all our things.”

The first period in Greece was also very tough for Hamia: “It was difficult here, very difficult. I could not eat, the food had a bad smell and the living conditions in the island within a tent were very difficult. I was feeling very bad. Every day I felt tired, I felt sick. During the pregnancy all vitamin levels were very low. Because of that, the delivery of the baby was very difficult.  It felt like I was giving birth for the first time. I believed I would die. Hopefully, the doctor could speak French, and the nurse, too, and this helped a lot.”

After seven months in a Greek island, Hamia and her family came to Athens.  She immediately got into hospital. “I can’t remember anything from this first period. I was only going to the hospital and then back home.”

Nowdays, Hamia’ s health is improved and her everyday life is rather getting into normal: “In the building where we are staying with my family there isn’t anybody who speaks Arabic. But in the flat opposite ours, there is a lady speaking French, living there with her family. And we greet each other, and they are all very nice to us…In the neighborhood I visit the supermarket and the children’s school. They go to Greek school and they have learnt the language. When I speak to them, they tell me, ‘you don’t speak Greek, go and learn and then come and speak with us.’ I need to learn the language for the children. To help them in school, to read with them the books they get taught in school. I can now slowly read the words, but I do not yet understand what I am reading, the meaning of them.”

Asking her about her dreams for the future, Hamia says: “The only thing I want is to work. To rely on myself. To be able to rely on ourselves… I miss working. Ok, as a teacher I can’t work. Because since children here speak Greek I have to first learn Greek. But, I can work for example in a small sewing industry, since I know this job very well …Greece is the country we intend to live. We had decided it from the very beginning. We left our country just to have freedom. Here we have found it. Our children go to school here and if we also find a job, we have no reason of wanting to change country.”

You can be informed about WEMIN implementation, by visiting www.wemin-project.eu

For further information, please contact info@daissy.eap.gr and olykek@olympiakokek.gr

The story of “Marie” from Cameroon

“….if you are in a place that you feel secure and you are not afraid that somebody is going to kill you, you hope that one day you will have a family again … “

Marie is 32 years old and she is from Cameroon. She has studied marketing and she has been working as a teacher in her country, teaching French to small children. Being in serious danger, she left Cameroon in 2017.

Marie paid a lot of money to a man for helping her with her trip. When she arrived in Istanbul, Turkey, he introduced her to a woman who promised to help her to issue a residence permit. Instead, she got Marie into prostitution and kept all her documents.

“After this man left me, the woman told me this is the place you will stay and the place you can work. Work, which work, I said? You will see, she said, if you need residence you have obligation to do that. Do what? Sleep with men…This woman did me a lot of harm, also beating me, and torturing me in very bad ways. In the morning this place was normal and good, but in the night many men came. What this woman made me, I won’t understand it in my whole life. I didn’t eat, I was only crying all day..”

Marie had been suffering this situation for six months, until one day she met a girl who helped her escape from this woman’s house. “I told her I want to go to the police. She told me this was not a good idea, since I did not have any papers. Turkish don’t know of human rights. If you go and accuse this woman, maybe she puts somebody to kill you. The only option you have is to run for Izmir, and from there to Greece.” Marie was despaired and thought of returning to Cameroon, but fortunately this girl paid for all her transportation expenses and Marie arrived safe to Izmir. There she worked for almost a month in a garment business, so as to gain some money to pay for her trip to Greece. Along with thirty more persons, she crossed the Aegean sea in a boat, wearing no life jacket since she didn’t have enough money to pay the trafficker for it.

However, she managed to arrive safe in a Greek island and then reached Athens.

“…When you have faced too many problems, you think now they are finished. I believed again that God exists, that he picked me and brought me to a paradise that I will not be in danger of being killed again….I am alone here and I have nothing, but if you are in a place that you feel secure and you are not afraid that somebody is going to kill you, you hope that one day you will have a family again. You see, when I come to school and I see all of you I am happy. I cannot stay in my house. To make what? I am happy of learning Greek. Because I want to speak.  I want to be very important for this country.  My intention is to work. I went in a hotel to work, where they were asking for English and Greek.  The man there told me that if I learn to speak Greek everything will go well and I will find a job. So, this gave me power again to learn…I want to be useful for this country. I cannot be useful if I do not speak Greek. It is my obligation to learn it and to come here every time. Each day I come here I have one objective: to learn one sentence. This gives me power. When I don’t come to school I feel like sick, I am missing it. Even if I can’t come from the beginning, even if I am sometimes late, I want to come. I live together with six girls in an apartment. They all have documents, but they don’t go to school to learn Greek. Me, I have no documents but I come. Not just now, I started learning Greek since I was in the island. From 8.30 o’ clock in the morning I attend different kind of courses here in Greece. When I get back home at night I say, ok God, everything went well today, I take my shower and I relax ….”

You can be informed about WEMIN implementation, by visiting www.wemin-project.eu

For further information, please contact info@daissy.eap.gr and olykek@olympiakokek.gr