Diary

We express our deepest gratitude to Her Majesty Queen Silvia of Sweden for her trust and for supporting our child protection model through HM Queen Silvia’s Foundation – Care About the Children (http://drottningsilviasstiftelse.se/english/).

A big thank you to Child10 as well for building bridges and channels of support within the global child protection sphere.

It is an honor to work together for a world in which all children have a right to their childhood and an opportunity to build a future for themselves.

Konstantinos Dedes, President at Τεχνόπολη Δήμου Αθηναίων - Technopolis City of Athens invited and offered us a beautiful day of joy and exploration to the children we care for at Technopolis.
Part of our mission is to integrate these kids into society via activities that will make them feel like children again and learning the city’s culture is a crucial element in doing that.

During quarantine all the children we care for eagerly asked to create “green spaces” in the shelters and come into contact with nature even within the city. We are happy to announce the start of our new Greening Project in collaboration with WWF Greece aiming to teach children gardening skills, environmental awareness, and healthy diet habits.
Online training is the first phase of the project, where environmental education with emphasis on sustainability is provided by WWF Greece expert agronomists to our children.

Racism exists in all societies. It is up to each and every one of us to stand up against prejudice, discrimination and violence. Following the sad events taking now place in the US, we endorse once more our support for inclusive societies, providing a solid basis for diversity to coexist.
Social inclusion is created not only through education and social support, but also by bringing people together and creating platforms of interaction, coexistence and mutual support.
As a way to fight xenophobic behavior and break stereotypes, at The HOME Project we create human centered spaces of community building encouraging a feeling of belonging and access to equal opportunities for everyone.

We are grateful to Fidel Götz Stiftung for their support enabling us to adjust to the necessary safety measures and cover new urgent operational needs, medical support & hygienic equipment, keeping our children and staff safe from Covid-19

S. arrived in one of The HOME Project shelters for unaccompanied girls and minor mothers with their babies, when she was pregnant. She gave birth to a healthy baby girl who is now six-month old. She continues her education and is learning Greek. Here both mother and daughter enjoy a sunny walk.

At The HOME Project being constantly in contact with the children we care for is vital. Only by giving them a voice and integrating their feedback into our child protection model we can offer them the assistance they need, especially amid challenging times like Covid-19 pandemic.
The HOME Project CEO Sofia Kouvelaki talking with the girls in one of our shelters for minor girls and minor mothers, listening to their needs and discussing solutions together

Nargis was a minor when she arrived in Greece a couple of years ago and she found a home in one of The HOME Project shelters for unaccompanied girls and minor mothers with their babies. Her immersion into the Greek society started with access to education in the Greek school and learning the Greek language. Today, as an adult, she has joined our team as a caregiver in one of our shelters.
We are proud of her progress and how committed she is to listening and helping the girls in the shelter. We are looking forward to her reaching new goals.

A big thank you to Pavlina Voulgaraki for being by our side and organizing a musical workshop for our youngest kids from Little Pugad. Music has healing effects and encourages expressing one’s feelings, while helping the kids build their self-esteem

Maher, 19 years old, came to Greece with his little brother. During his two-year stay in The HOME Project’s shelter Orion, he went to school and learnt Greek and English. In January this year, he moved to the 18+ shelter of The HOME Project and has been recently hired as caregiver in the same shelter that hosted him.
We are proud of the steps he has made so far and we are looking forward to his next achievements

Last week, one of our youngest children from Pugad shelter turned one-year old. Staff and children from the shelter contributed to make his day even more special by gathering all together and sharing good vibes and cake. We wish him happy birthday and we are looking forward to seeing him growing up.

Alex, an independent adult now, came in one of our shelters for unaccompanied minor boys three years ago. Today we are proud to have him working in our Socrates shelter as a caregiver. At The HOME Project offering employment opportunities to young adults from refugee community is key step towards social inclusion.

We are grateful to DoctorNext2Me for providing us 24h medical support with a team of neurologists, cardiologists, pediatricians, pathologists, dermatologists.
With great care and professionalism, they decided to help the children The HOME Project hosts in 11 shelters, enabling us to improve the quality of our child protection services. 

"We wish to give back to the community, the same way many people gave us in this city". With the help of a tiny sewing machine and few pieces of fabric, L., S. and M. - under L.’s supervision who is talented in fashion design - created masks for the protection of the most vulnerable groups in the city who live exposed to the virus.
We are proud of them and the lesson they give to all of us, on what solidarity is about. We hope that through our work, we have contributed to a small extent to their effort to spread their wings and become active citizens.

The HOME Project wishes you Happy and safe May 1st. Stay safe and keep following all protective measures while enjoying spring.

The HOME Project stays home but fun is still on. While complying with the recent measures to remain safe inside our shelters, we play games in small groups and spend our time in a recreational way

The HOME Project stays HOME. We have adjusted our operations to minimize risk of infection while not compromising the quality of services to the children we care for.
All of our shifts have been rearranged in an efficient way to avoid overlaps of staff in the shelters. Child protection meetings, staff meetings as well as supervisions will continue as usual via teleconference channels and while every educational activity of minors has been postponed, in coordination with ACS Athens (American Community Schools) we provide online educational support.

The Guardian published our joint letter sent to Greek and EU leaders, where together with 24 civil society organizations we are calling for urgent action to protect unaccompanied children in Greece and take them out of the inhumane conditions they live risking their exposure to COVID-19 amongst other threats.
Photo credit: Darrin Zammit Lupi/Reuters

Read On

L., 18 years old from Sierra Leone, has a special talent and passion for fashion and design. Being a graduate of Avioti Fashion ED and having successfully participated in Athens Xclusive Designers Week 2019 at Zappeion Megaron, he is open to job opportunities that will enable him to pursue his passion. Here is a photo of the amazing backpack and some of his sketches.

The HOME Project community wishes you a nice long weekend and Clean Monday celebration.

Institute Prolepsis visited one of our shelters and gave our cooks and staff in charge of supplies an educational training on food safety practices. We are constantly looking for the best practices and updates to ensure the safety of the children we care for. Thank you Prolepsis for helping us out.

Imran, 19years old today, became a member of the Home Project family three years ago joining one of our shelters for boys. Today, we are proud to have him working with us, in one of the shelters and volunteering in his free time to our valuable causes.
Here’s a photo of him on his weekly visit to the Farmer’s Market of Athens, where he gathers along with other volunteers of Μπορούμε fresh food and vegetables that would go wasted if they remained unsold on the markets’ benches at the end of the working day.

"It is through our vulnerabilities that we recognize our strengths". Last Sunday, PeaceJam Greece members visited one of our The HOME Project shelters with girls and minor mothers and talked with them about women empowerment; overcoming vulnerabilities and cultivating strengths. Joining our efforts we can achieve the best possible results for the well-being of the children we care for.

An ongoing collaboration fostering growth and inclusion.
Each month The HOME Project Child Protection Unit and ACS Athens (American Community Schools) teachers engaged with the Youth to Youth program come together to exchange best child protection policies while empowering their remarkable effort at supporting 18 full-time tuition scholarship recipients at ACS Athens, generously offered by the Shapiro Foundation.

We all came together at Δημοτική Αγορά Κυψέλης, in the center of Athens, to celebrate our ever-growing community embracing inclusion and paving the way to a safer and happier society for everyone. Our children, staff, volunteers, friends and supporters of The HOME Project were present to light up the Community Building Event spirit and have fun.
Flourish Foundation hosted a wonderful arts workshop and everyone enjoyed the arts exhibition with our children’s impressive craft-works. The Anasa Cultural Center presented a social circus session and the DJ George Raptakis kept us dancing with great music. We are thankful of everyone who joined this Community Building initiative and we look forward to hosting you in the next one.

The monthly capacity building training for all the staff of our shelters was offered by Mr. Konstantinos Kokkolis, Deputy Director of Program Implementation at Οργανισμός Κατά των Ναρκωτικών - ΟΚΑΝΑ in collaboration with The HOME Project Child Protection Unit. The training was centered around the identification of signs of drug abuse in children’s behavior and the presentation of different models of functional daily management and treatment. Empowering our staff to respond efficiently and effectively is key priority to our mission.

Inclusive and diverse communities of coexistence, care, love and support are essential for the beneficial development of any human society. Yesterday we celebrated the beginning of the New Year in Romantso in Omonoia square in the heart of Athens. We shared traditional customs to welcome 2020, drumming and dancing with the tunes of Anasa Cultural Center and DJ George Raptakis. A big thank you to the wonderful community of children, staff and friends of The HOME Project who honored us with their presence. Our wish is for all children of the world to be able to their undeniable right to enjoy their childhood with health, love, education, joy and peace. Looking forward to seeing you all and those who didn’t make it to our next community building event. Stay tuned.

Our full-time scholarship students at ACS Athens (American Community Schools) were introduced by their teachers to the tradition of ancient Greek theater. Since many of them have never seen a theater performance their teachers organized a theater visit for them. We are grateful to the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center and the Greek National Opera – Εθνική Λυρική Σκηνή for offering the opportunity to our children to attend the Four Seasons musical play and enjoy a beautiful day at the park.

A big thank you to Panathinaikos BC and PAO BC Academy for welcoming our children to a great basketball game We are looking forward to coming back and exploring more potential pathways for collaboration.

Our Coordinator of the “Little Pugad” shelter for children aged 6-11 years old – Giannis Manios, was a speaker at the ‘Alliance for Children on the Move: Standard Operating Procedure for Guardians’ event organised by the Institute of Children’s Health (http://www.ich.gr/en/), advocating the importance of having a social inclusion approach within the context of a child protection framework.

During the last weeks, everyone participated in the decoration of all shelters creating a festive and warm atmosphere for all children enabling a feeling of belonging and celebration during the holidays.