Creating Dignified Lives for 1.000+ Asylum Seekers

How Are You, Habibi? 

As we close off the first chapter of the year, the days are once again getting longer and we welcome a renewed period of activity following the Ramadan period. For the past month, we enjoyed quieter afternoons, late dinners, and slowing down, as most of the participants of our makerspace were fasting in celebration of this holiday, which marks the ninth month of the muslim calendar, and commemorates the first revelation of prophet Muhammed. To kick off the Eid al-Fitr celebrations, a three day festivity marking the end of the Ramandan period, we held a small celebration at Habibi.Works with music, lights, and a dinner party of 230 attendees. Hats off to our amazing kitchen team for making this possible. 

We were quite busy during the first three months of the year - aside from our regular activities, we carried out two big construction projects; sealing off our body building gym ‘Linda’, in order to offer more privacy and warmth to participants, and building a new greenhouse for the garden, which is due to be finished next month. As always, we juggled lots of different priorities and deadlines. After five months collecting and sorting blankets from individuals, a large donation from our partner, Lifting Hands International, allowed us to have enough to guarantee a fair and dignified distribution of blankets to camp residents, whom when surveyed in November of 2023 reported not having received blankets upon arrival to camp, or having to share amongst a group. Around 385 blankets were distributed over two days. Currently, around 900 people are residing in the Katsikas camp, 250 of which are thought to be children. As there has been no formal information on camp demographics published since March 2022, this is our best guest after speaking with partners, workers, and people in the camp. 

Outside, the spring flowers have been blooming, and with this has come a revived interest in the garden. Over the past two months, open gardening days have been taking place once a week. After weeding and tilling we now have lettuces, onions, potatoes, tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, and some herbs planted, which will be used for daily dinners in our community kitchen-- currently serving around 80 people per day. This same area is now also home (temporarily) to the Second Tree scouts program, who is running a six week module offering children’s english and social-emotional learning courses in the library, and in a pop up tent constructed in our greenspace. 

Aside from the ‘bigger’ developments, our working areas have begun offering more regular workshops aimed at further upskilling participants. CV-making workshops, typing courses, G-suite classes, and buttonhole workshops in the sewing atelier are some of most notable. Other ‘open’ activities, such as music jam sessions, women’s dance parties, women’s climbing, art therapy, cooking workshops, and basket-weaving have continued to take place as low-threshold events which encourage community participation and community-building amongst participants of different ages and nationalities. In the following months, we hope to re-introduce more formal learning curriculums in areas such as bikes, woodwork, and sewing which can serve as mini-modules to be completed. Seemingly small things, such as a 10 hour typing certificate, or completing a woodwork safety course gives small victories to people whose options for advancement and learning seem otherwise stagnant. 

Things in Store

Lastly, we are planning big things for the upcoming months. Most notably, our ‘Free Shop’, a sub-project of the Habibi.Works makerspace, is currently collecting material and financial donations in order to establish a hygiene products store on the premises where shoppers will be able to access basic self-care supplies such as soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes, and shampoo, at no cost to them. If successful, the Free Shop will be open five days a week to both asylum-seekers and locals by appointment, aiming to meet the needs of 420 households a month. In the case that not all the funding needs are met, one-off distributions of these items will take place during the summer of 2024. Thanks donations from Lifting Hands International, the Meealofa Foundation, and L’Oreal, we have already been able to collect a good amount of items for the shop. Some of these will also be used for our Women’s Beauty Salon, which was recently featured in the March newsletter of Europe Must Act. You can read about it here.  

In another attempt to ‘fill the gaps’, we have continued our partnership with Equal Legal Aid (ELA) and Mobile Infor Team (MIT), who just finished their latest trip to Ioannina, offering individualized legal appointments to residents of the Katsikas camp at both Habibi.Works and Be Aware and Share (BAAS), another local organization.  

Thanks to a collaboration with Hirundu animation lab, a team will be arriving to Katsikas mid-may to offer stop-motion animation workshops and upskilling to participants in the Habibi.Works geodesic dome. Over six months, participants will work on individual storylines and recording, culminating in a mini film festival which will take place on the premises around November of 2024, showcasing the work of the trainees. This will be part of our StoryTeller’s Lab working area, which encourages self-expression and advocacy through various mediums, from writing and podcasting to music recording and film workshops. You can check out the latest podcast series, ‘Asylum’, released in April of this year, which follows one woman's journey from Afghanistan to the Greek refugee camps here. 

Of course, it's impossible to capture all the small, beautiful moments that take place on-site everyday, but we hope that you enjoy catching a glimpse every once and a while through our project reports. For any questions or feedback, you can always reach us at orga@soupandsocks.eu. 

Thanks for sticking with us!

Marina & The Habibi.Works Team