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Greece visit in Piraeus 10-16 April 2016 

After the meetings in Italy and Germany it was turn of Greece to accommodate the members of the Erasmus programme and organize the activities that were to take place within its scope.

Our fellow teachers and students arrived on Sunday on the 10th of April. That night we had organised a welcoming party in honour of our guests with a great variety of foods and treats within its buffet. We all had a great time; we met each other and definitely danced ourselves to exhaustion.

On Monday, we met early in the morning at our school. Our principal, Mr Merkouris, officially welcomed our guests and then we gave them a short yet detailed tour of the place. The first task of the day was the presentations of the articles that indicated the perception the political forces and leaders of each country hold on the vast issue of migration, and how the people react to the matter. We analysed and exchanged interesting data, which raised our awareness of the need of wider informing of the citizens living in the EU states, but also the feeling that movements of awareness and solidarity, that are opposed to the hatred and prejudice, exist everywhere around us.

The task of the Book reports were carried out in Greece with two presentations. The Italian team presented the book “Exodus” by Paul Collier. The team of the Greek students prepared a presentation of “Serenity” by Elias Venezis, a book related to the Asia Minor refugees. For the presentation they translated fragments of the book and elaborated (translation and montage) some scenes of the tv series based on the book.

After a break for lunch, under the guidance of a specialised team of the UN Refugee Agency –UNHCR– a simulation game named «Passages» was organized. Students had to put themselves in the role of refugees and endure everything experienced by Syrian refugees escaping from their home and going on foot to Europe. Click here to watch videos showing what the students experienced through this activity.

After this once-in-a-lifetime experience we went for a stroll to Piraeus where the teachers and students came to know the most beautiful sights in our city.

On Tuesday morning the main activity was to find out the steps that must be taken by the refugee in order his/her professional status to be recognized in the host country. The results were summarised in multinational groups of the students as they presented various scenarios of refugees and immigrants trying to find a job in the host countries and their research about the legal requirements and preconditions.

Then we went for a long walk at the Acropolis. We saw the Parthenon, and we were given a peerless tour at the Museum of the Acropolis. We continued our walk through Monastlraki, Plaka and Anafiotika, a neighbourhood built by internal immigrants from greek islands in the area and explored the alleys of Plaka.

On Wednesday we started with a workshop concerned how migrants keep in touch with their roots and how they integrate the traditions of the host country without fully reversing from their cultural tradition. There were presentations by each country. Our team interviewed two immigrants – one Pakistani, former student of our school and a Polish one, mother of one of our students.

Then we organized three-hour workshops. The first concerned the refugees of '22, after the Asia Minor Catastrophe. First Ms. Araitzoglou a refugees’ child spoke about her memories of the difficult years she spent in exile, and then Mr. Niskopoulos, president of the Smyrna of Nikaia. The second workshop concerned the migratory wave of the 60s in Germany, Australia and America. Ms. Makris, a daughter of an immigrant born in Australia, shared her experiences. The third workshop was concerning foreign immigrants that have been living in Greece for the last twenty years. Ms. Gkroutzien from Poland, a psychologist and volunteer in the movement for the refugees, Mr. Mountaser Iqbal from Pakistan, worker in Greece, and an old student of the school Impntisam Ahmed, from Pakistan, now a college student in maritime Piraeus University talked about their experiences.

We got a lot of information about the difficulties of our foreign fellow citizens but also we were delighted because, despite the difficulties they faced, everyone said that felt well in Greece and are relatively well integrated in the Greek society.

After the afternoon break, we had a tour in Kokkinia, our neighbourhood which was built by refugees from Asia Minor. guided by the local Katia Galopoulou, English teacher, of refugee origin.

On Thursday we visited the Gate E1 in the port of Piraeus, where, in those days, the refugees were nearly 5000. We talked to the tireless volunteers and offered some food in the warehouse that had been constructed to help meet the basic needs of the people. On our way to Lavrio we stopped at the Anavyssos beach and searched places that had been described by Venezis in "Serenity" and mainly the small beautiful church of St. Nicholas. We visited the archaeological site of Sounion and finally arrived in Lavrio. We had a lot to say about the slaves of the mines and the modern slavery of traders who make profit over the human suffering and pain by crossing desperate people oversea with boats, many of whom are drowning before reaching their destination. We also stopped by a little from the camp of Kurdish refugees and then we had free time to have lunch and walk around. On our return we visited the Metropolitan Clinic of Ellinikon where we met volunteer doctors and civilians who informed us about their six years experience of solidarity offered both to greeks and immigrants. The Center works with volunteers and material offered only by citizens.

On Friday all the teams worked together to decide the way they would present their results. We organized a very interesting photograph exhibition showing the dispersion after 1922 and each group in the multi-hall showed what they had learned and the work method they had used. In the evening we had a very nice farewell party with souvlaki, loud music and crazy dancing until late.

The farewell was difficult for everyone. For children and teachers. We had an amazing time all of us together here in Greece. We had met and had developed sympathy and friendship ties. We learned a lot, both for the migration problem and each other.

A taste of what we experienced on this visit can be seen here in the video we made as an attempt to show our experience through photographs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKtiHaf_Uk8

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