Here in Katsikas we are all relieved to see spring arriving and the weather improving after a long winter.
Following our last update in October, Greece went into a national lockdown on 7 November. As of mid-January, Habibi.Works was once again able to open its doors, all the while keeping strict hygiene protocols in place and adhering to physical distancing guidelines to ensure the safety of makers in the space. From 13 March to 5 May the region of Ioannina was classified as a "deep red zone" and Habibi.Works once again closed its doors. As during previous lockdowns, the team on the ground used this time to work on some exciting new collaborations (more details below).
Context Update
While all of us have been affected by Covid-19 and the restrictions that have come with this, the refugee and asylum seeker community is particularly affected by the impacts of Covid-19. The limited access to essential services, delays on asylum procedures, disruption to education and greater difficulty finding work opportunities are particularly challenging for people who found themselves excluded from society already before the beginning of the pandemic. Those living in camps also face a greater risk of infection due to overcrowding and the lack of robust sanitation structures. It is disheartening to see that the reaction of the authorities aims at restricting this community stronger instead of improving their living conditions and thus reducing the risk of infection. Now, more than ever, there is a need for solidarity with the refugee and asylum seeker community.
Compounding the difficulties of being under a national lockdown, the residents of Katsikas camp also experienced violent, forced evictions of families and individuals. On the morning of 14 December, riot police surrounded the camp as police moved into, informing several families and individuals that they would need to leave their containers. Any resistance was met with the use of teargas, violence (using batons) and sound bombs; at least four people arrested. More information on the event, and the profound effects it has had on individuals already in a vulnerable situation, can be found here.
In the week of 12 April, 13 residents of Katsikas camp tested positive for Covid-19. This led to increased restrictions on movement for residents of the camp, with camp security enforcing a total quarantine and informing individuals that if stopped outside of the camp they could face fines of EUR 300. Positive cases were required to quarantine in their containers, while others who shared those containers were also required to quarantine alongside them. One week later, residents of the camp report that the caseload has increased to 43. We continue to question these quarantine procedures which put more individuals at risk. Keep an eye out on our blog for more information.
Grassroots organisations and NGOs working with asylum seeker and refugee communities in Greece continue to face challenges in this context. One troubling development has been the increasing criminalisation of NGOs and civil society organisations. Choose Love (Help Refugees) has reported on the alarming situation - read more here.
Habibi.Works continues to provide regular context updates, overviewing the situation for asylum seekers and refugees in Greece, via our Instagram channel. Follow us on Instagram or Facebook and watch out for our Context Update stories every Saturday.
Exciting new projects in Habibi.Works
In February Habibi.Works took part in the Project for Awesome 2021 competition by submitting a video featuring several areas of Habibi.Works in a unique way. Have a look - or rather, a listen ;) The video was produced by our talented team members Ferdi - who supports the metal, wood and electronics workshops of Habibi.Works - and Mimi, one of the project co-founders and longest-term on-the-ground team member!
Ramadan - a holy month for Muslims around the world, during which individuals fast during daylight hours - began on 13 April. For the duration of this month, we will be highlighting the resilience of the refugee and asylum-seeker community of Kastikas on our social media platforms (@habibiworks) and will be hosting a special Digital Iftar on 5 May. Get your tickets (pay-what-you-can) here.
2021 promises to be an exciting year for collaborations for Habibi.Works! The makerspace is currently witnessing the construction of a brand new workshop area: Re.Works - a plastic upcycling workshop which will see plastic waste turned into beautiful, practical items! The workshop is being set up in collaboration with Precious Plastic Samos and Not for Your Distinction e.V. Beyond becoming a space where individuals can grow their awareness of sustainable practices and the fascinating process of upcycling plastic waste, the workshop area will also engage local communities to clean up plastic in their areas, setting up multiple collection points for everyone to use. Our first community plastic cleanup took place on 24 April; we expect this to be the first of many!
The outdoor gym of Habibi.Works will soon get an upgrade: a new bouldering wall, built in collaboration with Spanish organisation Maika'i.
Later this year, Habibi.Works will be a stop on The Walk with Amal - a "walk of hope" during which little Amal (a life-sized puppet representing a young refugee) will make the journey from Syria to the UK. We look forward to welcoming Amal in Kastikas in late August.
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Many things have happened in the workshop areas of Habibi.Works in the past weeks. In the beginning of September, the project team started implementing a new appointment system that enabled a specific number of men and women to use the workshops safely during the times of the novel coronavirus.
On October 6, the entire camp of Katsikas was unexpectedly put under lockdown without any confirmed corona case within the camp. This measure, justified by the authorities as a mean of protection of the camp residents from potential infections, was partly lifted on October 26th.
For now, one member of each family is allowed to leave the camp between 7am and 7pm to go shopping, to go to the pharmacy, to access health care, to go to work or to meet with friends in the nearby city. It is unclear as of now whether children are allowed to attend school, as they were before the lockdown.
One of the first things several residents of the camp did this morning was to visit one of the workshop areas of Habibi.Works - to repair bicycles, to use the sewing machines, make use of the wood workshop or the IT area. After 21 days of lockdown, both the residents of the camp and the project team were relieved to see the lockdown being partly lifted. We hope that this is the first of many necessary steps to provide people living in refugee camps with access to education and integration pathways and to treat them with equal measures as the rest of society.
In times as difficult as these it is more important than ever to create spaces in which people can flourish. Without your support, the project Habibi.Works could not exist. Thank you very much for your contribution!
Dear Supporters,
We hope this update finds you well. Thank you so much for your continuous support - especially during these last, unusual weeks and months.
March started as busy as the months before - but as for most of you, the routines of the Habibi.Works team changed drastically in the middle of the month. On the 12th of March, Habibi.Works closed it's doors due to rapidly rising numbers of covid19 cases in Greece. On the 25th of the month, the country entered a nationwide lock-down.
In order to keep in touch with the target group and to support them in this especially challenging situation, one of the many things the Habibi.Works team has worked on in April was video tutorials. Whether they focused on correct hand-washing procedure, Do-It-Yourself masks or on more educational or recreational topics such as Science classes, baking and drawing lessons or live workouts for the women in the refugee camps - the team of Habibi.Works reinvented the mode of operation within days!
With the pandemic still ongoing and its economic effects on our societies still uncertain, it was of special importance to the team of Habibi.Works to lower the costs of the project to a minimum, saving the money that would have been spent during the months of the lock-down for later, once operations will go back to normal.
Greece has lifted the lock-down in May and opened its boarders for tourists in June. There are still restrictions to be respected when offering activities or interacting with others. For now, Habibi.Works is offering exclusively open-air sessions: Whether we are looking at fixing a bicycle or participating in a Science Class, all activities happen outside and the number of participants is limited to nine persons plus the supervisor/trainer, in order to make sure that social distancing guidelines can be respected and nobody is put at risk.
We hope all of you made it through these challenging times alright. We are sending lots of energy and the very best wishes to you from Greece,
Mimi and the Habibi.Works-Team
Dear all,
Thanks to the great support of people from all over the world, the 11 different working areas of Habibi.Works have been as busy as ever in the first two months of 2020: Imagine the sound of cosily rattling sewing machines in the Textile Atelier, the mesmerising humming of the 3D printer in the Media Lab next to it, the busy beat of hammers in the wood workshop, the sound of bicycles slowing down in front of the building, the mixture of voices speaking in different languages and the distant cackling of our healthy, brown chickens across the yard. The winter air is still crisp and cold, but filled with the most wonderful scents from the community kitchen: cardamom, cumin, onions turning golden in the oil on the fires. Habibi.Works is much more than a makerspace for people living in refugee camps and Greek locals; It is also a safe, welcoming space for people who are excluded from different spheres of life and society.
With the money you raised, materials and tools could be provided so people living in refugee camps had access to the infrastructure they need in order to create furniture, curtains for more privacy and other crucial items that had been lacking in their daily lives. Moreover, the team has been offering countless guided learning activities like trainings and workshops for adults of all ages.
A whole-hearted THANK YOU to everybody who made a contribution to these small and big moments of success! We hope you keep supporting the project and remain part of this solution.
Feel free to get in touch with us. We are looking forward to hearing from you!
Warm regards from Greece,
Mimi and the Habibi.Works - Team
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