I am 35 years old. I am from Syria and I have been in Greece for 14 years. For the first seven years I had no papers, but then I got refugee asylum. Now I am waiting for my citizenship. I passed the exam with a 90% pass rate.
At first it was difficult to find a job because of the language. First I worked in construction with acquaintances, then in frozen products. Later I learned the art of aluminum and it became easier for me to find a job, because I acquired a specialty. I learned the language through work. Then I participated in a language program by the Ministry of Education in 2011. In this program I could participate even without documents, but in order to take the exam I had to have the legal papers. After the program I enrolled in night school and finished the specialty of nursing assistant. When you have a residence permit, you can normally continue your education. I had started an internship at Chania hospital as a nursing assistant, but the practices stopped due to COVID. When they reopened, my documents had expired. To continue, I need to apply again. I do not believe that I can continue in this profession, because I find it difficult. He has a lot of responsibility, as he has to deal with people, and I don’t know if I can handle it. No organization helped me find a job. I have the right to access the rights of the unemployed. There is a lot of exploitation at work, but it is a generalized problem and not related to origin.
When I didn’t have the legal documents, I went with a referral from the outpatient clinic. They used to not ask for AMKA. There is no longer any organization, service or enough staff. Often curators are missing from on-call and it is only the trainees there, who may not know how to deal with a situation. There is no specific problem targeting migrants, but there is no trained staff for the needs of migrants and refugees.
In the night school there is facilitation for foreigners, but there are no interpreters.
Finding a home has become very difficult after 2014 because of AirBnB and rents are too expensive. For refugees there is an organization that helps find a home, pay rent and provides allowances to families.
There needs to be help in learning a language, finding a job and finding a home. There is a long delay in issuing documents, especially for migrants.
Our participation is necessary because we live in this country. It is important for an immigrant to have social relationships and to be able to vote. An immigrant’s vote can affect the election outcome.
I participate in social affairs as a volunteer with the Red Cross and the Samaritans. I have also done a fire fighting seminar and a disaster management seminar of IDIKA.
