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Gallery|Refugees

Khora community centre for Greece’s refugees

With more than 62,000 refugees unable to move on, civil society and solidarity groups fill gap where the state fails.

Khora refugee centre - [Nick Paleologos/SOOC/Al Jazeera]
More than 62,000 refugees and migrants are stuck in Greece because of closed borders across Europe, according to government statistics. [Nick Paleologos/SOOC/Al Jazeera]
By Nick Paleologos and Patrick Strickland
Published On 27 Jan 201727 Jan 2017
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Athens, Greece – A group of young men and women sit in the reception area charging their phones as a steady chorus of children’s laughter comes from the playroom in Khora, an activist-run community centre that provides respite for refugees and migrants in the Greek capital. 

The cooperative community centre is in the Exarcheia neighbourhood, a centre of refugee solidarity activism in Athens. 

Rami Farajpour, 21, a Kurd who fled Iran due to political problems with the government, arrived on the shores of Greece’s Lesbos island in February 2016.

Although he initially planned to continue his journey to Western Europe, he began volunteering in Lesbos to help refugees arriving on flimsy dinghies the day after arriving. 

After connecting with solidarity activists from across Europe, he eventually moved with them to mainland Greece, where they set up shop cooking for refugees and migrants in Piraeus, until Khora opened its doors in October after three months of renovation.

Rami, who hopes to obtain asylum and become a tattoo artist in Greece, does translation and administrative tasks at Khora several times a week.

READ MORE: Greek leftists turn deserted hotel into refugee homes

Six days a week, Khora provides refugees and migrants with a swath of services, including dentistry, information, legal services, language classes, lessons for children and internet, among others. In the future, they hope to also provide basic medical services for people who cannot afford it.

With poor humanitarian conditions in government-run camps, centres such as Khora provide a crucial service for refugees and migrants.

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Emma, a volunteer who declined to provide her last name, said that most of the centre’s volunteers were involved in refugee solidarity activism on the Greek islands while arrivals were high in 2015 and 2016.

She said Khora, along with activist-run squats that provide housing for refugees and migrants in Athens, fill a gap where the Greek state falls short.

“As people who are used to living quite normal lives back home, we wanted to provide a place that allowed them to get involved with that space, to make decisions about that space and move away from the endless feeling of being only a number.”

Text by Patrick Strickland: @P_Strickland_

Photos by Nick Paleologos: @PaleologosNick

Khora refugee centre - [Nick Paleologos/SOOC/Al Jazeera]
Khora, an activist-run community centre that provides respite for refugees and migrants in the Greek capital, has volunteers from across Europe, the Middle East and North America. [Nick Paleologos/SOOC/Al Jazeera]
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Khora refugee centre - [Nick Paleologos/SOOC/Al Jazeera]
Rami volunteeers at the centre. 'I couldn't just do nothing,' he told Al Jazeera, explaining why he joined solidarity groups after making the perilous journey across the Mediterranean Sea. [Nick Paleologos/SOOC/Al Jazeera]
Khora refugee centre - [Nick Paleologos/SOOC/Al Jazeera]
A group practices before Khora's weekly music night. [Nick Paleologos/SOOC/Al Jazeera]
Khora refugee centre - [Nick Paleologos/SOOC/Al Jazeera]
Khora was born from previous collectives who worked on Greek islands and elsewhere at the height of the refugee influx. [Nick Paleologos/SOOC/Al Jazeera]
Khora refugee centre - [Nick Paleologos/SOOC/Al Jazeera]
Khora's kitchen serves hundreds of meals each day. [Nick Paleologos/SOOC/Al Jazeera]
Khora refugee centre - [Nick Paleologos/SOOC/Al Jazeera]
Founded on principles of solidarity, Khora makes decisions with cooperative members, refugees and migrants providing equal input. [Nick Paleologos/SOOC/Al Jazeera]
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Khora refugee centre - [Nick Paleologos/SOOC/Al Jazeera]
In the cooperative's basement, volunteers give carpentry classes and build furniture. [Nick Paleologos/SOOC/Al Jazeera]
Khora refugee centre - [Nick Paleologos/SOOC/Al Jazeera]
Khora receives donations of clothing from locals and abroad. A mobile washing service comes by once a week to wash clothes for those who need it. [Nick Paleologos/SOOC/Al Jazeera]
Khora refugee centre - [Nick Paleologos/SOOC/Al Jazeera]
Volunteers at Khora work in their spare time without compensation or receive small stipends from NGOs. [Nick Paleologos/SOOC/Al Jazeera]
Khora refugee centre - [Nick Paleologos/SOOC/Al Jazeera]
Language classes include several levels of Greek and English. [Nick Paleologos/SOOC/Al Jazeera]
Khora refugee centre - [Nick Paleologos/SOOC/Al Jazeera]
Asked about the local community's response to the centre, Emma, an organiser, said: 'We've been really welcomed from our Greek neighbours.' [Nick Paleologos/SOOC/Al Jazeera]


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