Stories

I came to HopeFoundation in October 2023 with no Greek and a denied asylum decision. Maria-Christina at the Legal Clinic walked me through the appeal in three meetings. Eleni placed me in the A2 evening class in November. In June 2025 I passed B1, and in September I started my nursing assistant placement. They never told me what to want. They asked, then they helped me get there.

Forty-two children from our school go to the Children’s Learning Hub on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Their reading-age scores have moved an average of 1.4 grades in one academic year. The Hub coordinator sends us a written progress note for each child every term. Nothing about this is ad hoc.

I was a barber in Damascus. When I arrived in Athens I tried to keep cutting hair, but it did not work. Kweku from the Vocational Bridge sat with me for two hours and we listed everything I knew how to do. He suggested kitchen work. Six months later I was on a contract. I send my mother a photo of my payslip every month.

I have given €60 a month for almost eight years. The foundation publishes its accounts. They write me one paper letter a year, in February, with a photograph and a one-page summary of what my year of giving paid for. Last year it paid for one student’s full year of B1 classes plus their exam fee.

I do four hours a week at the Clinic, and I have done it since 2019. The case-management software is properly built, the file is ready when the client walks in, the interpreter is booked. I can practise my profession at the standard I expect of myself. That is rare in pro bono work.