Εxcerpts from a note by an Interpreter of ours, during summer, after the Council of Europe’s North-South Awards Ceremony in Lisbon (, )

“through my work I have the opportunity to be there for my fellow human beings, to respect, to have patience and, above all, to receive love and respect.

In this life we are all students. Within a short time I have received endless life lessons and hope to have the opportunity to get more.

When we were in the Parliament in Portugal, faces of refugees I have worked with came to my mind, I do not forget and will never forget…

The greatest weapon in life is humanity and kindness, one is always a winner when one lives by them, and this what I try to teach to my children too.

I am glad, therefore, that METAdrasi’ s family has embraced me, the family with the best guys… ”

Mary, one of our volunteers, describes her experience during the participation in the exhibition/workshop “Drawing Hope” at Technopolis ():

“Messages of solidarity with the wish to keep “having patience” and the exhortation not to get tired, not to lose hope, were sent by dozens of Greek children, with great eagerness and maturity, responding to our call for a message to the unaccompanied children. The unaccompanied children’s drawings in the exhibition were very touching and depicted the violent uprooting from the mother, the father, the journey towards the unknown and the home-lost homeland they dream to regain. The word “hope” takes shape when a group of unaccompanied children from Syria and Iraq, accompanied by a member of METAdrasi’ s Guardianship Network, visited the exhibition, late in the afternoon. The children’s faces are lit while we translate for them the messages by their peers. The word “patience” touches them like no other. With a smile and optimism they are waiting for the day of their reunification with a member of their family, somewhere in Europe. In many ways they express their gratitude for the care and affection of the people who embraced them. A great lesson of faith and love… ”

May 2016: Yota, a member of METAdrasi’ s unaccompanied minor’s escorting team, recounts a mission for the escorting of three children from Amygdaleza detention center to a proper accommodation facility in Continental Greece:

“While we were traveling by bus, the children from Afghanistan made some handicrafts (a flower and a plane). They told us that they had had a very rough time in order to come to Greece in the winter, they had to climb high mountains and had been freezing. A young child had written on his hand two letters. When I asked him what they meant, he told me that they were for his father and his mother, who were constantly in his thoughts when he was locked up and did not go out and that he had “trouble with his head due to bad thoughts”. I told him that now this has passed, that he is free and he will be transferred to a place where he will receive support for anything he might need. He told me that he knew and all night he couldn’t not sleep from the joy that he would leave…”