Matina Katsiveli, one of the founders of the PIKPA reception facility on the Greek island of Leros, stands in a room full of clothes donated from around the world to help vulnerable refugees and asylum-seekers. © UNHCR/Achilleas Zavallis
“I don’t know what mark everyone leaves on their life, but at least let’s try to live a full life in harmony with our conscience.”
Giving, supporting, helping others have always been self-evident and a way of life for Matina Katsiveli, who has assisted the most vulnerable for decades.
The heart of solidarity is beating on the small island of Leros, in the Dodecanese. It is beating through the vital work of volunteers, like Matina, who dedicated a large part of her life to helping persecuted persons who sought refuge in this southeastern corner of the Aegean.
After having worked with refugees and migrants for several years, Matina, along with other volunteers, founded the Leros Solidarity Network in 2012. The Network has been helping the hundreds of refugees and migrants who would arrive on the island exhausted, but also the locals who suffered because of the economic crisis.
“In 2015, the situation had reached a tragic point. I remember thousands of people being hungry on the streets. And we didn’t have anything to give but a few slices of bread”, Matina recalls.
Sewing machines donated by UNHCR within efforts to increase livelihood opportunities and resilience of asylum-seekers and refugees at the facility of PIKPA, October 2019. © UNHCR/Achilleas Zavallis
“In 2015, the situation had reached a tragic point. I remember thousands of people being hungry on the streets. And we didn’t have anything to give but a few slices of bread”, Matina Katsiveli recalls. © UNHCR/Christos Tolis
Refugee women present their creations made during workshops held in PIKPA during a bazaar on Leros, April 2018. © Leda Tselemegkou
Refugee women present their creations made during workshops held in PIKPA during a bazaar on Leros, April 2018. © Leda Tselemegkou
In 2016, Leros PIKPA, a reception facility for the most vulnerable refugees and asylum-seekers started to operate following governmental agreement. From then, until a few days ago when PIKPA closed, Matina has always been there to help, comfort, advise, empower the almost 8,000 people who found a temporary home in PIKPA while transiting Leros over the years, mainly families, women and children. According to Matina, Leros PIKPA was founded and operated mainly thanks to the solidarity, compassion, volunteerism and the donations from all over the world.
Over recent years, Matina aided the needy and vulnerable with the same determination and perseverance as she did in 1995, when she accompanied a humanitarian mission to Bosnia as a volunteer during the war.
“I live in a democratic state, in a developed continent, and it is my duty, no matter how tired I feel, to be here, in solidarity with those who don’t have a voice,” she says.
“The stories of the people who we helped and connected with are our gold, which no one can take away from us. And as I always like to say, even to help one person is a very big deal.”
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