Senior Protection Assistant, Lesvos
How would you describe your work?
Women, young children, often unaccompanied, older persons, young men, arrive together in a boat, wet and battered. They have barely escaped relentless waves, but more importantly, they have fled terrifying experiences. We provide them with information about their rights and the procedures to follow. The right to information is crucial; I have come to understand this well here. We listen to them and help them discover their strengths so that they can make the best use of them and find the safety they seek.
In 2016, I started working on child protection, focusing first on identifying all unaccompanied children and developing tools to best meet their needs. I also addressed the protection needs of survivors of gender-based violence and sexual exploitation/abuse, realizing that violence knows no borders and its prevention is as necessary as the response. I now continue to work in the field of protecting children who have experienced violence and carry the trauma of forced displacement, while I also work on integration issues, providing information to recognized refugees about their rights and offering guidance on recovery steps.
How did you decide to start working in the humanitarian sector?
It was April 2008. I was just an unsuspecting law student, starting my first day of internship at the UNHCR office. I could never have imagined that a three-month internship would entirely shape my life goals and vision. Most importantly, I could never have imagined that eight years later, I would return to the same field, equipped to pursue what I had chosen to study, which would now define me as a person.
Having completed my studies in Humanitarian and Refugee Law, the summer of 2015, with its increased refugee flows, found me in a city in Europe, unable to fit in. Without hesitation, I went to the Greek islands, where hundreds of uprooted people arrived daily, ready to provide assistance, ease their pain, contribute my part to build up hope. Now, eight years into this job, on the Greek borders, I continue to do what gives meaning to my life: lend a helping hand to the forcibly displaced and translate the misery our eyes witness into strength to help the next person who arrives seeking safety and protection.
Share with us a story from your work in the field, that has been engraved on your mind forever.
In 2017, Ahmed, aged 14, arrives on a boat with 40 other unaccompanied children. Ahmed is confident and tells us he doesn’t need a social worker or a psychologist. He insists we leave him alone to pursue his dreams and his destiny, free from the constraints of frameworks, procedures, and islands. He is not afraid of anything.
And yet, when another boat arrives a few months later, bringing his mother to the island, Ahmed breaks down and cries like a baby. So does his mother, who kneels and hugs his legs, sobbing with joy and relief. We, too, are overwhelmed, witnessing the most powerful moment we had ever experienced, – a moment that would give us the courage to endure the challenges ahead. A few months later, amid joyful exclamations from friends, Ahmed and his mother would board a ship bound for the mainland.
Years later, I accidentally crossed paths with Ahmed again in Athens. He was strong and independent, happily working and living with his Greek girlfriend. His employer, full of dread, jokingly pleaded with us: “Don’t take him back, he’s the best partner I could ever have!”
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