It is a busy day at the SOS Children’s Villages shelter for unaccompanied refugee boys in Athens. There are emotional goodbyes for a 17-year-old from Pakistan who is joining his sister in Spain. Children returning from school take a lunch break before going upstairs for language classes. And, in another emotion-filled moment, the staff have just received news that three brothers from Afghanistan who have been at the shelter for ten months have been granted asylum in Greece.
In a country struggling to meet the needs of thousands of unaccompanied refugee children, this is not an unusual day at the SOS Children’s Villages shelter. The organisation has gained recognition for the quality of support it provides for unaccompanied children, including the in-house legal support that is credited with cutting weeks – even months – off the asylum and family re-unification process.
“The main issue that makes a difference here compared to other shelters is that we draw on the expertise of SOS Children’s Villages Greece which has nearly 50 years of experience in caring for children,” says Mohammad Vahedi, programme coordinator of the SOS Children’s Villages shelter for unaccompanied boys in Athens. “We are not only caregivers. We offer holistic support to the children – psychological, social and educational support – to help them recover from the experiences and the difficulties they have faced.”
Many of the children experienced major trauma both in their homeland and during their journey to Europe. Helping them to address depression, social withdrawal, fear and violence requires time, expertise and a living environment that nurtures trust and respect, according to Mr Vahedi.
“These children need safety – they want a safe environment,” Mr Vahedi says. “We have the experts who help the children and they develop a relationship of trust. The psychologist works with each child, while social workers are working to address their other care needs on an individual basis.”
Thousands of unaccompanied minors in Greece
The need for help is overwhelming in Greece and in Athens, where one-third of the more than 50,000 refugees live. Local officials acknowledge they have not been able to provide adequate shelter for the more than 3,100 unaccompanied children in the country, leaving around 2,300 unaccompanied refugee children living in reception centres and in some cases on the street.
City officials say there are around 15 shelters for unaccompanied children in Athens, including the shelter for boys and a new home for girls operated by SOS Children’s Villages Greece, and that it could be months before more are available.
SOS Children’s Villages has operated a shelter for 25 unaccompanied boys in Athens since April 2016. A new shelter for girls opened in May 2018 with a capacity for 10 children.
Take a look at life at the SOS Children's Villages boys' shelter in Athens:
![img]()
Mohammad Vahedi, programme coordinator of the SOS Children’s Villages shelter for unaccompanied boys in Athens, left his native Iran as a child and has been in Greece since 2000.
“We don’t say we have a perfect system here at the shelter. But it is the system we know and it shows results for these boys. In comparison to other shelters, we have very few problems. This makes us all very happy and proud.”
![img]()
The SOS Children’s Villages shelter for boys and a new home for girls are located in neighbourhoods with schools nearby. Lena Papathanasiou, an SOS Children’s Villages lawyer who leads the shelter’s asylum and re-unification services, takes a break to walk one of the shelter’s youngest boys home from school.
“He asked me to carry his book bag, because he says that’s what the mothers of the other children do.”
![img]()
The children are encouraged to pursue hobbies and they have access to outside support for art, music and other creative activities. Patricia Schönweitz, a psychologist, and social worker Kostas Kontos listen as one boy plays the guitar in the activity room.
“Our focus is not just to provide a place to sleep and a meal for the children. Our focus is their psychological and social development,” Ms Schönweitz says.
![img]()
SOS Children’s Villages has arranged for art classes and a museum visit for a talented 16-year-old from Pakistan, whose dream is to continue with art studies.
![img]()
Boys are encouraged to play sports both in the shelter’s yard and to join activities at neighbourhood facilities. A physical education instructor also visits the shelter to provide structured activities.
![img]()
Each child receives individual care and staff support is available round-the-clock. Vivi Mpeza (left) and Popi Gkliva, manager of the SOS Children’s Villages refugee emergency response in Greece, talk with a boy from Afghanistan who has lost parental care. Two of his brothers also live at the shelter.
![img]()
Children are encouraged to express themselves and to be respectful in a multicultural environment.
“We are all the same here. We on the staff work together and help each other, and our goal is to build trust and respect with each child,” says Pantelis Veizades, a social worker. “The children see this, and it helps show them how to live together and how to get along. This is one reason we have so few problems here.”
![img]()
Boys at the SOS Children’s Villages shelter attend daily after-school language classes in Greek and English. Courses in other European languages have also been provided for children awaiting re-unification with their families in other countries. Here, Vivi Mpeza and Mohammad Vahedi work with the children during Greek lessons.
![img]()
Residents of the shelter come from Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and other countries. Although the boys learn Greek and English, interpreters are still needed. Hamed Ebrahimi, who arrived in Greece in 2016 from Afghanistan, now works as an intercultural mediator for the shelter and serves as a Farsi interpreter. In the past two years, he has achieved advanced proficiency in Greek.
Hamed’s advice for boys at the SOS Children’s Villages shelter: “Take advantage of the opportunities you have here and use this time to learn.”
![img]()
Mealtimes are popular at the SOS Children’s Villages shelter. After eating, the boys help to clean up and help with all the other housework
![img]()
Lefteris Papagiannakis, the Athens Vice Mayor for Migrant and Refugee Affairs, praises SOS Children’s Villages for its care of unaccompanied children at the boys’ shelter and the new one for girls.
“The opening of these shelters has been done is a very good way, through cooperation and community outreach,” he said during a recent visit to the boys shelter. “We encourage SOS Children’s Villages to increase its capacity to handle unaccompanied minors and expand its capacity outside the centre of Athens.”
More about how we support refugees
More about our work in Greece