“UNDOCUMENTED MIGRANTS”: SCHOOL INFORMATION AND SENSITIZATION PROGRAM

“UNDOCUMENTED MIGRANTS”: SCHOOL INFORMATION AND SENSITIZATION PROGRAM

-Who is Navid?

-Why did he come to our country? On holiday?

-He doesn’t have any documentation? Why?

-How does someone travel without documentation?

-What does it mean to be in a country without documentation?

-Why don’t we give him documentation?
-Do you have rights without documentation? Can you go to school? Go to a hospital? Can you play soccer (if you’re good) for Olympiakos or some other major team? Can you buy toys?

These were some of the questions asked by the students in schools visited by members of the Greek Council for Refugees (GCR), in the framework of information and sensitization about/concerning “undocumented migrants”, realized by GCR in schools around the country in 2011.

This action, which was included in the activities completed by GCR during the realization of the “European Programme for Integration and Migration” (EPIM), was combined with the presentation of the childrens’ book “Navid didn’t come on holiday”. The book is the story of a child refugee, who arrives in Greece with his mother without documentation. The narrator of the story is Alkis, a Greek classmate of Navid’s, who with naiveté, humor, but also sometimes in an emotional way, during composition class, writes about the adventures of his new classmate.

The students in the schools visited by GCR, through Navid’s adventures and different combinational activities (like drawing, quizzes, interactive games), learned about “undocumented migrants”, refugees, human rights, xenophobia and racism. Mainly, however, they had the opportunity to discuss with the author of the book and to understand what it means to be forced to leave your country and to end up, after many difficulties, without legal documentation in a foreign and unknown country.

The schools visited by GCR in 2011 were the following:

142nd Patissia Primary School

Vamvakopoulou Chanion Primary School

Chania Middle School

7th Chalandri Primary School

Svornos Katerinis Primary School

Ganohora Katerinis Primary School

Peristasi Katerinis Primary School

5th Katerini Primary School

57th Athens Primary School

2nd Ag. Paraskevi Middle School

Moraitis School