Here is My Africa!

Faros Tou Kosmou: a place where dreams come true

by İlknur Çiftçi

Sometimes we wish we had a magic hand to improve our living conditions. For the children of Dendropotamos, there is an organization that has set out to make this wish come true. This is Faros Tou Kosmou.

I’m İlknur Çiftçi, from Türkiye. I am a long-term volunteer at Faros Tou Kosmou. I participate in the daily activities of Kdap, supporting children with education, sports and creative activities. Located in the ghetto neighborhood of Dendropotamos, this organization works for the Roma community, which faces discrimination based on ethnicity. It works to break down prejudices against the community, fight discrimination (including gender discrimination) and substance abuse. Coming from a different country to hear the voices of this community and support them as they struggle to cope with social challenges is welcomed with great gratitude and love by the community, which makes the 7-month volunteering experience even more valuable.

Also, the fact that I learn so much from the children every day has a positive effect on my motivation. Faros Tou Kosmou is an organization that set out to change the fate of the people of Dendropotamos. In order to learn firsthand about its history and achievements, here is my interview with the founder Father Athenagoras Loukataris (called Father by the people because he is a priest). Faros volunteer Eleni Tranou provided translation support.

İ.Ç - Can you tell me about the history of Faros Tou Kosmou? What was your main motivation when you started this adventure?

Actually, this was my childhood dream. When I grew up, after completing my education, I wanted to be a missionary in Africa. After university, when I completed my military service, I realized that it was time to go there and fulfill my childhood dream. Those who knew about my dream said, you don’t have to go anywhere. There is an Africa here and you have to be part of it and help them in Dendropotamos. Because in Dendropotamos the children do not go to school and they do not have their vaccines so somebody should take care of all of these. So I found my Africa here instead of the main Africa. At that time, the citizens of this city said ‘What is important for solving the problems of these ghettos is for children to go to school’. So these have to be the main purpose because that was the truth. Through education, children were able to change the history of these communities.

Sometimes we wish we had a magic hand to improve our living conditions. For the children of Dendropotamos, there is an organization that has set out to make this wish come true. This is Faros Tou Kosmou.

So when I began 20 years ago, I had to invent different tricks in order to help people join my team and go to school. They were historical moments full of emotion when for the first time the children finished school and that way they had the opportunity to go to higher schools in this country or to go to universities. That was the first time in history at least of Dentrapotamos. A gypsy young man goes to school and then finds through this diploma and a legal job. A legal job means no more jail. We started at the basement of the church in our area in the 2003-2004 academic year. That was the first settlement of Faros. There was a second section of food to be prepared and then the dining room for the children to be there altogether to eat and discuss. Our purpose was to give them baths and to have their clean clothes, breakfast, and whatever they needed for school ( bags, pencils, books, etc.). They weren’t sleeping at the same house every night. Their parents are in jail because they are drug users, alcoholics, and psychotic disorders. And then I’m starting to wonder where these kids are going to sleep tonight. Any of his relatives or on the street? So these are the main steps; I find the children, I give them a bath and clean clothes, breakfast, and whatever they need for school stuff. In this way, I showed them how to prepare for school. I didn’t allow any child to be in bed in the morning. Using this door-to-door system, from 30 children it became 80 children. In the beginning, those children couldn’t stay at school for 6-7 hours. Even 45 minutes of sitting at a desk with focus was difficult for them. But what I tried to do from the beginning was to teach them to get up every morning and go to school. One by one, I implemented them. The children started to spend more and more time at school every day. Of course, it took about 1 or 2 years to get into this habit. I supported them with impressive motivations for staying in school. For example, ‘You like to play football very much. You will earn a ticket to join the team by attending all school hours.’

İ.Ç - How many years did the children live in the basement of the church?

For the first 8 years, they lived in the basement.

İ.Ç - Did you have any financial support when you were taking care of all the needs of the children?

We covered all expenses with the help of big companies and personal donations. When people saw what we were doing here, they wanted to help in their own way. People came to me and asked, ‘Father, what can I do for these children? Those who have financial means also saw what their money was being used for, so they donated with peace of mind. Some teachers helped children with their after-school homework, preparing them for the next day. Others supported them with creative activities such as music, dance, and art. Volunteers supported the development of children with their skills.

İ.Ç - After 8 years of support in the church basement, where did the children continue to live?

After the church, we changed to 2 different small houses until we moved to our current house because it was hard to find a suitable house in our area. So after the church we lived in two different houses for about 8 years and observed what was going on in the neighborhood. Then we needed to create a bigger liv - ing space for the children because our volunteer friends who came to help could not find enough space and in January 2020 we moved to our current home.

İ.Ç - How many children live in the current house?

There are 20 children living here now. 8 of them are minors and the other 12 children continue their education and work at the same time.

İ.Ç - So how old can children stay here? Is there any age limit?

A s far as I am concerned, they can live here as long as they need to, I don’t have a limit, but we have laws that we have to follow. According to the Minors Protection Law, we can offer accommodation here until the age of 18, but if they are continuing their education, it can be until the age of 24. We are lucky that the Municipality of Panorama has provided shelter for some of the children who have exceeded this age limit. The children continue their lives here. Even if they live in a different place, I am always with them as long as they need me.

İ.Ç - What about you Miss Eleni, how long have you been volunteering?

For 14 years I have been volunteering here. I was living alone before, but now I have found my big family. After hearing about the work of Father Athenagoras, I heard that there was a big family waiting for me here and I joined as a volunteer.

Fleni Tranou

İ.Ç - Can you talk about the impact of the Faros on the community ?

The next generation will definitely not be the same. Our story started with the aim of supporting children to go to school and find legal employment. The graduation ceremony of our first high school graduates is one of our precious historical moments. After 10 years, our children started to continue their education outside this ghetto.

İ.Ç - Can you explain your achievements after you started taking care of children?

We have had successful students who qualified to study at private schools such as art, music, Anatolian College, American Farm School, and New York College. Some of our students were accepted with full scholarships to these expensive schools, which are not easily accepted by everyone. Some of them were supported financially by well-wishers who wanted to support their education. So we consider all of it to be an educational revolution. That educational revolution took place when we created the first robotic team in our country. When FLL (First Lego League) came to Greece, the first team that was introduced in the team was our team Far.Go.Bots. Each year, the competition gives an award to the team that distin - guishes for something special. Our team was special because our delegation came from the ghetto. They came from this area and in a few weeks they were able to travel to America to participate in the competition. That’s why they won the prize for the first time. The second time, they went to the competition as a participant, not as an honored team. When parents in the area heard about our success, they pushed their children to go to school. That’s exactly what we wanted. In 2014, they went as an honored team. In 2016, they won the competition. They were champions here in Greece. Then they gave them tickets to attend the World Festival. After the competition, they allocated us an apartment for 5 days so that the children could spend more time in New York. Furthermore, together with these achievements, the implementation of Faros for the educational and social integration of children from Dendropotamos was recognized by the European Union on October 16, 2014 in Brussels with the Citizen Community Award and in 2016 by the Ministry of State with our participation in the International Visitor Program, which included the exchange of information on the integration of minority groups of the population and acquaintance with similar structures in seven states.