Interview with Christina Evgenidou

Dedicating your existence to improve the living conditions of vulnerable women

by Alix Ibar and Simona Poje

At Irida social center, solidarity is spread, paths are crossed and stories are shared. Different backgrounds, different points of view, different sensitivity… Christina is the head of Protection and Safeguarding at Irida, she has been working to improve the living condition of women for several months now.

What did you want to become when you were young and what inspired you to work at Irida social center?

When I was young, I didn’t have a lot in my mind. I think I mainly wanted to become a princess or a teacher. I never thought of becoming a psychologist, which is my bachelor’s degree. And as the years were passing by, I decided that psychology is what suits me best. But, growing up and slowly, slowly, I decided that psychology is what I should do in my life. I decided to work for Irida maybe a few months ago. Well, actually, I always wanted to work for Irida because it’s a great organization that supports women.

Why did you specialize in women’s protection ?

I don’t know if you are aware of what is happening here in Greece, lately. But there is a lot of violence against women from their husbands and a lot of gender based violence in general. So I decided that since I am also a woman and that it affects me as well… Or not affects me, but maybe concerns me, I decided that I would like to work for an organization that supports and protects women.

Can you tell us what is the mission of the center and how are you contributing in supporting it?

The mission of the center is dual. First of all, we want to protect women. So we have a protection sector that consists of a social worker, a psychologist, two lawyers, and myself. And we also have a livelihood program, which is mainly what we aim for the women to be integrated in society. So it has volunteers and teachers that can teach our ladies : Greek, English, German, computers, sewing lessons, and in general any kind of activities that would help them empower themselves and be an active part of the community.

In what ways do you see the center making a positive impact on the lives of the refugee women?

So by learning Greek they can integrate better in the Greek context. By learning English, they can integrate anywhere and by learning German, which is most of the people’s destination country, they can start fantasizing about their journey after leaving Greece. In the meantime, the protection services can help them in a different way. In the way that they can feel safe here in Greece, they can have a house, they can overcome the trauma, they can finish all the legal aspects of their papers, they can have their passports, etc.. And of course, let’s not forget their safe space for children. The women can come here with their babies, leave their babies in our children’s safe space and move around freely.

“Out in the society, they’re all alone. And by making friends here at the center, it means that automatically they are not alone anymore.”

How do you approach building trust and creating a safe space for them?

Working with women who have experienced trauma can be very challenging. We have a variety of ways to gain their trust and be able to support them and help them. We’re always very honest with our capacity, what we can do and what we cannot do. And we never set high expectations for our women. So in that way the women always know what to expect from us and knowing what to expect, is something that can help in feeling safe. And we try to create a community where the women not only refer to us, but they refer to each other as a supportive environment. And this is also something that can help in feeling safe and building trust, not only between the women and the staff, but also among the women in collaboration with other professionals at the center to provide interdisciplinary support.

Can you tell us what strategies or techniques can you find effective in helping women cope with strong emotions and heal from their experiences ?

We try to engage our women into doing various activities and socialize with other women. We have a lot of events, like music events and food events so each woman can show us aspects of their culture, the women can know each other better and in that way they can find common ground to become friends by sharing. They have almost the same experiences and this is very important because they can help each other out, even more than what we can! We can provide the expertise in the legal matters and social aspects and psychological support. But the actual supporting system is the women themselves. They are women who are vulnerable, women who are in need, in any way or another. It’s important because they can come here for a few hours, but out in the society, they’re all alone. And by making friends here at the center, it means that automatically they are not alone anymore.

“Way the women always know what to expect from us and knowing what to expect, is something that can help in feeling safe. ”

Can you highlight specific programs or initiatives that have been particularly successful or impactful ?

Some of the programs that have been particularly successful and helpful for our women were some cooking lessons that we have. The ladies of our program were gardening every Friday, they were cooking a different meal from a different country that was accompanied with music from the country and some information about the country that helped them a lot to reconnect with their culture. It’s also a way to help other women connect with another culture and also find similarities that help to create this community feeling that we want to create. Women are continuing to do it by themselves even when the program was over, and that’s why we think that this is a great success.

“The name Irida, is a Greek word, meaning spectrum of every set of every shade of color that makes up light. ”

How does the Women’s Center emphasize the importance of understanding and respecting various cultural backgrounds in the services it provides, where there may be some challenges or tension that you have to face between the women involved in the center ?

Understanding and respect are two very important aspects of our work here. We respect all our women and we celebrate diversity, and we also require from all the members of Irida, to respect them and respect each other the same way we do. It’s important to say here that actually the name Irida, is a Greek word, meaning spectrum of every set of every shade of color that makes up light. And this means that we chose this name because it reflects and celebrates the diversity of women that are part of our community. It represents the idea of this center being a place for women of all nationalities, backgrounds, of different skills, that interact and grow together. We understand their abilities, their differences, and try to cohabitate.

What would you say that this, are the key challenges faced by the Women’s Center? And how can the community contribute to overcome these challenges ?

And some of the challenges that the center is facing is, first of all, lack of space. We have a lot of activities that we have in mind and a lot of people that we support. And unfortunately we would need some more space for them to fill. It’s very difficult to find some space with privacy. We have a lot of activities in our mind that we would like to start, but unfortunately, lack of space is something that is always challenging. Another challenge that we face is sometimes the low participation in some of our projects, when you are facing a huge trauma or you have other legal priorities, survival priorities, taking part in an activity is not on your top list obviously.

The last question is, can you share a memorable experience or success story from your time working with the women at the center ?

A memorable experience from my time working with them is, when one of our ladies finally gave birth to her baby and she called us, telling us how happy she was and that everything went fine. Just to give you a little bit of background, we were having a lot of tests and appointments and doctors, whether the baby would be fine or not. And when she finally gave birth and everything was fine, we were also very happy and the baby was healthy and the mother was happy and safe, and that is one of the most memorable experiences…