- Organising: workshops, conferences (local, European, International), festivals, fundraising activities (concerts, solidarity dinners, cultural events), regular games events (chess,scrabble, volley and basketball).
- Organising campaigns (regularisation campaign for undocumented migrant workers, citizenship for 2nd generation migrants, 8HR Recognition and respect for Migrant Domestic workers).
- Communicating (human rights, current law on migrant issues, situation and current news from the Philippines (through a weekly programme on state radio station and a weekly newspaper) to Filipinos and other migrants in Greece).
- Training (leadership training, team-building workshops, women’s empowerment seminars, self-awareness training, language teaching, training in computer use, and in other skills.
- Educating (early child education) the children of migrants, and their teachers on new methods on Early Child Education.
- Sharing, with other migrant organizations (information, facilities, human and material resources )
- Solidarity: providing temporary shelter for victims of human rights and domestic abuse, visiting people in police lock-ups or jail and intervening when possible, giving guarantees for people held at ports and the airport, staging campaigns for victims of labour injustice
- Networking with Greek, European and International NGOs which support migrants, membership in European and International Bodies such as RESPECT Network, Babaylan-Philippine Women’s Network in Europe, Platform of Filipino Organizations in Europe and MRI- Migrants Rights International. Participating and representing KASAPI in international fora (i.g. Conferences, seminars, trainings, and congresses).
- Advocacy work: promoting the needs and concerns of migrants in Greece (and in Europe) by developing ties with trade unions, political parties governmental bodies and MP in Greece (and with the EU Parliamentarians and European NGOs).
- Providing Counseling to Filipino migrants on social, legal and labour problems
Outcomes
The first concern of KASAPI, on its foundation in 1986, was to address the issue of undocumented migrants. Greek Trade Unions and Migrant Support NGOs took up the issue after some years, to the point where it eventually entered the public consciousness . This has become a key element of all demonstrations concerning migrants. Through our perseverance the issue was brought to the attention of the Greek law-making body, resulting in the drafting of a bill which eventually was voted into law. Thousands of undocumented migrants have benefited from this.
In 2005, together with other migrant organisations, especially United African Women Organisation, we launched a sustained campaign for the citizenship of second generation migrants. Our demands have at last been met, with recent passing of the citizenship law for thosands of second generation migrants and the right for documented migrants to vote in the municipal elections.
A group of midwives, who were employed as nursing aides at a maternity hospital in Athens, were dismissed in 1989, when the hospital was taken over by the state. We embarked on a campaign for them to be remunerated and allowed to stay in Greece. With the active support of the Athens Labour Centre (ALC), they were eventually compensated and allowed to stay. An important outcome of this association with the ALC was the provision, by them of an office space which we use for our Board meetings.
When a group of garment workers were dismissed from their work, in 1997, without compensation and were about to be deported from Greece, we launched a dynamic campaign on their behalf, putting pressure on the Philippine Embassy to support them in their desire to stay in Greece and to receive remuneration from the company. Although the Embassy did nothing, our campaign drew a strong wave of support from various organisations and trade unions which brought the issue to the attention of the government, with the result that most of the workers were able to stay.
In October, last year, KASAPI learned about the plight of 12 Philippine seafarers, trapped since July on a cargo ship that had problems with the authorities and was not permitted to unload. The Greek owner of the ship had not paid their salaries for several months and they were often not supplied with food. A campaign was initiated by KASAPI, mobilising the Philippine community to provide them with money and food and publicising it at an international conference (PGA conference) which KASAPI had helped organie so that it became an international issue. For this, several trade unions responded by putting us in touch with the London-based International Transport Federation which helped in pressing for legal measures to be taken in Greece for the salaries to be paid and for the seafarers to be able to leave the ship and finally to be repatriated. All have received partial payment, as a result of the court case, and eight have already been repatriated to the Philippines
As a valuable aspect of KASAPI’s work in continually providing information to members of the Philippine community, on issues relevant to their lives, we were able to negotiate a regular radio program with a Greek national radio station. Since 2003, we have been airing Philippine news and music and interviews and disucssions in our own language.
Because of the leading role KASAPI plays in the Philippine community, we were approached in 2004, by a publisher of migrant newspapers to create a weekly newspaper. Although it is not a specifically KASAPI project, the editor and contributors are all KASAPI members. Members of KASAPI are also promoting it to the community at large.
As a result of KASAPI’s leadership training and development programme, both men and women members have always taken an active role in running the organisation and taking responsibility for community events, campaigns and other actions.
Since KASAPI is committed to empowerment of women, it has made a special effort to provide continuing education for women, building up their capabilities so that they could represent KASAPI and participate in international conferences and seminars on migrant issues.
An outcome of KASAPI’s position with regard to women’s empowerment, is the formation of a women’s cooperative, DIWATA. The women pool their spare money to create a fund which can then be a source of microcredit for the contributing members. Since women are concerned with problems of cash flow, this project has responded to the needs of many women, to send money for their children to go to school, to build homes homes back in the Philippines, to buy needed appliances. Some women have even used the funds to set up small businesses in the Philippines. Some have used the funds to pay the exhorbitant fees for renewing their residence and work permits. DIWATA has also been a force in the empowerment of its members who are confident in representing Philippine migrants in Greece and in Europe.
Responding to the desperate need of migrant parents for a place where they could leave their children while they were working the long hours necessary for survival, in 1994, KASAPI set up a child care centre called Munting Nayon, in an area heavily populated by Philippine migrants. We had limited resources but raised money by singing Christmas carols, by soliciting donations from members of KASAPI and also taking from the common KASAPI fund. It started with 14 Philippine children and quickly grew to almost 60 children within a year. Munting Nayon provided the children with a stimulating and caring environment, a midday meal (cooked on the premises) and operated from 7am to 6.30pm. Event, due to neighbours’ complaints, we had to move.
In 1997, an large, old two-storey building was rented and renovated by members of KASAPI so as to fulfil the basic requirenents for a day care centre. By now there were about 75 children from 2 years old to 6 years and we began offering formal education moving eventually up to the 6th grade of primary school, following the Philippine curriculum. The number of enrollees have doubled because of a huge demand for children to come to a school where they learn Filipino and English languages. We soon realized that since children are growing up in Greece, it is no longer an option for them to go back to the Philippines. We decided the to stop the primary school and encouraged parents to send their children to Greek schools where they learn Greek language so as to integrate more effectively and to be able to build their careers here.
Although the initial intention had been to provide care for Philippine children only, we very soon were approached by migrants of other nationalities. Currently, the day care centre caters to children from Africa, Asia and the Balkan countries.
During the first legalization process, in 1998, we helped hundreds of Philippine migrants fill out their application forms for residence permits and delivered them to the authorities for processing.
KASAPI was the key organiser of the 2009 PGA (People’s Global Action) Conference, in Athens, in November, an event held annually, in parallel with the Global Forum on Migration and Development, which was hosted this year by the Greek government. KASAPI brought together migrant groups in Greece and Greek NGOs to prepare for the Conference, to find a venue (the use of two buildings in TECHNOPOLIS-GAZA was kindly granted to us by the Municipality of Athens), to set up contact with the press, to plan “exposure” visits to governmental bodies and other organisations working with and for migrants and to mobilise other organisations in Greece to participate. At the Conference, KASAPI co-organised some workshops on migrant domestic workers.
KASAPI joined the International working group for domestic workers in its international campaign for the rights of domestic workers – the 8HR campaign. This campaign asserts that domestic workers should be covered by the 8-hr working standard and that 8 essential rights should be recognised and guaranteed equal application for domestic workers.
