Empower the refugee and asylum seeker community of Katsikas, Greece through the platform Habibi.Works!

Who We Are

Soup & Socks (e.V.) is a German non-profit organisation which was founded at the peak of the political crisis in Europe in December 2015 to support refugees. Within only 8 months after the date of foundation, the organisation developed from providing selective emergency aid, to implementing the long-term project Habibi.Works - an intercultural makerspace situated in Katsikas, Greece.

The team of Soup and Socks now consists of more than 110 experts from 12 countries. Most of them are sharing their knowledge and investing their time, energy and enthusiasm voluntarily.

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The context

There are currently over 115,000 refugees in Greece and the number is growing every day. Roughly 3800 refugees and asylum seekers live in the Epirus region of Greece. Most are faced with the extremely limited availability of education, employment and integration pathways, while those living in refugee camps also experience a lack of dignified living solutions. Facing indefinite waits in a refugee camp with little to do and in the absence of clear pathways forward, many individuals experience negative repercussions on their mental health.

In this context, individual talents, interests and ambitions have few avenues to be put to use and flourish. Finally, the few support structures that are available tend to offer “help” to refugees and asylum seekers in a way that strips them of agency and dignity and perpetuates dependence on a weak system.

By engaging both the refugee community and host community in a dignified way that promotes self-reliance, self-confidence and self-development, the Habibi.Works project tackles these challenges.

What we do

Habibi.Works is an intercultural maker space and platform for education, empowerment and social encounters. It is open to refugees, Greek locals and international visitors. The makerspace consists of 11 different workshop spaces: a wood workshop, a metal workshop, a bike repair workshop, a sewing atelier, a creative workspace, a MediaLab, a plastic up-cycling workshop,  a community kitchen, a sports centre, a library, and a garden. 

Habibi.Works welcomes individuals from all walks of life to come, learn new skills, share their know-how, and co-create solutions to their own challenges. Each working area is open to visitors at all skill levels to enter with their own innovative ideas, and each person is accompanied by an experienced supervisor in that particular area. It is a safe space to express individual creativity and unfold each person’s full potential.

Our values

People are the experts of their lives. We don’t see people who fled their countries as helpless victims, but as talented and experienced men, women and children who can be an enrichment for our societies, if we provide the structures that allow them to integrate. This is what Habibi.Works aims to do on a small scale.

We work at eye level with people. We support them to create solutions themselves. We listen to their ideas instead of telling them what to do. We encourage them to share their abilities and expertise and to gain transferrable new skills. Habibi.Works is a living example of the values we would like to see in our societies: respect, solidarity and equality. 

Our impact

The organisation's impact through the Habibi.Works project can be seen as both immediate and long-term. For the past 3.5 years the project has proven to have an impact not only on the individuals but also the community, through facilitating creative and educational workshops we allow people to improve their living conditions, gain new skills, knowledge, share experiences and most importantly improve their mental health. Besides practical support on the ground, the organisation promotes encounters, integration and awareness of the situation for refugees and asylum seekers in Greece. We celebrate the talents of the people affected by forced migration, setting positive counterpoints against a growing populist narrative in our societies.    

Habibi Works has been proof that together, people can make meaningful change happen. Your support will allow brilliant, hard-working people who are making an effort to build a new life, to unfold their full potential.

Join us on 11 May for a Digital Iftar

We invite you to join a Digital Iftar on 11 May. The evening will involve a talk reflecting from our collective experiences as a makerspace that provides platform for asylum seekers to be the center of their solutions. Mimi Hapig, one of the co-founders of Habibi.Works will speak specifically on resilience within the asylum seeking communities and the opportunities that are created through community. Tickets are pay-what-you-can. Get yours here!