EC Meeting March 2017

working in one direction with shared aims and values and being able to open people’s minds to fight back at the corruption and inequality.

Costas

We then met Costas who set up the project who told us a very interesting story of his past and how he has got to the point where he is now. At the age of the 35 he lost his job in marketing. For 2 years after he tried to find a job but he was too old and it seemed unemployable. He lived with his mother for 6 months and only left the house to buy cigarettes which made him feel useless. His whole life changed when he saw two children eating from a rubbish bin. People could see what they were doing but just ignore what was happening. This made him angry and realised that these children were worse off than him, and he wanted to do something about it. As mentioned by the volunteer he had the idea of bringing people together (using food). It was like creating a family, where everyone is equal and treats each other with respect. No-one show pity, there is an understanding that people are different but that they are all human even if they have differing views (which is the meaning behind the title of the project). It isn’t a charity but a movement of solidarity, a movement of love and respect. Some people need the food and others need the companionship but everyone wants to make their everyday life better and this can be done collectively via this project. It’s based on the idea that people get involved in the actions. Everything in the house is from peoples donations that come into the centre including paying the rent and buying a car. Costas wanted to make it very clear to us that he wasn’t operating an NGO (non- governmental organisation which is funded by the government) and the issues he has with NGOs. Such as the reasons behind why people get involved with them and the government having control over it. He doesn’t want to answer to anyone but do the work for people, to help people – not to be self-serving which he believes NGOs are. He gave us an example of the difference between an NGO and the project; if john comes in for 2 packs of pasta an NGO would have to document everything who gives what to who and how much! Costas can give John 2 packs of pasta and not have to account for it to anyone. He told us lots of NGO’s in Greece are corrupt and fronts for money laundering of which he wants no part of. Incidentally a perfect NGO is designed to work to cease existence but in reality most create the reoccurrence of the issue as it is their paid job and they don’t want to lose it! Unlike Solidarity Pireaus Costas does not get donations from supermarkets and is very choosey who he accepts donations from. For example Coca Cola offered 1 million Euros to help Costas continue his good work and even offered a car to be able to travel to different cities. But everything had to have Coca Cola on it to go on their promotional videos for them to use. So he not so very politely refused. Some companies come to him and if they donate with no conditions he says yes but no in cases like Coca Cola. They need to be involved and join in not just treat it like a charity. Costas can help everyone from anywhere including refugees and economic ones. NGOs have to see papers and will on ly help those who are allowed to be helped in that particular area.

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