21-year-old Clifford from Ghana arrived at one of our shelters four years ago. Since then, he has graduated from Greek high school with a diploma in tourism, passed the official Greek language exams, and taken cooking lessons at Odyssea.
Clifford now lives in our 18+ shelter and has been working as a caregiver in one of our shelters since November ’22, with a brief interruption when his asylum application got denied. With the assistance of our legal team that appealed the decision, he was able to get his legal documents back and continue planning for his future. His next step is to go to university to continue studying tourism. “In this world, everyone travels,” he notes. After working hard to integrate and become independent, the new 10-year residence permit for former unaccompanied minors who have completed three years of formal education will give him the peace of mind to pursue his goals.
For the past 2 years, Clifford has also been a lead volunteer for Boroume, an organization working to end food waste. Once a week, he goes to a produce market and collects leftover fruits and vegetables that are then distributed to our shelters. “I also want to be a humanitarian, I want to help people," he says. “That’s who I am as a person, I don’t want to see people suffering. And if I didn’t like volunteering, I wouldn’t be doing it.”