Our  Story

The Habibi Center first opened its ​doors to refugee youth on August 8th of 2016, in the town of Eleousa, in the north of Greece, and offered non-formal education to refugees living in several camps and temporary housing around the area. After operating for over 2 years as a grassroots project, in November 2018, the project became registered as a non-profit organization: Association Espanola Habibi Center. 

Since its beginnings, the Habibi Center has provided educational activities to over 300 teenagers and young adults. Today, the Habibi Center is located in the center of Athens and is run by three long-term volunteers. It continues to serve refugee adolescents residing in Athens and providing a safe space for learning, expressing themselves, and for acquiring the tools they need for a brighter future. 

Habibi Center timeline

Our Key Principles

Focusing on the Individual

Habibi Center sees its students as individuals – each of them with a unique and special need, each of them with a different story and personality, and each of them with different dreams. Therefore, Habibi Center has always worked for them – alongside the consent of their relatives or social workers and guardians if they are minors – thinking only about their very personal best, and not for the benefit of third parties.

The More Diversity, The Better

The project has worked since its beginnings to build a healthy and safe space where youth from any gender, country of origin, religion, a​​nd ethnicity would feel safe and welcome. Habibi Center strongly believes that a huge part of the education and personal development of these youth can be only achieved if they first learn to live together and share time and experiences in a diverse atmosphere.

Creating A Family

It is extremely difficult for students to start to focus on their education when they do not have a minimum amount of stability in their daily life and do not feel welcomed and safe in a place. That is the reason why Habibi Center puts a huge effort into trying to create a strong and healthy relationship between students and teachers. Therefore, Habibi Center sees it appropriate to provide them with long-term stability and structure in order to build up the students’ confidence so that they can feel part of a family.

Motivating Youths Through Academic Knowledge

The project gives a lot of importance to MOTIVATION. To build motivation and keep it up, the project follows several key aspects:

  • Habibi Center coordinates its teachers and volunteers with an overlap period in order for students to continue their classes in a structured, consistent and gradual manner.
  • Classes are formed by students with similar levels to create healthy competition and avoid anyone feeling lost – if having a lower level –, or bored – if having a higher level.
  • Students must attend lessons from Monday to Friday, be punctual, and do homework when requested, as only by doing that the entire class can keep the same pace and continue progressing.
  • Habibi Center gives the opportunity to long-term students of taking Cambridge Exams in the English Language. Achieving official certificates not only opens doors for their future, but these exams often help students to realise how hard they need to keep pushing to achieve goals in life and how powerful they can become if they devote their time and effort to studying.

Assuming Responsibilities

Ever since its beginnings, Habibi Center has been financially supported by friends, family, and small groups. The project and all its members, including the students, are fully aware of the huge responsibility of managing the donations and, even more importantly, they are aware of the hope of those donors. The project believes that it is not the best educational approach for students to think that the service Habibi Center is giving them is totally free. Obviously, the project does not ask them for money. Instead, students have the responsibility of thanking both teachers and everybody else supporting Habibi Center in the distance through their respect, effort, and commitment.