Article by Georgia Bekridaki, Dock, Greece
Habibi.Works is an intercultural makerspace and a platform for empowerment for refugees and Greek locals. The community around Habibi follows the values of respect of the personality of the individual, solidarity with all people in need through horizontal structures, visioning equality as the main principle of the society and not just the aid towards the most vulnerable.
A space of open workshops, in the region of Ioannina that includes the community kitchen, the wood workshop, the metal workshop, the sewing atelier, the creative atelier, the media lab/FabLab and other working areas.
Habibi.Works was founded by a small German NGO Soup and Socks e.V. in 2016 as an intercultural FabLab, designed to bring refugees, locals and international experts together to create products and perspectives. In concrete terms, Habibi.Works is a 700m2 space, consisting of 11 different working areas in which people create, learn, teach and meet.
The main aim of Habibi is the recognition of the multiple identities and elements of refugees, asylum seekers and migrant besides migration and enforced displacement, to interact with local society through their skills and competences, through educational activities, through social solidarity economy initiatives. Refugees and migrants as members and not just users of the Habibi makerspace exchange knowledge skills and work in a collaborative environment practicing new ways of working relations among them.
Website https://habibi.works/
