Shedia Home
Athens, Greece
Impact
A regular customer base to the brand new Shedia Home, a café which opened in May 2019, provides valuable sustainable income for Shedia’s programs. Planeterra’s partnership with Shedia also increases the visibility of Shedia’s Invisible Tours, a tour of Athens which “makes the invisible, visible” conducted by a guide experiencing homelessness, as well as Shedia’s art project, which trains and employs individuals experiencing homelessness. Look above you when you visit the café – the art installment hanging from the ceiling represents the 43 individuals who now have homes thanks to their connection with Shedia.
Critical Need
Homelessness is a significant social issue in Greece, which was exacerbated by the Greek Financial Crisis which started in 2009, during which an estimated 111,000 Greek companies filed for bankruptcy. There is currently no accurate record of how many Athenians are experiencing homelessness, but the official unemployment rate hit almost 28% during the economic crisis that devastated the country over the last few years, with youth unemployment especially surpassing 50%.
Shedia – meaning “raft” in Greek – is a not-for-profit organization that works to employ and empower people experiencing homelessness and social exclusion in Greece. They have a vast number of programs including a soccer team, an upcycling/art project, a street paper, an educational social tour of Athens led by homeless guides, and a café-bar-restaurant in the historical center of the Greek capital called Shedia Home. Through their programs, 150 people experiencing homelessness and social exclusion have been provided with the opportunity, through working and not begging, to earn an income to cover some of their most basic needs, on a daily basis, while 20 full-time employment positions have been created in the recently launched Shedia Home.
Our Involvement
Planeterra has partnered with Shedia Home and connected the café with one of our tourism partners, G Adventures, so it will now be included on itineraries stopping in Athens.
Travellers will get to have a drink at the café and enjoy an educational talk from one of Shedia’s guides, all of whom are experiencing homelessness themselves.
Shedia’s guides give unparalleled insight into what life is like for individuals who are experiencing homelessness and/or social exclusion, and how Shedia’s programs are combatting the crisis.
