Project Mu.SA – Museum Sector Alliance is funded by the Erasmus+ / Sector Skills Alliance programme and coordinated by the DAISSy Research Group of HOU. The purpose of the Mu.SA project is to fill the gap between formal education and the labor market that has arisen due to the ever-increasing adoption of Information and Communication Technologies into the museums and the subsequent emergence of new specialties. With the aim of enhancing the digital skills of museum and cultural professionals, targeted training actions, including a MOOC, four hybrid training seminars and internships, were designed and implemented within the project. The certification is based on the European Skills Frameworks DigComp and European eCompetences Framework (e-CF).

Dr. Achilles Kameas, Professor of HOU, Director of DAISSy research group and Scientific Coordinator of Mu.SA project opened the Infoday. Brief welcome speeches were given by Mrs. Stavroula Sdrolia, Head of the Ephorate of Antiquities of Larissa and Director of the Diachroniko Museum of Larissa, Mr. Panos Sapkas, Deputy Mayor of Culture and Sciences of the Municipality of Larissa and the Director of Secondary Education of Larissa, Mr. Ioannis Kapsalis.

The first part of the Infoday included the presentation by HOU Professor Mr. Achilles Kameas of the Mu.SA project and other European projects in which the DAISSy research group participates as coordinator or partner. Among them, Prof. Kameas presented extensively the WEMIN project, as a good practice for improving inclusion of migrant women through empowering cultural awareness and exchange. He described the various types of interventions that the project will implement and prompted participants to consider possible adaptation to their local communities.

In conclusion, the Infoday has been a major success, attracting more than 80 participants, and has also gained considerable visibility in local media. The event was attended by museum professionals, students and graduates of cultural studies programs, scientists, researchers, teachers as well as employees of the Ephorates of Antiquities of Larissa, Trikala, Karditsa and Magnesia. Perhaps for the first time, representatives from all four Ephorates participated simultaneously at an event about new technologies in museums and the development of the relevant skills by their employees. Brochures of project WEMIN were distributed to all participants, who had the opportunity to exchange ideas and practices on the professional and organizational development of cultural organizations and their link with education, to discuss the benefits of relevant actions and the obstacles they face, and to create synergies to address of them.

DIVINA-EDU project is funded by the Erasmus + / CA2 EU program and is coordinated by the Centro de Formación Somorrostro (Spain) with partners from Greece, Spain, Italy, Portugal, among which is the HOU-DAISSy Research Group. The project’s aim is to provide adult educators and administrative staff of adult education bodies with specific skills and tools, in order to be able to effectively manage the diversity among their learners.

“….if you are in a place that you feel secure and you are not afraid that somebody is going to kill you, you hope that one day you will have a family again … “

Marie is 32 years old and she is from Cameroon. She has studied marketing and she has been working as a teacher in her country, teaching French to small children. Being in serious danger, she left Cameroon in 2017.

Marie paid a lot of money to a man for helping her with her trip. When she arrived in Istanbul, Turkey, he introduced her to a woman who promised to help her to issue a residence permit. Instead, she got Marie into prostitution and kept all her documents.

“After this man left me, the woman told me this is the place you will stay and the place you can work. Work, which work, I said? You will see, she said, if you need residence you have obligation to do that. Do what? Sleep with men…This woman did me a lot of harm, also beating me, and torturing me in very bad ways. In the morning this place was normal and good, but in the night many men came. What this woman made me, I won’t understand it in my whole life. I didn’t eat, I was only crying all day..”

Marie had been suffering this situation for six months, until one day she met a girl who helped her escape from this woman’s house. “I told her I want to go to the police. She told me this was not a good idea, since I did not have any papers. Turkish don’t know of human rights. If you go and accuse this woman, maybe she puts somebody to kill you. The only option you have is to run for Izmir, and from there to Greece.” Marie was despaired and thought of returning to Cameroon, but fortunately this girl paid for all her transportation expenses and Marie arrived safe to Izmir. There she worked for almost a month in a garment business, so as to gain some money to pay for her trip to Greece. Along with thirty more persons, she crossed the Aegean sea in a boat, wearing no life jacket since she didn’t have enough money to pay the trafficker for it.

However, she managed to arrive safe in a Greek island and then reached Athens.

“…When you have faced too many problems, you think now they are finished. I believed again that God exists, that he picked me and brought me to a paradise that I will not be in danger of being killed again….I am alone here and I have nothing, but if you are in a place that you feel secure and you are not afraid that somebody is going to kill you, you hope that one day you will have a family again. You see, when I come to school and I see all of you I am happy. I cannot stay in my house. To make what? I am happy of learning Greek. Because I want to speak.  I want to be very important for this country.  My intention is to work. I went in a hotel to work, where they were asking for English and Greek.  The man there told me that if I learn to speak Greek everything will go well and I will find a job. So, this gave me power again to learn…I want to be useful for this country. I cannot be useful if I do not speak Greek. It is my obligation to learn it and to come here every time. Each day I come here I have one objective: to learn one sentence. This gives me power. When I don’t come to school I feel like sick, I am missing it. Even if I can’t come from the beginning, even if I am sometimes late, I want to come. I live together with six girls in an apartment. They all have documents, but they don’t go to school to learn Greek. Me, I have no documents but I come. Not just now, I started learning Greek since I was in the island. From 8.30 o’ clock in the morning I attend different kind of courses here in Greece. When I get back home at night I say, ok God, everything went well today, I take my shower and I relax ….”