Around 60,000 refugees, most of them from Syria and Afghanistan, are currently stranded in Greece. Originally Greece was a place to pass through, but since other nations closed their borders, many refugees must remain here for the foreseeable future.
Work is hard to find, especially for refugee women. Greece is already bankrupt, and refugees experience language barriers, lack of appropriate skills, and discrimination when seeking employment.
Layali Salon will answer some of that need by hiring refugee women who already have beautician skills, and running a paid apprenticeship program for those who do not. The program will build in Greek language and job seeking skills as well as training in hairdressing, manicure, and other beautician staples.
We already have a building, a formerly abandoned hairdressing salon, donated rent free by the owners. A donor has paid for basic renovations, and we have a trained manager who is an Iranian political refugee who recently gained her advanced beautician certification in Greece. We have a license. We are now in the phase of furnishing the building and kitting it out in order to be able to launch.