Racism can exist on many levels finds a fluent migrant now trying to help others find the same degree of settlement he has
“The fact that you’re essentially dealing with people that are facing your own trauma or the trauma that your parents experienced means that every day, it’s like I’m trying to support my mother and father,” says second-generation African immigrant Etinosa, who has not only has made Cyprus his home but has co-founded an NGO with a mission to promote diversity and create an inclusive society where everybody has equal opportunities.
Etinosa Erevbenagie-Johnbull left Nigeria at the age of nine. In Greece, he became a professional basketball player and was eventually offered a scholarship to further his education in Cyprus. “I decided to take the opportunity because psychology is something I was passionate about, I wanted to work in the humanitarian field but within the mental health aspects of it,” he says after completing a Bachelor’s degree in psychology. “A couple of months after I arrived, in 2020, black lives matter happened and the murder of George Floyd and that sparked a motivation in me, or an uneasiness let’s say,” he adds. “I had already had experience in Greece volunteering at an organisation called Generation 2.0 that worked with issues concerning diversity rights and participation of second generation migrants… I felt that that was missing here, I didn’t find a similar organisation that focused on racial issues as a primary objective or talked about participation, empowerment and inclusion.”
Today, Etinosa is the co-founder and managing director of Generation for Change Cy, a not for profit organisation based in the old town of Nicosia, that has three pillars of actions. “We have the humanitarian pillar where we provide material support; the foundation of the organisation is built on providing direct support to people in need regardless of their backgrounds. Whoever asks for our support we provide them with material support; food hygiene essentials, clothing, bedding and so forth,” explains Etinosa.
“The second pillar has to do with empowerment and integration in which we offer language courses, vocational skills training, digital skills classes, connection and facilitation into the labour market connecting them with job opportunities, and of course also training to promote diversity among the employment sector in Cyprus. The third pillar is where we have the advocacy and multiculturalism and we try and raise awareness. We use different methods to do that, organising events either info-based or cultural and support events that support multiculturalism. We also do trainings and campaigns in schools, workshops with teachers and students on the issue of racism, discrimination, human rights and so forth.”
On a personal level, founding the organisation gave Etinosa the opportunity to revisit particular aspects of our society where diversity and oppression meet. “When I went to Greece, I was an African going to Greece so I faced different levels of discrimination and racism. When I was growing up there and became a professional basketball player I wasn’t treated as an African coming in as a migrant trying to integrate, I was treated as a black basketball player who speaks Greek and who has a lot of Greek culture within him, so I was a totally different person experiencing different types of discrimination or challenges when it comes to my race. When I came to Cyprus at 18, I only had my Nigerian passport, I didn’t have the Greek European one yet, so I was facing other types of challenges which is also one of the reasons that led me to stop playing basketball, due to documentation”.
The passport, Etinosa says, changed a lot of things. “First of all, my travelling here wouldn’t have been that easy, or coming to Cyprus being a Nigerian, or my staying on the island, so me being a European was straightforward, I had no stress related to my documents and legal status and that creates a totally different reality; a different reality when it comes to finding jobs, I could work anywhere. At university it was easy because I didn’t have to deal with visas. I also spoke the language and I knew the culture. It was a totally different reality for me being a Greek black person but it allowed me to actually get insights about the different levels of oppression or discrimination that different people face when it comes to either their legal status, the language they speak, how they appear, the particular culture they carry and communicate. It allowed me to live three different lives and types of migrant. Yes, you experience the everyday difficulty related to your skin colour, however that distance is quite easy for me to break.”
To this end, Etinosa’s integration on the island was “quite easy”, and perhaps what enabled him to take a leading role with his foundation. But it is also a position which very few non-whites take on locally, and that’s another, different challenge. “The fact that most of the places I got to are mostly places where I’m either the only black person or one of the few foreign people creates a strange dynamic; people are disturbed, more cautious. When it comes to getting a bank account, for example, even though I have a Greek passport they will also ask, is this real? At the airport, it’s confirmation they seek: do you speak Greek, where do you live, and all the additional questioning that exists although you have all the documentation. Or when it comes to racial profiling by police because you’re driving a decent car and you’re black. Those types of things you have to be very cautious of and that’s been my reality,” he adds.
Fronting the foundation has also led him into direct contact with institutionalised racism. Instead of sending an email himself, he gets someone with a Greek name to do so to “bypass the first level of cautiousness. When it comes to support it takes more time trying to build that trust just because of who you are.”
A relatively new NGO, Generation for Change Cy has 11 staff, 15 volunteers on the main team, and over 100 volunteers from all backgrounds and expertise.
He’s been through the calamities of migration himself, and this, combined with a sound understanding of psychology is perhaps what makes Generation for Change Cy and its approach different from other NGOs. “When it comes to psychology the impact is undeniable because at the end of the day, we’re dealing with very vulnerable people, so having a background and foundation when it comes to how different experiences or conditions may influence the wellbeing of an individual but also physically as well, because everything starts the dynamic interaction with the mind and the body is very important. Having the background knowledge of let’s say the impact of depression, and how that impacted someone on not coming to classes for example or the possibility of offering young kids from war zones to actually have access to sports to boost their confidence and energy level to then be able to participate in other classes or follow their education…”
His experience has also helped him “when it comes to managing a whole team and different personalities, but also withstanding and manoeuvring mentally through all these stories and these real-life individuals because we all tend to put everybody in the same basket. But if you take your time and sit in front of an immigrant, it’s quite heavy. They’ve been through things and that could easily be me trying to cross the sea with my father for the sake of my mother and my sisters and myself. Seeing that again and again can be quite challenging mentally. To who much is given, much is expected, and that comes with a challenge too,” he adds.
And when we look at the current reality in the region and more wars developing around us, how does Etinosa feel about the situation on the ground. “We’re definitely living in a difficult situation. It’s true that the number of asylum seekers is reducing but I wouldn’t necessarily say that that equates to better conditions. For example, access to work being changed from being her for one month to nine months creates increased vulnerability and reduced life conditions for new asylum seekers.
“We’re seeing pushbacks in the sea and in the land, with people being kept in the buffer zone right now, so there are new challenges, we’re seeing a lot of people asking to be returned, so we’re seeing a lot of vulnerable people who are asking to return home because of the harsh conditions here which is definitely against the refugee law, the declaration of human rights and other structures that were developed during difficult conditions, difficult periods of humanity. We are repeating history,” says Etinosa.
And NGOs too are shrinking, he says, with a lot of organisations closing, reducing operations, sponsors are pulling out because of the criminalisation that exists around migrants as well as the negative rhetoric, the xenophobia and political games that exist when it comes to supporting to the other side. “A lot of NGOs are being penalised and a lot of negative narratives are being promoted about NGOs and civil society,” says Etinosa.
“On a individual level we’re seeing people who have been here for a couple of years getting their status, going through university or formal education to acquire skills and getting good job positions, starting their own grassroots organisation or business. So we are seeing the success stories. Because Cyprus, we have to be honest, is still going through the first big wave of first-generation migrants and refugees coming in, so of course the conditions won’t be strong, of course the society may not be ready to accept them and that’s what we see is also changing. Yes, the narrative from the state may not be so welcoming but thankfully we have colleagues in different departments who are for inclusion, who are for what the EU values really stand for, who are willing to actually support the backbone that is provided by us, we are seeing more people willing to collaborate”.
For more information visit generationforchangecy.org/
