Mediation, participation and training are the three words highlighted on the Eicascantic website (Espai d'inclusió i formació Casc Antic). This entity is specialized in imparting language skills (Spanish and Catalan) and social support to the immigrant population of Barcelona to help them in their integration and labor insertion.
Eica was born from the Ciutat Vella Neighborhood Association at the beginning of the eighties as a school for adults for the population that had recently arrived from Andalusia and Extremadura, most of whom were illiterate. During all these years, Eica has been adapting its programs to the new needs of the neighborhood and in 2001 it changed its name to Eiscascantic.
"The project for adults that we are currently developing arose at the end of the nineties when it was detected that immigrants were from outside Spain and did not know our language, so Spanish classes began to be taught," explains Martí Ferrer, coordinator of the care project. company of the entity. "At the beginning of that century we began to see that minors also attended adult classrooms, who needed a more comprehensive training not only with Spanish and Catalan, but also with mathematics, social studies, preparation for job placement, etc.," he adds. Cristina Domingo, coordinator of the project for young immigrants.
The courses they teach last only one term: "It is difficult for adults to spend more time studying, because they either work or are looking for a job, while for young people we recommend continuity as if it were a school year," says Domingo. . Every quarter about 300 students sign up for morning or afternoon courses "and on the day of registration about 20 or 30 always stay out. This shows that we do it well, but the offer is limited" in the building (Comerç, 42) , which they share with other associations.
The limitation in the number of courses is not only due to space but also due to the lack of personnel to teach the classes, since Eicascantic only has seven professionals on the payroll, and the rest, around 50 currently, are volunteers. “They don't come every day to teach their subject, but they are required to commit to a quarter. Sometimes we even have to give more classes ourselves, because we don't have enough volunteers”, affirms Cristina. Martí qualifies that "managing so many volunteers is complicated and despite their commitment and generosity they are not professionals and this makes the training of students precarious."
This entity is financed with public aid and donations from individuals. "There is a mixture of different realities of the students and some cannot even pay for the material that we give them, which is their own," explains the coordinator of the youth project, who joined the entity 6 years ago to do a university internship when she was studying. second year of Primary Education. She was the same as Martí Ferrer, although in her case she was studying to be a social worker.
“It strikes me how people who are sleeping on the street, or who live in misery, come every morning clean and punctual to learn. Last winter a frozen boy arrived and hiding he stuck to the radiator. We offered him coffee and asked him if he needed anything, but he didn't want to talk,” recalls Cristina. “Many are ashamed and it is difficult to detect his real situation. Faced with the will that they show, there is a lack of opportunities,” laments Martí.
Precisely chatting with the students –adults and minors– outside the classes some time ago they detected that there was a need to create a new project: that of mediation or social intervention. An accompaniment to advise on legal and management issues. “In the beginning it was a service only for those who went to the center – says Ferrer -. But it spread by word of mouth and we opened it up to everyone, even people from outside Barcelona, because we serve them as long as they need. And during the pandemic, a new need arose for computer help to teach how to carry out procedures online. The mediation project is perhaps the most complex of all those carried out by Eicascantic, since in some cases gender violence has been detected and the victims are assisted with the help of a lawyer and a psychologist.
Hafida Oujba was born in Morocco. In 2018, she recently arrived in Barcelona, from Huelva, she signed up to learn Spanish and Catalan. She later needed the help of Martí Ferrer as a social mediator and for five months she has been working at Eicascantic “I open the classes, I receive people and I help as a translator,” explains Hafida in poor Spanish. I really like what I do." Ferrer intervenes: “A Colombian and a Venezuelan also collaborate with us. Her vision is interesting. They connect very well, because before all of them were on the other side”.
