My dear friends,
I am sorry to send you a round robin but it feels more personal than Facebook and I wanted to be in touch with you all so
Greetings from Alexandreia , Northern Greece near the border with Macedonia. As many of you know when the Pope took 3 Syrian refugees familes back to the Vatican I decided it was time to stop shouting at David Cameron on tv and radio and do something myself so ... here I am and some of you sweetly asked me to let you know how things are going so I will do my best to share what I have discovered ....But where and how to start? The problem so immense, the suffering so vast , the pain so huge and at times overwhelming.
Spent the first 3 days in Athens just trying to find out whats going on ,not easy but on day one went to Victoria Square where refugees from Syria,Afghanistan, Morocco, Libya, Somalia etc gather. It was pretty heartbreaking. Families wandering about with nowhere to go filling the benches in the park. Police politely asking them to move on which they did but where to go? The day is so long when you have no home. One delightful young family from Afghanistan told me they are in a camp but no money ,no work,he was a medical engineer back home ,no hope ,and wish they had never left the violence, better to die on the spot at the hands of the Taliban than die here every day,they will ask to be repatriated and probably killed. For now all they do is wait, and wait and worry about their children who should be in school . Processing applications takes for ever.They can't leave till given permission!
Checked out Hotel Plaza off the square ,huge place ,squatted 3 weeks ago by young Greek volunteers now home to 300 families delighted to have a room per family, bathroom, running water ,security, privacy, almost luxury after the gruesome conditions at the port .Fed by volunteers carting boxes of fruit and veg up the interminable stairs to the fancy hotel kitchens. Apparently it was owned by a wealthy Syrian who wasn't planning to evict them.They had struck lucky at least for now. But sorry its FULL !said the notice on the door.
Day 2 and 3 I spent at the port of Piraeus where thousands of refugees had landed after their terrifying journey from their homelands and huge cruise liners are arriving full of wealthy tourists. The docks had been covered with tents but now refugees are hastily been shipped out to camps in Athens and around Greece, tent cities not a pretty site for the tourists and the Greek economy desperately needs any money it can get. Greece is currently accommodating something like 59,000 refugees! A bankrupt country burdened with such a tide of suffering, dispossessed humanity! What a tragedy!
But at dock E1 and 2 hundreds of refugees remain in their tents on the tarmac mainly Afghanis .Syrians seem to get priority. Volunteers cooking vast meals in huge dark smelly warehouses also filled with tents! A ghastly environment in which to set up home. A wonderful woman from USA had arrived in February gathered a couple of caravans and set up a support centre for women, offering pregnancy testing, check ups with midwife or doctors who are on site, contraceptive advise and a particularly sweet van offering warm water baby bathing! lots of cuddles and love! I spent a happy day filling carrier bags with nourishing food for pregnant and nursing mums. Many are suffering from malnutrition. Generous donors from Sweden and Ireland dropped by with boxes of goodies. Tuna,nuts ,raisins high energy bars,fruit.
Conditions were grim. Unfortunately I had to use the toilets ,truly disgusting in spite of the good offices of the port cleaning gang. For people used to squat toilets they must be a nightmare. I am truly amazed that the refugees seem to cope as well as they do. Constantly being checked by the police for their papers. Living in gruesome conditions. Of course I don't really know anything!
So I had done the research now what should I do? Where should I volunteer for the next couple of weeks?
Athens didn't feel the right place to stay. Too chaotic, I needed a proper project so looked on Facebook my new toy and found Paul Hutchings and this camp in Alexandreia. Applied to sign up,was accepted and I was on my way.
So Day 4 a splendid train ride, 5 hours for €33 up to Alexandreia, the birthplace of Alexander the Great...well .its a pretty deprived and impoverished town now...Fine hotel for £15 a night including breakfast , special rates for volunteers! Yanya a delightful hostess making us all so welcome. Feel very blessed and relieved to have a quiet and comfortable place to recover from a day in the camp.
Now I am working with a good team of volunteers in the camp set up at the beginning of April on a disused army camp along with the police . Paul and John another Brit set up www.refugeesupport.eu to finance the work here and I and others chose to come here cos they have a pretty good structure and an organisation to navigate this complex situation. They have done a brilliant job but still life is incredibly tough for the 700 refugees here so far. Tents are pitched on tarmac and cement , its hot and uncomfortable and floods when it rains.
Its pretty heartbreaking as you can imagine. 750 Syrians are living in tents provided by UNHCR ,pitched on tarmac and concrete, some lucky ones have shelter from the sun under roofs but mainly they are in full sun and its hot already. I took tea with a sweet family,husband, wife and gorgeous one year old in their tent,both graduates Kurds from Aleppo speaking perfect English . They had lost everything but what does the future hold for them,begging me to get them to England? " How will we live in this tent in the summer, already its too hot for Judy ?the little one we need air conditioning, and in winter how will we survive? " They are desperate, hundreds of desperate people. over 50% of the camp residents are children so far with nothing to do. No hope,no future?
Our job as volunteers is to run and stock the shop . The camp is divided into 7 groups and twice a week they come to collect food supplied by Mr John and Refugee Support with donations from abroad. 500 kilos of muesli from Germany, bras are on their way from? Milk ,soap powder ,shampoo ,pampers coffee ,sugar etc is sourced locally by Mr John . The army provides 3 meals a day croissant and box of juice for breakfast, pasta for lunch ,potatoes for supper. no sauce, no fruit, no vegetables! Again John tries to provide some fruit but such a mass of people to feed! A bottomless pit ! A nightmare?
Have spent the last 2 days sorting endless bags of clothes and shoes so that on Monday we can open a clothes shop. Everyone needs new clothes and their shoes are in dire condition! Its raining today! Apparently another 100 refugees are on their way. The camp at Idomeini near the Macedonian border is being closed . They were teargassed yesterday. 40 unaccompanied children will also join us! Mr Cameron are you listening?
I am so inspired by the volunteers, hundreds of them here in Greece, mainly young people from Europe, the US willing to give up their jobs to come and serve the refugees. Mr John is not young! A few oldies around ! And amazed on the whole by the resilience of the refugees who come into the shop,never grasping ,grateful for everything they are given , saying no we don't need more sugar ,only one milk please? Extraordinary! How would I behave in their shoes? I hope I would be so pleasant.
Slowly other NGO s are coming in cos the camp has a good reputation thanks to John and Paul. Some are here to provide health and safety for kids ,women and men , others offering education ,some sport. A clown shipped up yesterday ,great fun.Today 250 beds were distributed by UNHCR . The greek government has committed to provide education for all children but... These are traumatised people with huge needs both physical, psychological and spiritual. There are Syrian Muslims, Kurdish Muslims, some Christians, Zoroastrian and a Sufi I think there is an Imam here too.
How will this humanitarian crisis be resolved? Apparently in a couple of weeks assessments will begin ,some will qualify for Germany but what will happen to sweet Judy and his mum and dad? They have no relatives in Europe, they left too late to get over the borders they have no money, they can't work,can't go back .....Few want to come to England Cameron will be pleased to hear!
So dear friends I am soooo glad I came. It will be hard to leave after 3 weeks ..If anyone feels they could offer a donation however small that would be wonderful ,just go to the website www.refugeesupport.eu and read all about the work here . The needs are huge, our sisters and brothers are suffering unbelievable hardships
my love to you all
Jill xx
