my friend volunteers in a refugee camp in Greece

Hi there

As some of you may or may not know, I am volunteering in a refugee camp in Greece at the moment. A number of people have been interested in it and have asked for some pictures so I thought I would send some out to my friends.

Below are some pictures of the camp, we’ve been asks not to put anything on facebook so if you don’t mind please don’t post or share them. (I did ask for permission to post the email).

It’s an intense experience and difficult to put into words.

The organisation I am with has responsibility for giving out clothing and some food, they also look after the children’s playground and a women’s room.

Clothes are tough as they are rationed and particularly when it is cold it is very difficult to say no to people. Being fair is regarded as hugely important, so sticking to the ration is also important. We are told to be firm but keep a smile on your face. The first couple of days it was very cold and I had to tell a woman in her 40s that she had to choose between leggings and trousers, she smiled and told me it was cold and surely she could have both, I smiled and told her I was so sorry but she could only have one. She smiled and counted the numbers of layers of clothing I was wearing, four layers and a jacket, then she counted her own , two layers. I had to smile and tell her she had to choose between trousers or leggings.

Playing with the children is just like playing with children anywhere, the little ones are easy to play with as they just respond to anyone giving them attention and will play anything, the older ones are much more wary. The boys in particular tend to respond better to the male volunteers as football seems to transcend any language barrier !

The infrastructure of the camp is organised by the UNHCR, they provide the tents and now thankfully container/ boxes for shelter, they also deal with the things like electricity water, toilet facilities etc. The Greek army looks after the security and also delivers meals which people hate as it is always the same, pasta, rice or potatoes with a little bit of tomato paste. The food we give is more to help people do their own cooking oil, flour, vegetables etc. Again it’s all rationed and people can come once a week and pick up the ration, they have organised the food into a sort of makeshift shop and rather than give everyone the same thing, they give everyone a number of “points” so they can choose what they would like for the week. It creates a more dignified way of giving food and they try to make it like a shopping experience.

The camp itself is in an abandoned and semi derelict army camp, there are various buildings in different states, few have glass in the windows and electricity is very intermittent at the moment. People were living in tents up until this week but now they have moved and are living in what are called isoboxes. These are like containers but they have a door. They are given mattresses but not much else, there are no cooking facilities and people make their own makeshift arrangements for fires to cook on. As yet they don’t have electricity and no heating.

On the whole most of the residents are good humoured, very polite. But there are tensions just below the surface, which is why the agencies try to be rigorously fair, any sense that someone is getting more than their fair share can mean a big argument.

Children over 12 go to the local Greek school. They go in the afternoon after the Greek children have finished for the day. For younger children there are a few lessons on the camp but not much and they tend to hang around wanting to play.

Some of the women are very traditional quite shy but there are some younger women, particularly the younger unmarried women who are quite outgoing, some have quite good English. I haven’ had so much contact with the men, mostly because it has been the women’s turn to have clothes this week, the men are next week. As yet I haven’t felt comfortable enough to ask people about their experiences, it seems too intrusive.

People come and go. Most are waiting for their asylum requests to be processed but it is a very slow process and will take months. The new arrivals are people from camps on the islands which the Greek government are trying to close. They are allowed to apply to a number of different countries, Germany and Scandinavia are the most popular and I am told that very few put down the UK as an option.

There was a baby born in the camp a few days ago. All the women who have children in Greece are routinely give a Caesarian which then leaves them incapacitated for a while. She has been moved to a hotel for a week but then has to go back. I went to visit with some supplies, she is twenty five this is her fifth child and the oldest is 10, so she had her first child at 15. All 7 of them are In small hotel room for the week and then it’s back to the camp.

Yesterday was the woman’s hour in the community room. They set out a couple of sewing machines and things like nail polish and makeup. The younger women and girls like having their nails painted and hair done and the older married women tend to stick together and do sewing. It’s much harder to connect with the older women the language is much more of a barrier and they are much more wary and I guess conscious of the indignity of the situation. It’s odd the things that tug at your heart and affect you. As the younger girls were playing with the make up a middle aged resident approached and asked one of the volunteers to help her pluck her eyebrows, the volunteer was slightly anxious but did so, when she had finished the woman spent a full ten minutes looking I the mirror examine and admiring the work and smoothing her eyebrows before returning to her group. There was something about this dignified woman making such an intimate request to a stranger that got to me.

A women today asked me through sign language if she could have some scrap material which had been lying at the bottom of a cupboard so that she could use it to make some curtains. Because of the issue of fairness And not giving some people more than others, had to get the OK to give it to her. There was only a couple of minutes before the lights went out and they would all have to leave the room and the person I had to speak to was way over the other side of the camp so I ran over, all the while I was trying to think up some reason why this woman should be allowed the scrap of material. I remembered some rule or other which sounded plausible and got the ok, ran back to the camp but the lights went out just as I got there , through the dark I found her and gave her the thumbs up for the scrap material. I have no idea whether it was really that important to her but for me it had assumed huge importance.

Today we tried to have an arts and crafts session with the smaller children to do some finger painting. I felt a tremendous sense of achievement that the session went well for a full 30 minutes before descending into anarchy! Small things!

A number of people I’ve emailed said they would like to donate so I have become shameless in asking now! If you feel so inclined the link is below, doesn’t matter how small !

https://mydonate.bt.com/charities/refugeessupporteurope