Northern Greece July 2016

spontaneous mindful movement session with children 

50,000 + refugees are now stuck in Greece following the EU Turkey deal , actually the deal seems to have stalled but this does not help the thousands of people who are waiting with uncertainty about their future. On this, our third visit I have gone out with our friend Salah Baba Rasool from the Welsh Refugee Council to help establish our project Refugee Trauma Initiative ( see the website www.refugeetrauma.org for more details ) in the camps in northern Greece following the bulldozing of Idomeni where we were previously based.

Piled up with yoga mats to run a mindfulness session at Lagadikia

Once again the conditions are different. On our first trip people were hopeful of a future in Germany, Sweden or another destination. Now there is far less certainty about what lies ahead. The often military run camps are supported by ngos on the ground trying to establish some services Refugee Trauma Initiative is a project set up to offer Psychosocial support to refugees and training and support to volunteers. Lack of activities and anything to do along with the heat of a Greek summer foster boredom and frustration.

Women long to be able to cook for themselves.  Slowly things are being put into place to improve the situation but mostly the families we met wanted to be able to move on. The first wave of refugees were often the young men, sons  sent ahead many of whom made it to Germany. Now many of the people in the camps are the parents, sisters, wives and children of those who have reached north west Europe. We negotiated permission to work in two camps alongside the Danish Refugee Council, MSF and Medicin du Monde the Greek Drs of the world outfit. I am particularly delighted to be working in partnership with Nurture Project International who provide fantastic support for mothers and babies and very kindly are sharing their great dome tents with us so that we can provide group work for women. This sort of support has been close to our hearts from the first visit in Lesvos that we made last september. We are also offering debriefing for Nurture volunteers, Syrian American Medical Services( SAMS) and sessions for Help Refugee volunteers amongst others. The work volunteers do is demanding and intense and it is wonderful to be able to offer spaces for reflection and decompression

Dancing with Kurdish women

This time our team comprised of Beth our wonderful coordinator. Marais our UK coordinator who came out for a few days and Salah who himself had made a similar journey 19 years ago eventually finding refuge in the UK. Together we connected with about 130 refugees as well as many volunteers and Humanitarian aid workers. We ran several mindfulness based stress reduction sessions, had many cups of tea with families and couples and shared a meal with a lovely young kurdish family. We did some 1:1 sessions with particularly vulnerable people including young unaccompanied minors. We have bought equipment yoga mats, rugs, arabic /english books, soft cuddly toys and other toys for the project so that the work can be continued by other therapists following in our footsteps over the coming months. We were able to fund accommodation and flights for team members to enable this work and are extremely grateful to all our donors for your generosity. Although the refugee crisis is no longer deemed news worthy we hope that the plight of these people is not forgotten. If you haven't already done so I really recommend the BBC series Exodus which was shown a couple of weeks ago and probably still available on player.

warmest wishes 

Ariana

Taking stock

Yesterday we received 4 more UK parcels, making a total so far of 18 parcels...  Shipments funded by our appeal.

We have also bought (from go get funding appeal money) and distributed:

800-1000 bottles  of water

Several crates of apples

Several crates of bananas

150 cereal bars

Hundreds of biscuits

Bought and topped up medical supplies, dustbins, bin bags, brooms, dustpan and brushes, tarps, emergency blankets (500) thermometers

Distributed:

4-5 bin liners of Sun hats

100s of nappies, baby wipes and sanitary towels

Gave approx 200 people lifts in car.

We saw an estimated 400 people in our 10 pop-up first aid clinics.

Julie gave antenatal care to about 12 pregnant women.

In Moria camp we triaged about 45 patients to the doctors' surgery.

Other tasks included meeting and networking with other volunteers and NGO representatives, communicating, problem solving and liaising with other agencies regarding emergency situations, finding and working with refugee translators, clothing wet people and settling them into camp, rubbish clearance, camp tidying, sorting donated clothes and goods and finally doing this blog and updating our donors.

We are coming home with lots of memories of all the faces of the amazing and courageous people we met who are seeking safety and a new life.  We have met some great volunteers and it is incredible what can be achieved through sheer determination.  The crisis has, in our view, reached new emergency levels and we fear terribly what might occur next.

We have just received news that a boat capsized this morning and an 8 yr old girl has drowned...

A search for more bodies is taking place.

We carried all the good wishes of our families, friends, colleagues and also people we don't know who have contributed to our efforts to make a difference.  Thankyou.

In particular we want thank our wonderful families who have been part of this from the outset and the rest of our wonderful back up team, France and London - you know who you are.

Friday18th

Our thoughts this morning were with the 100s of people, adults and children, who we saw at our car boot first aid clinic who, despite injuries, blisters, feeling unwell could not be persuaded to spend another night on the pavement.  They set off in the late afternoon to walk to Kalloni, the first part of the journey is a punishing 4-5km uphill climb.  Even at this time 32 degrees.  So although we had intended to spend our last day restocking and handing over our first aid kit, we decided instead to load up the car with food and water again to distribute to people walking along this route.

We arrived at the transit camp in Kalloni to discover that there had been an incident and a volunteer had got hurt.  So all the volunteers had been told to leave.   This left a bus driver and his empty bus with no instructions and therefore no option but to reluctantly leave.  We liaised with two men who came forward as spokesmen to try to see if a solution could be found.  

Everybody was sitting down calmly and we gathered that many people were hungry.  After carefully considering the situation we decided to go and buy enough fruit to distribute to everyone.  Crucially Ariana was able to contact a local Greek woman who had spontaneously formed a volunteer group to help refugees.  She responded immediately and without hesitation and contacted the bus company.  She met us at the site.  We know food distribution amongst hungry people can be precarious but it was managed well with great teamwork, with the help of the spokespeople.  

We then "opened" our car boot clinic and treated the numerous blisters, bites, headaches and small injuries.

We left feeling that we had managed to help turn a potentially volatile situation around.  

Thurs 17th

We heard that help was urgently needed in Skala Sikaminia as 50 boats arrived yesterday.  We drove there with our kit and arrived to find a steady stream of refugees climbing up the steep 2km mountain road to join the hundreds already gathered and waiting for the elusive bus.

People had spent the night there and the rubbish bin and been emptied where people had searched for cardboard to make fires to keep warm overnight.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfXLL5eOAuM

Ariana drove up and down the steep road giving lifts to vulnerable people - many families - so difficult to decide who to prioritise.  She found a man with a severe cut hand, bleeding, wrapping his hand in a quick bandage and then plastic bag to avoid getting blood on rental car!  Julie then, at the top of the hill, dressed and compressed the hand more thoroughly to stem the bleeding and sent him on his way.   At this point and for the next 24-48 hrs, single men were being asked to walk as the bus queues totally outweighed bus capacity.

In the early afternoon we were called back to Molyvos because there was a need for first aid and there were no medical people around.  We could not believe the huge numbers also waiting for buses here and that no buses had been since the early morning.  We were told that there was a rush for the bus as people in desperation had been waiting for so long and there were not enough hands to manage the situation safely therefore buses were cancelled.  Everyone is frustrated.

Weds 15th

I Day 3 Moria Camp.

We were joined by Sophie, Sofie and Ricky.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4T1EzlqXJdk

Just as we arrived to the camp riot police also turned up and marched through camp in full protective gear.  The tense atmosphere was palpable and we needed to decide what to do for the best.   Whilst unloading our medical kit we spotted two men, limping and blood stained, supported on either side by their friends with an IRC person who was trying to find a doctor.  She explained that they had been stabbed the previous night in the queue for registration.  

This was the only incidence of violence we had come across so far which, given the horrendous conditions people are having to endure, was quite surprising but nevertheless shocking.

We took them past the riot police and through security gates into a different part of the compound where some of the doctors were stationed.  We observed the police taking refugees' whole hand prints for the registration process.

One man told us he had been there 48 hrs already but had no idea where to access information and had lost faith in the numbered queueing system as people were paying to jump the queue.

There was very little visible presence of any NGOs in this camp.

We created some shade for our pop up clinic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ff2od7h-Ulk

Tues 14th Sept

Day 2 of our pop up clinic in Moria Camp, triaging for Medicins du Monde.  Seeing pregnant women, children, men and dealing with minor things ourselves and passing on more serious cases to the docs.  So great to see some toddler twins who we sent to the docs yesterday with diarrhoea feeling much better.  Everybody breastfeeding which is fab.  There is more evidence of support from UNHCR and IRC, eg boxes of hygiene kits.  Thanks to everyone who collected sun hats and bags etc.  We were very excited to personally receive 14 of our boxes of donations today. The sun hat pile has trebled in size and we will take a bag full to hand out tomorrow.  The refugees thankyous are sincere and heartfelt and therefore everyone who has sent goods or donated to our appeal has helped to make their journey a little better.  Xxx

Our 13 yr old translator who was absolutely brilliant today.  She got around not knowing words very well e.g. Liquid poo for diarrhoea! 

Unpacking one of our boxes.  Loved the socks inside shoes - thanks JoJo.

A Medicine San Frontiere tent at Kara Tepe

Saturday 1 week in, 1 week to go

Things are very difficult for the refugees today as, unlike yesterday, there has been little or no transport.  Groups have started walking again even though it is very hot and they are already exhausted by their journey so far.  Again, many people sleeping tonight on pavements, on cardboard if they could find any.  There are no toilets laid on, and no running water because the council will not allow it.

We do not feel this is in any way acceptable or adequate.  Pregnant women are worried about their unborn children because of these conditions and no access to proper food.  Biscuits and the odd piece of fruit is not a balanced diet.  There are cafes, but not everybody can access them.

We are dumbfounded to witness how displaced peoples are disempowered in the receiving. (host) country and to see their disbelief at the situation is so distressing  This is trauma in action and so we have begun to build an initiative to join all the stakeholders together.  

At 6.30 we met a family of 14.  The English-speaking man was exhausted and at his wits end, but still decided to continue along the road into the night, instead of resting in the village until the morning.

We have bought brooms and bin bags and try to do some clearing up whenever we can and the refugees willingly help.  These two gorgeous children joined in