After Lesvos III

Tamera

Yesterday some people who volunteered on Lesvos and some more interested people met in Tamera to talk about the impressions, thoughts, feelings, emotions which came up on the island working with refugees. We also discussed how to go on, what we can do here in Portugal. Portugal takes in 10.000 refugees and the first (appr. 120 ) arrived today.

What could be an a contribution, a model for solution in integration here. Portugal has many abandoned villages on the country side. Villages can be repopulated as some examples in Spain and Italy show. Young people going to the cities leaving the countrysides abandoned.

Europe flags

Now we start talks with local municipalities and will consult the competent office for the national refugee question. On the march for Safe Passage in Lisbon last Sunday, 28th Feb. various groups had been present like MAS, Movimento Alternativa Socialista or Solidariedade Imigrante who work for immigrants in Portugal and can be alliances in the progress of this project. The idea of the integration of refugees in communities is already proven in other European nations and can work as further model in Europe.  An integration together with locals to revitalise abandoned regions, rebuild houses, and reinforce the agriculture … to bring life back into over-aged communities.

There are many things needed to be considered, proven, talked, financed, etc. ..  to start those projects but it also looks promising for the question of integration for refugees.

Other thoughts mentioned in the meeting had been the situation for the greek citizens especially on the concerned islands. 80% of the tourists cancelled their trip to Lesvos for 2016. This is a real additionally disaster for the inhabitants. Now we think for an initiative to bring as much tourists as possible back to the islands. A new Solidarity Tourism can help to overcome the crisis on the islands.

Kolpos Geras Bay on Lesvos

The beauty of the island is amazing. An open eyed and minded tourism can help a lot.

 

 

After Lesvos II

Back in Lisbon

We arrived back in Lisbon last Friday night .. I welcomed my bed and my bed me.
A deep sleeping night with a lot of chaotic dreams digesting the last weeks.
I woke up disorientated about the place where I am. Already at the second day of arrival there was a march in Lisbon and all around Europe in the cities for Safe Passage.
We joined and I met friends from Tamera and Verim who worked with me some days In Better Days for Moria. We marched with a crowd of about 500 people down to the Tejo and ended the march with a minute in silence for the refugees.
After this we shared the experiences on Lesvos thinking about the next steps … what can we do back in our “safe” places, in our warm beds, in our peaceful places .. especially in Portugal we feel one could feel safe and peaceful. The Prime minister of Portugal opened for 10.000 Refugees around 6000 more then he was obliged from the EU. We shared ideas how we can welcome the refugees in Portugal. Portugal is one of the poor countries in the EU and of the most peaceful countries, small with a long coast. Refugees who would like to work on the land in agriculture could find here a beautiful possibility … there are a lot of empty or nearly empty villages, the climate is very good for farming. How could an integration look like here. Can we integrate refugees who would like to live finally peacefully growing their food, learning the language, how would the Portuguese people react to this. Can we convince some of the municipalities to share their land with refugees fleeing war. Is the history of Portugal ready to reintegrate again people with Arabic roots. Still many villages and places have the Arabic sound in their names … Aljustrel, Alcacer …, a long old history of the Arabic culture in Portugal. In Mertola there exists still an annual “Arabic market”.
How would the residents react to another impact of this culture in their land?
How fast can a shift of national consciousness to a global consciousness be done in this urgent situation?  Still I am full of the pictures from Lesvos …

life vests sample at Pipka
To be on this hotspot of the human crisis situation is a challenge. A challenge to accept the human nature at it´s worst, to accept hard work, to accept suffering and pain, to accept being confronted with ones own values of life. How can a human being with a compassionate heart accept the fact of dead bodies being washed to the shore with knowing the fact that this passage is only 6km and could easily be done by open ferry boats for refugees instead of small rubber vessels risking their lives…

At the very moment there is a football game in the TV .. life looks normal, bearable and comfortable from my warm chair with a drink in front of my computer …
I send my love to all the volunteers around the world honoured of being a part of this worldwide community …

some friends after a nigh shift at Better Days for Moria

in service for life ….

 

After Lesvos

Back in Lisbon.. 
Just arrived for the
March in Europe
Starting today.
Some friends coming who share the experience on Lesvos.

Lesvos Diary XVII

A day around the island

Yesterday I went with a friend from Better Days for Moria, one of the night shift leaders along the coast north. We stopped at a place of another NGO called Lighthouse. They made a beautiful welcoming place for refugees offering sleeping places, dry clothes, medical care, food and information.

We talked a while with one guy of the organisation, shared informations. He gave us an introduction to the place and told us that they start to work in the registration camp of Moria. This felt like a good possibility for cooperation with this group which is an essential part for Better Days for Moria to find reliable cooperation partners working inside the registration camp.

At this coastline are arriving many boats from Turkey. It is one of the closest places for the passage to Lesvos and many other NGO’s are situated there.

We went on to the place where most of the used life vests and boats are dumped. It is a dump place uphill from Molivos. You can’t see the place until you are very close. Actually this place is beautiful surrounded by a mountainous landscape and you could see the Turkish coast.

this place makes you speechless – hundreds of thousands of life vests and every single one telling the story of a refugee crossing the Mediterranean sea, telling the story of hope and fear still soaked with salty water releasing a humid smell. Some of them are fake, cheaply produced they tell the story of the parasites which hook on the snake body of the refugee trail. The human nature at it’s worst trying to make a fortune from people in need and fear. Traders who take the death of many people in account to make quick gains. This vicious circle of violence once started leads to more and more violence. For many people the refugees are humans without any worth, ethical standards no longer exist. The war industry is producing human beasts or and the other way round, swimming in a soup of hate and violence, raping and killing and executing. The hell is on earth on it’s shiny and beautiful surface devilish attitudes go hand in hand with promises and contracts deciding in a second over the life and death of millions of people.

Still with a heart in hope I ask myself what could change this global destructive forces into a future of peace. What could empower the peace movement to become stronger. What is the information all of us need to wake up …

Besides all the outer changes … f.e. not buying certain products anymore, stop using plastic bags and bottles, implementing decentralized structures for all the basic needs like water, energy and food … what are the needed inner changes … ?

Most of the people with whom I talk here on Lesvos, volunteers and residents of the island are very pessimistic about the future … the most common opinion is that the destruction level will rise

more and more … more wars, more catastrophes like rising sea levels, tornados etc. .. close to near extinction of the human life on earth until a new understanding of life will replace the violent forces and will find a passage to a peaceful world …

Lesvos Diary XVI

Last Monday

In the last nightshift 13 busses arrived at the Syrian Gate of the Moria registration camp.  We stood outside and provided the arriving refugees with dry clothes, water and fruits.         It was a cold night and nearly full moon with a beautiful aura around.

We had a long talk with the guy from UNHCR in charge in front of the gate. According to their directives they don’t allow a doctor to pass on the results from an examination to the doctors officially in charge for the UNHCR. And more … when he has no info on his phone that someone needs medical help on the bus he does not allow a doctor to examine the arriving refugees. Well .. we are present when they arrive … a team of Better Days for Moria distributing dry things and a medical team at this time to look for possible cases. In this night a man holding his child and leaving the bus told our doctor that his child is sever sick. But the official said no to further examination moment. A while later the doctor was finally called inside the camp to look for this child. Now, one needs to know that inside the registration camp they do not have a medical team 24 hours only from 8am to 8pm. They often call the doctor from Better Days in severe cases.

It always depends who of UNCHR has the nightshift, if they stretch a bit the regulations to serve people in need .. to follow the human impulse or if they stick to their set of regulations. The human ethics depend on the the single human being. One excuse is often: “ We have to look to the bigger picture” … this often means that people do not get shoes, proper medical support etc. …

Now we can think that the bigger picture does not necessary includes direct human help – apparently and sadly this is often the case.

Our work was to find a way around the regulations and the one in charge if he or she sticks to close to the rules. A way to open the heart, a way to make them accept a risk for their own job or reputation, a way to fill the holes and gaps …

Some of the volunteers who do this job longer often loose patience and get more and more angry about this situation and certain people. Well, one could get angry right away.

Daylight as usual lowered or stopped the arrival of more boats and we left for a while our attention at the gate until the morning shift took over. The night shift team met afterwards at the beach. This morning was the warmest we had so far and some of us went into the water even it was still freezing cold …

The water takes away the tension of the night …

 

Lesvos Diary XV

Sunny Sunday Afternoon Thoughts

I woke up in a sunny afternoon, walked through the town of Mythilini, saw some refugees near the port waiting for the next Ferry. Now I am sitting in a café a preferred place for volunteers to meet, to have breakfast, to write …

Last night I made the first break and feel the tiredness accumulated through the last 10 nights of work. It is sunny but cold and my thoughts are going over the sea to Turkey wishing refugees a safe travel to Lesvos. My thoughts going also to my daughter who is actually in Brasil visiting a project in Sao Paulo together with a group of other young people a project realised by the Escola da Esperanca the school of Tamera. We are on different continents on this world both connected to global peace work. And stay in contact via social media, I have gratitude to the global communication possibilities. Families, friends can stay connected wherever they are.

This is a huge help for families and friends going on the long trail to Europe. One of the first actions from refugees when they arrive is to buy a sim card to talk with their relations.

Police, military and other state institutions tightening up the conditions for volunteers to work with refugees. Pushing NGO’s out of official camps, closing down volunteer kitchens. They want to gain more and more the sole control over the refugee stream. And push out inconvenient observers. Last day the border crossings where closed for refugees from Afghanistan. Europe is closing it’s borders step by step although there are still millions of refugees wanting to come to Europe.

I do not think that Europe with it’s 500 Million inhabitants is not able to host and welcome 2 million refugees, giving a safe space to people running away from war and other unbearable situations in their countries.

I can encourage people to come once to a place like Lesvos or other places along the route to help volunteering and see this situation with their own eyes. The only danger might be to get to less sleep because you want to help more.

xxx

Germany, more or less proudly, announced that 2015 was the year with the highest weapon sales to foreign countries. (13 Billion if I remember right) Saudi Arabia f.e. got many leopard tanks. High quality German work. Imagine what could be done with such an amount of money if directed to peaceful actions. Yesterday someone bought shoes for our distribution station in the camp from a donation. This shoes are loosing their soles after 1 hour walking. Bad quality work from wherever. Imagine the money from only one tank would go to the supplies for refugees, good shoes, clothes, boats … Is there anyone who can convince the weapon industries to give a big donation ? Even if it seems a bit ridiculous that especially this companies who are causing a big part of the suffering would support the fleeing refugees with good clothes. It seems more logic to stop the weapon sales … also Russia’s weapon industries are booming …

xxx

This time on Lesvos leaves a big impression to the soul .. this hotspot of the current worlds war logic shows a dimension of the miserable tragic which gives a question to the human heart:

How to end this pain and suffering we are doing to ourselves …

Lesvos Diary XIV

A time at the beach

Last night began really slow even though the forecast was different. As their was only one ferry in the day before there where many refugees on the island waiting for the ferries out of Mythilini.

I started in the kitchen and helped cooking a soup. I chopped onions and garlic and zucchini. I heard that 4 Tibetans arrived via this route coming from Nepal. My thougts went to Tibet, to Buddhism and this unbelievable destruction of their culture by the Chinese and I asked myself what all this crisis regions have in common. And I felt myself as a crisis region, living in doubts and with unfulfilled dreams and what path is still in front of me to become whole again like a river without pollution clear, fresh, pure and powerful.

The people from Starfish a big NGO where asked to leave the registration camp. The Moria Camp officials said they want to rotate the NGO’s. The assumed unofficial real reason is probably that they do not want any witnesses inside the registration camp. A strategy to close down initiatives they don’t like which do not work under their rules. Also yesterday an initiative called NO Border Kitchen got an announcement from the police that they are going to be shut down within the next 24 hours. This kitchen worked without any permission so the police can do this easily. Until today nothing happened, no police came and one assumes they will do it after the weekend.

In the last night we got a call that around 70 refugees where seen walking the streets north of Moria along the beach. So we loaded a car with blankets and emergency socks and headed to the beach. When we arrived the Kitchen NO Border was already there and on other NGO. The refugees walked in the wrong direction north on the road away from the registration camp. So the first to arrive at their trek stopped them and called the bus from UNHCR to pick them up.

I distributed socks together with another volunteer when a man approached us asking to look after his friend telling us that he is injured. We looked to his friend and he showed us his hands. We saw that his fingers had frostbites in the 3^rd grade meaning that the muscles, tendons, blood vessels, and nerves had all been frozen. His fingertips had a black colour. I never saw this before and we gave a direct notice that he needs to go direct to the medics and to the hospital. We hope that something could be done but most probably the fingers need to be amputated.

After a fast cleaning up of the beach we headed back to the Camp and meanwhile it was so full as I never saw it before. Many tents had been build and in the coming daylight I saw that the camp was crowded and looked like the crowded camping space of an open air festival. The kitchen worked in full power and the distribution needed to close as they where even more out of stock and needed cleaning and refilling. As on this day 3 Ferries are supposed to leave the island probably all or most of the refugees will be gone by late afternoon and give space for the new arrivals. After this night shift we headed back to Mythilini for a debriefing and a morning coffee.

In the last 2 days I felt my knee injury more intense and all the volunteers supported me heart fully.

I decided to make a day off after 10 days of night shift from 01:00 to 09:30. To sleep and empower myself for the last 4 days of work at Better Days for Moria. The time is flying like the dream of a Better Day towards the future horizon and this community of volunteers shows the heart and a possible unity of mankind. The volunteers are the scouts of a new future and can tell a lot about the reflections of the heart in the eyes of other beings.

morning light on the road to Moria

There are no enemies only possible friends

 

Lesvos Diary XIII

5 more days

The situation in Moria became very tight in the last 2 days. More and more refugees came to the island … boat after boat arrived and last night we worked without any rest  in the whole camp. The registration is full and has also no medics in the night … big families arrived, one pregnant woman who could not walk any more … when I dressed a little child I saw that it was injured at the leg, also the family didn’t knew …I brought him to the doctors … many of them had been wet and needed knew things, very fast our stock came to an end and at the end of the shift we had to close the distribution for a while because of high chaos in the shelves and on the floor and the soon finished stock. A big clean up was needed. I talked with a Syrian family, the woman spoke good English. She told me that the journey from Syria to Greece took them 5 days … they had been very scared but happy to arrive the Island Lesvos after a 5 hours ride in the boat. They have 3 children with disabilities, the little ones couldn’t sit alone, they always needed help with them … and the most difficult part was the boat ride … in between they did not know if they would arrive anywhere this night. This journey is supposed to take 1-2 hours but as they are told to steer the boat themselves it takes often longer also according to the weather conditions. I let them sit in my car so they can rest because there was no place around to sit with the children.

The last days where full like this and slowly this situation starts to take over my life .. there is less and less distance to the things when they come this breathless tight and I wake up restless after some hours sleep … I just heard that the police wants to close down a kitchen place who did amazing work in the last months …

One needs to understand that the “officials” want to take over the situation and nearly everybody is scared about this because obviously they cannot handle an increasing flux of refugees. They use the infrastructure of the volunteer camps and make their life difficult at the same time.

One example:

Better days for Moria has no water since several days. The pipe was damaged in a certain maintenance work of the registration camp from where Better Days was supplied. So far they refused to repair the pipe with the argument that this camp is illegal. At the same time they have no problems to use the supplies form Better Days, including food, accommodation, medical care and clothing because they are not in prepared for this.

Yesterday there was one guy who works for a big NGO inside the registration camp at our camp to ask for children clothes. We talked about the situation and he told me that in an internal meeting they talked about the water situation and that it is illegal to give us water. I asked him about the box in his hands if the box is also illegal … taking children clothes from us? Or using the hot soup we provide in the night? .. He promised to take care for the water issue in the next meeting they have.

This night we putted up 30 more tents and still it was not enough to hoast all the people, so also the kitchen tent and other spaces where full. We helped changing clothes of babies and let the mothers do this inside our space because of the rain outside, although we barely had enough space to run between the shelves of the distribution.

After the shift most of us met in a coffee place to talk about the night and many other things

Lesvos Diary XII

Empty Boat

In a walk at a little harbour I saw the first time a rubber boat like this. Before I saw them on the beaches no more air inside, destroyed.

What touched me was the story of the details inside the boat. The bottom was covered with water and I could imagine how it would be sitting in this cold water for hours. Sometimes up to 50 people in a small boat like this. As I can see when I work in the clothes distribution there are people from all ages, families, couples, teenagers, Grandfathers sitting together trying to give shelter to each other hoping to arrive safe on the shores of Lesbos. Often useless life vests who soak water instead of floating in it sold by criminal traffickers, made by criminal companies only having the fast money in front of their eyes.

Can someone imagine how  this journey looked like in the eyes of the little Baby who lost her bottle in the attempt of leaving the boat? How scared have the people been during the journey on water, the last obstacle before arriving Europe ? Can someone imagine all the different fates of the people coming from the inhospitable dangerous countries ? What have they endured until they entered the boat? What will they endure after putting their feet first time in the waters of Greece?

This morning I played with young children during giving them hats, gloves and scarves. I looked in happy eyes someone having time to play with them in all this chaos around them … I hope this little Baby and all others find a new safe, warm and loving home ….

 

 

Lesvos Diary XI

 

More Boats

From the start to the end of this shift it was a never ending flow of refugees coming to the Island …coming into the camp … the sea was calm, the waves low and seemingly no stopping of the boats … besides that we don know how many boats have been stopped already in the Turkish waters and brought back to Turkey. We had been around 12 volunteers working this night for Better Days for Moria and after some hours of working when I stopped counting the arriving buses there had already been 8 coming to the camp. Directly at the beginning of the shift we got the announcement the 3 boats arrived and another 200 refugees already waiting at the harbour coming to the registration.

The flow never stopped until we finished working at 09.00 this morning. Most of the refugees had wet shoes, socks and wet in the lower part of the trousers. We had been in good mood to give them fresh and dry things, many children and women, and families arrived this night … also elderly people. One of the volunteers had been at the shore to look for new incoming boats and he told me that there where some people with good binoculars watching the sea and when a boat arrived they immediately went to them and dismantled the worthy parts of the boat .. like the motor etc. ..

This people are supposed to work together with the smugglers on the Turkish side, either selling the motor or using it again. They know when and where boats arrive.

I helped many people dressing in new clothes and it was moving to see the children and playing with them, looking in the eyes of thankful people for what little we can do. The most touched me some of them in shock, taking in a shy way the trousers, shoes and socks wanting to go away before they tried if the things fit … So I took extra care that they have good things … The mood in the distribution was good and we managed the high flow far into daylight. The last 2 hours became hard sometimes … little breaks cutted the flow a bit and in this calm moments the high energy went down and we felt the tiredness of this continuous work. Also the kitchen worked without break through the whole night. Slowly the stock of trousers and shoes reached a critical point and in the end we wondered how much things are still there.

We didn’t hear of any drownings, the coast guard patrolled also the whole time …

I played with many children today … refugee families waiting for the nus to the ferry gather at the bus stop and we give them the last necessary things like scarfs, gloves, hats … some warm clothes for the long journey through cold regions …

Before going home we met this time in a big circle of around 15 people to check out and see who will come the next day etc. … I slept throughout the day until the sun was gone

Now I am preparing for the next night shift ….