Tags
boats, camps, documents, Maureen Jack, police, refugees, vulnerable
Here is World Mission Council member, Maureen Jack’s final post from her visit to Greece as part of the Christian Peacemaker team.
There are three camps for refugees on Lesbos. Of those run by the authorities, the longer-established one is the detention centre Moria Camp, which is run by the police and is over four miles from Mytilene. It houses several hundred people in buildings. The refugees are fenced in and not allowed to leave without the document from the Greek authorities that allows them to travel; equally, organisations such as Christian Peacemaker Teams are not allowed in. When I first visited Moria eleven days ago, the camp itself was full, and there were hundreds of people camping just outside the camp, some in proper tents but some under makeshift shelters. They had access only to a small van selling water and a few items of food and other essentials. Now, the number of people outside the camp is relatively small, and the turnaround time only a few days, which is a real improvement.
Kara Tepe Camp was established this year on a spare area of ground a couple of miles from Mytilene as a temporary transit camp. When I first arrived here it was extremely cramped, and I was told that at one poInt there were more than 3000 refugees. It is all tented accommodation, with ridge tents provided in which extended families of up to ten people sleep, often simply on pieces of cardboard. But there have not been nearly enough to accommodate everyone, and so refugees unable to find a vacant tent buy small tents locally. There are a few toilets in the camp, but the smell from them is such that I haven’t looked inside. There are also a few stand pipes with hoses, at which the men and children wash; but for women it is much more difficult. The water is not fit to drink. There has been a lot of illness in the camp, especially among the small children. Kara Tepe is open, and so the refugees can come and go at will. There are two supermarkets within a hundred yards or so, which means that people can buy necessary supplies, as long as they have the money. For those who don’t, food is distributed twice a day; but the morning distribution I saw consisted of a bread roll; and refugees and agencies have told us that there is often not enough food for everyone to get a share and that the quality is very poor. In a recent change, all of the Syrian refugees are taken to Kara Tepe, with the other nationalities going to Moria. The turnaround here too is much quicker than before so that the Syrians generally only have to stay one night; even last week, some people were staying in these conditions for a number of days.
The third camp is Pikpa. It is very different from the others, much smaller (fewer than 100 refugees) and run by a group of local people called Village of All Together (VOAT). It is a couple of miles from Mytilene, and is on the site of a former youth camp. There are wooden buildings of about sixteen feet square, furnished with beds and mattresses, bedding, towels, and basic cooking equipment. On arrival, refugees are given toiletries and some basic food. There is donated clothing available if needed. Each week there is a food distribution, according to what has been donated during the week.
I was recently involved in taking five Syrian refugees to Pikpa from the local hospital because it was felt that they would not cope with the rigours of Kara Tepe. One family was a father and his young adult daughter. Around midnight, two of my teammates were out for a late swim when they saw a boat with refugees making for the shore; they helped the group out of the water, and when this young woman collapsed they helped to get her to the hospital, where she was kept in overnight. The hope is that after a rest for a couple of days she will be ready to continue with the journey. The other family was a young couple with the husband’s brother. He has significant physical disabilities and is paralysed from the waist down; I understand that he had to be catheterised in hospital. I don’t know what these three young people experienced in Syria that made them embark on this desperately difficult journey; I only know that the young woman was terrified when an aeroplane (presumably full of tourists) flew overhead – she burst into tears, and clung onto my hand.
There is a helpful Greek man who works in connection with the ferry ticket office at the port. I saw him most evenings and he told me how many refugees have travelled on to Athens that day. A week ago he told me that the figure since 8 June 2015 was over 26000. To put this in context, the population of Lesbos is something like 86000. This influx places tremendous pressures on the community here. I have been extremely impressed by the continuing commitment of local volunteers to improving the lives of the refugees during their time on Lesbos.
The last stage of this part of the refugees’ journey is to get an official document from the Greek authorities which allows them to stay in Greece for a limited period of time, and removes certain limitations on them (such as not being able to take a taxi). It is moving to see how excited people are to get this document, which allows them to set off on the ferry to Athens on the next stage of their journey, often with Germany or Sweden as their ultimate goal. But, as I watched them embark on the ferry, I could not help wonder what difficulties lay ahead for them.