Day 26 and 27

For many and various reasons, it's getting very hard to make these posts.

How can I write "today was a good day", when only a few kilometers away 10 children drowned? 

I think I should go back to stick to facts. 

Today I spent the day sorting out different things: I went to distribute some bread to the people waiting at the queue for registration. While there I realised that 99% of the people didn't know how the new system works.

There's tickets issued with numbers and you need to wait until your number shows up on the white board before you can join the queue. For example, if the board says "numbers 1 to 1000" and you have number 300: you can join the queue.

If you have number 1200, you can't. 

It's a hard system to understand if you have no sign explaining it and the police only speaks Greek and a bit of English.

Day 23, 24 and 25

The good weather is back. That means dry people, dry camp and smiles all around. Things really changed in the last few days! There's a new registration system (there's always a new registration system), and a new place to queue. It's much better like this! People have access to the toilets and the medical clinic, even before they get registered. And there's many tents and space to sleep. I'm happy to see the changes!

Day 21 and 22

It's been a hard couple of days. The last thing I wanted to do after getting home was writing on the blog about the horrors I witnessed.

I saw some things that will stay on my mind forever. But I also became extremely proud of the team we are working with. 

I have held countless babies in my arms these last few days. All of them soaked. All of them dry 10 minutes later after I was done changing their clothes. 

I found a 7 year old girl naked, rolled in a bed sheet, in the middle of the rubbish, trying to keep warm. I remembered seeing her father asking me for help 15 minutes earlier and I had said "no" because we were closing and I was going home. I gave him a bed sheet and said "that's all I can do for you now!" And he proceeded to take the girl's clothes off because they were soakin wet, and rolled her in the bed sheet. When I closed the container and was on my way to hand in the keys, I saw the rubbish shaking and when I lifted some plastic, the girl was there. I held her in my arms while she shivered and didn't say a word. I took her to the clothes container and hugged her for a few minutes while I cried and soothed her. I then got myself together and changed her into some dry clothes while I asked her father to hold the door closes because there were hundreds of people outside trying to get in so they too could get dry clothes. 

I'll leave you with some photos. 

I'm lost for words. 

Day 20

I take it all back. All the stuff about being happy and whatever else. I'm not happy here. I'm angry, upset, frustrated and tired of a situation I don't understand and can't resolve.

I've said it before: who do you think it is here trying to help refugees? The government? Superman? No... People like me and you, with no political influence or money. Just a pair of hands and a brain. We all know some dry clothes don't solve the problem, but what else can we do? It's out of our hands to open the camp areas where people have dry houses to sleep in. It's out of our hands to make it legal for refugees to take taxis and buses before they are legal in Europe. It's out of our hands to provide  a real boat for refugees to cross to Europe in. So clothes and shoes is all we can do for now. And it has to be enough. But it's not. 

Day 19

It was very "easy" in the first few days to post here. Everything was new, I didn't know many people and had more free time. It's now day 19: we have made friends, we go out and spend time with people after work. We do long shifts and at the end of the day we are exhausted. We know our way around the camp and we know what to do. That means we do more now than in the beginning. It also means we are seeing more of what is happening, but I don't think we are understanding it better. Maybe we are more confused. I don't know.

But still... I try to take many photos so I can at least show a bit of what my days look like. Here's some from today:

A massive storm came over Mytilini today and I really worried about what we would find at the camp. When we arrived the rain at calmed down but it was impossible to walk without getting wet. This makes big problems for us because it meant everyone would get wet feet and would need dry shoes. I focused on drying the cement floor where everyone had to walk past. I brushed the water out of the way for over half an hour but it worked! Yay!

Day 18

Queues are getting long again. People are waiting outside the gates so they can get their paper for registration and be allowed to board the ferry to mainland Greece. It's 9pm and everyone is exhausted. There's people sleeping on the side of every road. 

We are told that really bad weather is coming and the ferry may stop going to Athens. This means thousands of people will be stuck in Lesvos. Not only that but... Where will they get shelter from the rain? There's no where to go!! I fear what tomorrow will bring. 

Day 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17

I have to apologise for the lack of news these days but I do have good reasons for my absence.

I was ill for two days and that meant I stayed in bed most of the time. I kept myself very very busy researching into news things and opportunities and even gave an interview. Wooohooo exciting!

Then on Saturday I was finally ready to go to Moria again and work on the camp but the day was chaotic for the Doctors of the World team and it was impossible to get someone to pick us up. We decided to spend the day at the port with our good old friend the soap bubbles. We cheered up some kids and played a bit. We saw a Norwegian boat arrive to the port and it had many refugees aboard. We waved as they went past and they seemed relieved for arriving to Greece. We tried to figure out the official version of what had happened but didn't find it. We assume they rescued the refugees from the rubber boats. It may be that the engine stopped working, the boat turned, who knows. 

Then today, Sunday, is the official day off for all volunteers. 

We met with some other people from the team that we usually don't get to spend time with outside "duty hours". 

The weather wasn't that good but we decided to go for a swim because it was Jolijn's last free day and we knew of a good spot. We hadn't swam until today because the whole idea seemed out of place. Swimming at a beach full of life jackets and rubber boats at the same time some refugees hide from the sun under trees and we sunbathe. It just seemed off. But I think by now we understand how thins work, we understand we aren't being disrespectful and our heads are, maybe, more organised. And it made sense to go in the sea today.