Ser voluntária | Being a volunteer

PT | Partilhei um testemunho no site "Para Onde?", um óptimo recurso para quem está a pensar fazer voluntariado e não sabe onde começar.

Podem ler aqui -> Ser voluntária em Lesvos.

EN | I shared some words regarding my time in Greece, on a portuguese website that helps people interested in volunteering find the right resources. It's in portuguese, but here's a link to a Google automated translation to English.

3rd time lucky | À terceira é de vez

EN | We came home 5 days ago. We already bought tickets to return to Lesvos for our 3rd time. No fancy explanations. It's where we are meant to be right now and we are lucky enough to be able to do what we feel like doing. We will be working for Doctors of the World Greece for the next few months, starting in May.

Returning to Lesvos will give us an opportunity to engage in longer projects and make a real impact at the busiest time of the year. Last summer, on some days, over 2 000 people arrived to the beaches of Lesvos. We are not essential, but we can help them a bit.

We are very thankful for the support of the portuguese NGO "Ovar, Vamos Ajudar?"  which supports us and allows us to dream and make those dreams come to life. We are two people in Lesvos, but we have an army of people working with us.

I know we do precious work there and that's why it's important for us to return. 

PT | Voltámos a casa há 5 dias. Já comprámos bilhetes para voltar a Lesvos pela terceira vez. Não tenho uma explicação elaborada. Sinto que é onde tenho que estar neste momento e por sorte, posso escolher ir onde me leva o coração. Vamos continuar a trabalhar com os Médicos do Mundo Grécia pelos próximos meses, a começar em Maio.

Voltar a Lesvos vai-nos dar a oportunidade de trabalhar em projectos mais elaborados e longos, além de que poderemos ajudar na altura mais difícil do ano. No Verão passado, em alguns dias, mais de 2000 pessoas chegaram ás praias da ilha. Não somos uma ajuda essencial, mas podemos ajudar estas pessoas um bocadinho.

Estamos agradecidos pela ajuda da organisação "Ovar, Vamos Ajudar?", que nos dá apoio e nos permite sonhar e tornar esses sonhos realidade. Somos dois em Lesvos, mas temos um exército de pessoas a trabalharem connosco. 

Sei que fazemos um trabalho importante e é por esse motivo que temos de voltar.

Week 4

We spent most of our time this week sorting out through donations.

It's not what you call a "fun job", but someone's got to do it. And it might as well be done during a time that there's not many people arriving to the island. The weather has been crap!

We are very well stocked for the next few months! But you do need to breath in and out when you see some of the useless stuff people send us! 

Example: within TWO boxes, this is how many pairs of high heels we collected (and threw in the bin after the photo). As much as you think it's a good gesture to send your very nice pair of fancy heels, NO, THEY ARE NOT HELPFUL.

Before packing something to send our way, think "would I feel embarrassed about handing this to a person that is wet and cold?", if the answer is yes, don't send it. 

We had some time on our day off to take the cameras for a walk. 

I can't believe it's been 4 weeks since we arrived. Time has gone very fast. We feel like we barely made a difference. I keep reminding myself that opening boxes is just as important as other jobs. Oh well, on we go to week 5.

Jack and Sara in Moria

We recorded a video to show you what it's like to volunteer in Moria.

I am thankful for the many donations we have received over the last week towards the campaign we started to get underwear and socks. This is our way to say THANK YOU!

I spent 3 hours subtitling the video in English so please turn on subtitles :)

Week 2 and 3

It's been hard to find time to come and post some news. I beat myself up for not doing it often, but truth is I can't stretch my days. I simply don't have time to do it. Shifts have been hard. They were specially hard on the second week. Snowed most days and I barely had the energy to keep myself moving. 

Some days I wake up and I even find myself being happy and peaceful. Others, like today, it's very hard. As I'm sitting on my computer, at a café in the port, I read news about another boat sinking and 40 people being dead. I look to the sea and think "this is happening right here". It's a hard thing to grasp. 

Some events knocked me out in the last few days.

On one of the days that it was snowing, a woman approached me with a baby on each arm and asked me for help, in perfect english, regarding what her next step is, after getting the registration papers. I told her she needs to get the bus to the port and buy a ferry ticket to Athens, but I know there's a ferry strike, and as so, she might only be able to buy a ticket to travel 2 days after. I write on a piece of paper the name "Kara Tepe". It's the camp where Syrians and Iraqis can go and stay, get some food and rest. I tell her to go there after buying her ticket. I carry one of her babies to the bus stop and we wait together for the bus to arrive. She tells me her husband did the trip a few months before and he has reached Germany and now it's their turn to join him. the bus arrives, I leave the three of them and go back to work. And then it hits me! Here was a clear situation in which I could have done so much more to help. And I didn't! It was a perfect opportunity and I missed it. I could have travelled with her to the port to buy her ticket and then help her with the kids and her bags. Pay for a hotel, give her a place to rest... I missed a golden opportunity. I could have really helped her! I went to the port a few hours later and tried to find her. I didn't see her. I like to think some other person noticed this struggling woman and helped her. But what if no one did? It's been over a week and I still wonder how she is. How she will manage to do the whole journey to Germany...

Here's some photos of your week:

We spent a lot of time this week organising donations. With the cold weather, less boats arrive, making it the perfect time to go to the warehouse and prepare for busy days. 

Will you help me share her drawings? Share her pain?

It is snowing and children are impatient. Moria campo is hardly the ideal place for children to hang out. There is nothing to play with besides stones. I decide to get paper and markers, improvise a table with a stool and 2 minutes later there are already 10 children trying to all draw at the same time on a single A4 sheet. I get more notebooks. It seems to work: parents relax two minutes, the children forget where they are, paint and laugh.

A 11 or 12 year old girl shows up, asks me for a marker and starts drawing. She pushes away the small children that try to interrupt her and concentrates on what she is doing.

I realize immediately that something strange is happening. She was not like the others. She wasn't going to paint a sun, a flower, a house ...

She began drawing bombs, planes, guns, people crying, amputated people, people with blood.

Mínimo dos mínimos

Todos aqueles que me enviam uma mensagem a dizer "Sara, como posso ajudar?" têm aqui a sua oportunidade de brilhar :)

Na continuação dos projectos da associação Ovar, Vamos Ajudar? para ajudar os refugiados, venho apelar à vossa adesão na nossa campanha MÍNIMO DOS MÍNIMOS.

Até dia 31 de Janeiro estamos a aceitar roupa interior (cuecas, sutiãs) e meias para todas as idades, para serem enviados para Lesbos e distribuidos por mim e pelo Jack! Estes items vão ser enviados juntamente com outros (luvas, gorros, cachecóis, mochilas) que comprámos com donativos anteriores :)

As pessoas fazem fila á porta do armazém onde distribuimos bens de primeira necessidade, para pedirem aquilo de que precisam. Toda a gente precisa de tudo, mas por não termos stock suficiente, temos que tomar decisões rápidas e que fazem com que não possamos ajudar muita gente. Por exemplo, o stock de sapatos está muito em baixo, por isso já só podemos dar sapatos a quem perdeu os seus e quem tem os pés molhados tem que manter os sapatos que tem. É muito difícil dizer-mos "não te podemos dar nada". Tentamos sempre dar algo, nem que seja um rolo de papel higiénico, mas gostávamos de elevar a fasquia e fazer do "mínimo dos mínimos" roupa interior para qualquer pessoa que nos pede ajuda!

Pontos de entrega EM OVAR:

-Natália Moreira Cabeleireiros

-Gabinete de Contabilidade Salomé Costa

-Casa das Festas

Mediante disponibilidade também podemos recolher :)

Estamos a concentrar a recolha em Ovar porque só temos uma semana, mas se alguém quiser organizar na sua área e enviar para Ovar a morade é:

Rua Elias Garcia,

55 1B

3880-213 Ovar

Se alguém estiver a pensar enviar pelo correio, digam-me para saber e não enviarmos tudo antes de chegar.

Convidem todos os vossos amigos para o evento: https://www.facebook.com/events/787657078045255/