We met the beautiful Rita (who is the Athens contact for CTF) and 2 of her volunteers at the port this morning.   No improvement with sun light, inhumane living conditions. 

Our weather has been beautiful-80 and sunny everyday.   Soon it will be in the 90’s and 100’s.  Life on the docks is not sustainable, rumor is that these people will be moved to Skaramagas which is the camp we visited today-our van was loaded with supplies that had been packed for us and that we loaded into the van yesterday.

We followed Rita along the coast for about 20 minutes, the location seemed remote from any commercial business, also on the sea.  It turns out that this land is owned by the Greek Navy and the camp will be run by them as well.

Very official getting into the camps-we have to show our passports, papers listing the supplies we have are stamped, one saved for the camp, one returned to the Warehouse.  This camp has only been around for a week or so.  Large containers set row upon row.  There are supposedly 1060 refugees living here, but you can see by the construction that many more will be added.

The pods are air conditioned, with electricity, a living room (with a stove), a bedroom, and a bathroom.  Actual beds!  Not just mattresses piled on the floor.  We were quickly surrounded by kids and moms when they saw us pull up.  Everyone was looking for diapers and milk.  Thankfully we had the diapers but no milk.  Most of the refugee’s like to start their day like us, milk in their coffee and a little milk for the children.  Should be easy-no?

We handed out a little aid- but could tell the situation could go south anytime so we closed the doors and drove around to the blue building where Rita and her volunteers were helping the 2 Navy guys hand out aid to over 1,000 people.  Who.have.nothing.

A CRAZY system.  While I was in there a representative from the UNHCR (the United Nations Refugee Agency) there with, and I kid you not, a notebook and a pencil taking notes.  No aid.  No workers.  A pen and a notebook.  This crisis is the 2nd largest population shift IN THE HISTORY OF THE PLANET and it is, by in large,  being run by volunteers from around the planet.  The women point to their clothes and say- children.  They want children’s clothes, shoes, diapers, milk.  VERY basic needs.  A Warehouse is less then 10 miles from here FULL of aid from around the world.  There were 10’s of 1000’s of pairs of shoes.  Our little cargo van is measly band aid on a gushing wound.

As is our mandate, we handed out carriers.  LOTS of carriers.  This baby was so cute!  The mother had taken the time to put a head band on the baby- the Waldorf mom in me was all like:  WHERE IS THAT BABIES HAT!!!  Baby just sat their nonplused while we adjusted straps, and pads.

We constantly had a band of children following us from house to house- carrying our large duffles of baby carriers.  There were 2 boys about 10 who took it upon themselves to carry the huge duffles around making sure we had access to them between fittings.   They would shoo away the littler kids who would try and help.  Not mean, just firm.

 

They were the perfect mix of cute with a dash of naughty-the one in the green jacket would “take” my clip and they with grand magical gestures make it reappear-I gave them gum at one point and the rest of the kids would want some, he would point to my vest pocket with the gum- look up at me with those huge eyes and put one finger up- “just one mother, just one”.  The guy in the orange shirt wanted me to return with a bike in the worse way.  He kept saying “tomorrow scooter?” then he would pantemime riding a bike.

This little love was one of the 1st carriers we fit- it was just Mom and her 5 kids- since we were invited into her home we were able to give all the kids little treat from our packs.  This is not possible with large crowds around- it would be impossible to give them all something so we love these moments.  The mom was so grateful – at one point she leaned back and grabbed a box, about the size of a small moving box.  Inside were 5 oranges and 5 juice boxes.  Literally the only food in the house.  She insisted we both take a juice box-we politely declined.  She was insistent, we all finally agreed that we would share a box between the 2 of us.  To have nothing and to give- gladly, with a smile.

One of our team members was in a family’s home, there was a girl about 25 who spoke excellent English-she was telling Lauren that she had been in medical school in Syria and would like to help by translating-everyone is bored.  Even the adults.  These camps are often isolated – the only visitors are the aid groups who communicate via Facebook sites as to what is happening at which camp, who needs what, the camp contact…..if a new camp or squat appears an SOS goes out as to what is needed.

Our plan is to return to the same camps we were at yesterday on Tuesday with items for the 12 pregnant women at the camp.  So we spent a couple of hours at a  mega children’s store  near to our hotel loading up goody bags to bring to the women and children.  We all had been given money to buy things for the refugees by family and friends and this is one of the projects we are using the money on. We filled 4 carts with goodies for the pregnant Moms and games and balls for the older kids in the 2 camps.

 

Today a mother came up to us asking for books “ABC” she kept saying, and pantomiming writing-she wanted supplies to teach her child to read and write.  Many of these kids have not been to school in years.  And by the look of the pace of things, it may be some time before they are back in school.

 

Breakfast at the hotel is provided- it is in a small room with curtains drawn to the bright morning light and an 80’s music track for back ground music.  We meet there every morning not only for breakfast, but for our leader Sara to give us a run down of what will be happening that day.  While we are busy in our rooms looking at our Instagram feeds, checking Facebook and decompressing-Sara is in her room figuring out what our week will look like- chasing rumors of new squats (places where refugees have just set up camp-sometimes in the middle of the city, out in the open) who need support, which camps are open to aid groups and which camps have not already been visited by CTF.

To day we learned we would be visiting a camp about an hour away called Lavrio.  We had been asked to stop at the warehouse and pick up some aid that the camp directer had requested.  They had heard we were going to Lavrio the next day so when we were working yesterday they asked if we could stop by first.  Of course.

The van got loaded to the top!  Between our 2 huge bags of baby carriers and the aid we were literally stuffed.

It was a nice drive down mostly 2 story roads- the sun was shining, we would get glimpses of the sea at the beginning and end of our trip.  We arrived to what looked like an old school- “U” shaped with a courtyard in the middle.  This camp had was made up of all Kurds from Syria who had arrived in Greece about 2 months ago.  The different school rooms were each given to a family who in turn made them homey with beds along the walls, capet on the floor and curtains on the window-  a sense of pride was evident in the care taken to make this home.  We were asked repeatedly to sit down and have some food and/or tea.

It is customary to take your shoes off before you step into a home- so the halls where a smattering of shoes, kicked off on the way inside.

We met with the director of the camp in a community room – we were offered tea, sugar was added.  My kind of people!  This woman here has 10 children and is in Greece with one of her 5 daughters and her grandchildren- one of which was a beautiful 15 year old-she walked with a limp and a cane, her lower leg was swollen to what looked like a very painful level.

We then split up between the 6 of us into 3 groups and went out to find babies-seriously, what is more exciting.  The older kids and a couple of the adults who could speak English came with us.  The first baby we fit was about 14 months old- she was so cute.  The hugest biggest blue eyes!  All smiles and coos-

Her mother while not able to tell us in English how happy she was,  her smile told us everything she could not.  We then went down the 3 floors of rooms and someone would go before us and call out to see if there were any babies in the rooms-if they were we their rooms we were invited inside or, out in the hallway fit the parent with the carrier.  Sometimes there were a couple of kids in which case we would fit both the mother AND the father.  Always such amazing smiles from both the kids and the parents.

After a couple of hours we met in the courtyard- Sara had heard that in the building  next to this one was a building filled with families from Afghanistan.

So 3 of us went over there to fit carriers.  This population had only arrived within the month so were not as settled, but they obviously cooked with garlic because the whole building smelled amazing!!!    The different groups are separated in the camps – better for all involved.

The families were so warm, the fathers were always there also wanting to be fit with a carrier- in our last room, the mother had a small boy go and get a girl who turned out to be 18.  She wanted her to translate.  Apparently little aid had gotten to them, there were adults without shoes, or shoes with holes in them, not many clothes for the adults or the children.  The 18 year old translated a list – pants, shoes, sheets, socks, hair dye (the mothers request- even with a head scarf on, she wanted those roots covered) …… the warehouse is STUFFED with aid…..but no real way except volunteers packing, sorting then driving the aid to the different camps.  Insanely unjust- we promised to return in 5 days as the Kurd camp had also given us a list of things they needed.

We returned to the Kurd camp to find our other team mates playing with the kids- so fun to see the smiling happy faces- well there were a few tears but not many.

When we first arrived in the Kurd camp I noticed a boy about 10 holding his arm up- we were asked if we could transport him back to Athens to see a Dr with a X-ray machine to get it set.  Sara asked and permission was denied-the long arm of insurance reaches even to refugee camps in small town Greece.  I had a bandana on me and fixed him a very basic sling to at least keep the arm from moving- soon a car arrived to drive him into town.  The Red Cross had been called 2 times the previous day, no one came.

We were asked repeatedly if the boarder was open- one. big. huge. rumor mill.  These people are going to be in these camps/squats for a very long time.  The latest news from Levos-where the Pope visits today is that the newest route has the refugees landing in Itlay- Sicely about 2,000 a day.   Levis is the island in the south that was getting the vast majority of refugees until about a month ago when ships started intercepting the rafts in the ocean and returning people (illegally) back to Turkey.

We were running out of time as we had to meet back at the warehouse to reload the van for the camp we are visiting in the morning.  So we said our goodbyes- and headed back to Athens.  When we arrived at the warehouse all the items tomorrows camp had requested had been pulled so all we had to do was to load up the van once again.  Back to the hotel for about an hour then headed to a sea side restaurant for dinner- it was very good.  But mind bending to go from a camp with people who don’t have shoes to dinner on the sea.  Life does not make sense……

So the Greeks had an old airport……well really two (one domestic, one International), and when they got the Olympics a couple years ago they built a shiny new airport and used the old airports to build venues for the Olympics.  So the building that housed the basketball games is now simply know as the Warehouse.

At first glance- it is overwhelming and crazy.  But as the time during the day wore on, we could see the order.  We were assigned to take already sorted boxes, confirm their content and pile them up against a wall, we were sorting mens and women’s winter clothing.  There were a couple of other volunteers that would bring us the boxes and we would take boxes out that were not labeled correctly and these boxes would be placed in the area they were needed.

 

There were about a dozen volunteers working, languages from all over the world.  Slowing going thru the donated boxes, sorting and placing items in the correct box to be given to the refugees at some point.  And here is where I will suggest to you (and me too…….totally guilty).  The next time you are getting a box to send to be donated, please don’t include those plastic shoes with the broken strap-well only one of them since your darling daughter  lost the other one, or the t-shirt stained red down the front from throw up.  These items were not worth shipping around the world, only to be thrown out.

While we were there a huge semi truck was loaded with pallets of clothing, food…….and was going to one of the camps up by the Macedonia border.  It is the camp that has been in the news with the tear gas attacks that have happened 2 times this past week (Idomeni).  *Mom we will not be visiting this camp-I promise.

One of the volunteers we met at the warehouse was once herself a refugee from Kenya.  Rosemary and her 3 children joined her husband here in Athens 6 years ago.  3 months after she arrived here she got the phone call that her husband had been struck by a car and killed.  She was so beautiful- her spirit was amazing.  She felt that she had been helped so much as a new refugee in Greece when she arrived that she gives back now by feeding 200 people 2 times a week.  She also realized that with so many orphans in Kenya, and that she owned a house there not being lived in, she charged her mother in law with hiring someone to live with 6 kids who were either orphans or living with elderly grandparents who were not able to afford to send them to school (school while free in Kenya, the students still need money for school uniforms and books).  She sends back to Kenya about $60USD a month and is able to make a difference in those children’s lives.  She works as a nanny here in Athens and hopes to travel for the first time back to Kenya this year when she expects to finally get her papers so that she can go back and meet “her kids” in Africa.

 

We ended up working for most of the day- eventually I ended up sorting the children’s shoes.   I’m hoping that moving forward that all groups spend at least a day here sorting, as this job will NEVER be finished with a dozen or so volunteers.   Anyone looking for a place to volunteer in Athens this is it- they will need help for a very long time!

For dinner we took the metro into the heart of Athens and met Chloe who is a French woman living here in Athens and has decided on her own to work with the pregnant women and newborns.   As we were having dinner with Chloe and hearing about her dream of providing baby boxes to new mothers and babies (like they do in Finland). Unbeknown to us at that dinner Carry the Future has partnered with an organization that will be providing baby boxes to the camps in Jordan.  The Universe is good, and all providing!

We had a practice session trying on carriers with each other before we hit our first camp tomorrow.

I have been assigned to be the DD (designated driver) so enjoying driving these beauties around in our big ass 12 passenger van filled with aid-