Like a song stuck on repeat…heading back to Greece.  Same, same, yet worse in so many ways.  The refugee crisis has taken a back burner to the woes of the world.  Yesterdays news.  Borders on almost every continent swarm with people trying to find a better life, safety.

Will be working for the 4th time in a year on Chios Island (an hour flight straight East of Athens) with Iris House- a Norwegian based NGO.  I am part of Carry the Future’s Team 60.  On social media the images of Vial camp (the refugee camp on Chios) are hard to look at.  Women and children sleeping between the containers used as housing, hard sleeping with nothing to sleep on but the ground and only discarded UNHCR blankets to cover them, IF they are lucky.

New arrival numbers from Turkey double and triple what they were a year ago.

Max and I were on Chios in May- he was filming a video for Iris House and we were working helping to distribute aid to the newly arrived.   For 9 days we sorted aid, distributed aid and purchased aid.

(*Spoiler alert, he did eventually make it back to Phoenix).

Instead of the 20 hours of travel it took me to get back to Phoenix, it took him 3 days.

The night before we were to leave Chios, the days distribution had gone especially late.  With so many new arrivals we pulled onto the road towards town just as the sun set.  We quickly unloaded the vans at the storage area- said goodbye to some of the interpreters and those who could joined us at our hotel for dinner.

A group of 10 shared pizza, salad and pasta.  After spending the past 10 days working together the meal had the feeling of a family meal.  Inside jokes, lots of laughs and making sure we were all connected on Facebook or WhatsApp.  A mix of refugees, an artist, interpreters and volunteers gathered and shared a meal.  One family.  Max and I were leaving at the 7:00am flight to Athens so as dinner was finishing Max and another volunteer decided to go and get a drink and I went upstairs to finish packing and get at least a couple hours of sleep.

This “hotel” more like a Bed and Breakfast had 8 rooms, tiny but clean with skeleton keys to lock the doors.  Reception open only in the afternoons, Max and I taking up 2 of the rooms and another person we never met but would hear come in late at night.  My alarm went off to soon, my first thought was “Max isn’t here”.  I shushed my mind, washed my face and got dressed.   Walked the 3 doors down and knocked on his door.  No answer.  Back to my room…text him… no answer.   Needing to leave for the airport a mile away, I tried one more time.  No answer – 98% of my brain thinking “he’s passed out drunk on his bed” the other 2% screaming “he’s dead in a ditch”.  Literally no way for me to open the door or find someone to help.

Had to meet the car rental person at the airport.  Hasib, one of the interpreters had come out to say good bye to us.  “Where is Max?” Hasib asked with wide eyes.  “Either passed out drunk in bed, or dead in a ditch”.  His eyes grew large as the car rental guy showed up to take the vans keys.  3 flights ahead of me:  Chios-Athens-Frankfurt-Phoenix – I figured if I hadn’t heard from him by the time my flight boarded in Frankfurt i’d circle back to Chios.

Checking in the gate agent asked “where is Max Hart”.

“Well, he went out drinking last night and didn’t answer my phone calls, texts or banging on the door this morning – so I figure he’s either passed out drunk or dead in a ditch”.

“How old is Max?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.  “20”.  Shrugged shoulders joined the raised eyebrow.  “Your flight boards in 10 minutes”.  My parting words to her were “I imagine he’s going to come flying in her with his hair on fire when he wakes up…..good luck with that”.  The glassy stare said everything…….sister i’ve seen and heard everything.

Said goodbye to Hasib, he promised to go look for Max if need be.  I promised to keep him updated.  The hour long prop plane left Chios right at 7am.  Phone off and on airplane mode I tried to stuff the voice in my head saying “he’s dead in a ditch”.  Touchdown in Athens, turning back on my phone I can see that Max has not read the texts.  Great, I think.

Taxi to a far corner of the tarmac.  Deplane into waiting buses to be brought to the airport.  My phone pings.  A message from Max.

“WHERE ARE YOU?”.

“Athens….who is this?” was my reply.

“OH MY GOD…..OH MY GOD…..I slept in! What should I do??”

“I’d get to the airport and see if they can get you on another flight”.

Checking in for my Frankfurt flight the gate agent in Athens once again asked- “Where is Max Hart”.

In my head I thought “well now I know he’s NOT dead in a ditch” but said to her “he decided to go out and get drunk last night, he woke up about 10 minutes ago, he’s still on Chios”.

“How old is he?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.

“20” I repled.  Like the agent on Chios the raised eyebrow met the shrugged shoulders.  Must be a Greek mom thing.

Missing his flight to Athens, Max had to purchase a ticket to Athens. In Athens the agent told him that because his ticket was on an airline that did not offer refunds/changes (Condor Air) he would have to purchase a new ticket home.  Which he did with his own money. Can we get an “OUCH!!!”.

What followed next for Max was-

-a 4 hour delay in Athens

-hour flight to Istanbul,

-9 hour layover in Istanbul (fun fact for me, the public wifi in that Istanbul airport is basically nonexistent.

-8 hour flight to JFK

-7 hour layover in JFK

-5 hour flight to Phoenix

Two days after arriving home from Greece, Max came into the family room- looking like he’s spent the last 3 days getting home.  “Traitor” was his insult as he put his bag down in his room.  Followed by a big hug and a “i’m sorry Mom”.

“Max, you need a shower.” was my reply, with a raised eyebrow.

 

 

With our van and Iris House’s van we are able to split up and deliver/pickup aid twice as

fast.  Max and I started our day by walking the the office of the legal team- the one I’d worked at yesterday.  Jo needed my computer to help load the cards so we dropped that off at 9am and headed to the container area.

First we stopped at the “China Store”.  Discount shops run by Chinese nationals- very strange to hear a Chinese person speaking Greek with a Chinese accent!  We bought shorts and t-shirts for the prisoners that we will meet with tomorrow

Right now Iris House is renting 4 containers- each has a purpose:  hygiene, children’s clothing, adult clothing and over flow-currently strollers + cookers.  Abu is in charge of the refugees in Chios City.  Vulnerable cases like unaccompanied minors and newborn babies are supposed to be put up in Chios city proper in apartments.  Abu arrived from Somalia 7 months ago.  The day after he and his VERY pregnant wife arrived on the island she gave birth to their son.

For 21 day Abu and his wife lived outside – no shelter within the walls of Vial camp.  With a new born baby.  I remember his case- a SOS went out to the aid worker community no the internet.  Like many, I assumed that someone, anyone would figure this out.  No one did for 21 days.

Today Abu is the Chios City coordinator- making sure that those who have been resettled into the apartments in the city have the help they need.  Today we delivered aid to an apartment of unaccompanied minor girls.  Went to the hospital to give a stroller and new born aid to a 4 day old baby and to an apartment with a 4 day old baby.

I finally asked Abu if he knew how to drive a car after the 10th time JUST today he had me drive the wrong way down an impossible narrow lane.  “No” was his answer.  And also “No Problem” is something he literally says 100 times a day.

On one of the many times we ended up in dead ends we stumbled upon the Turkish Bathes- remnants of a bygone time.

Janne had us pick up the food at “Chios Peoples Kitchen”.  It was once again yummy rice and spinach.  Over 1/2 of the 10 person Iris House team is fasting for Ramadan but those of us who are eating get to have a yummy vegan lunch everyday.

We stopped to eat at the containers then headed back to Chios City to pick up the rest of the 130 cookers that are going to be distributed next week.  The 2 vans miraculously found 2 parking spaces in front of the store and we quickly loaded the vans with the cookers.

 

Next we drove up to Chios’s former television station which is on top of a hill overlooking the ocean and Chios City.  Iris House’s Janne is thinking or renting it for the new Iris House.  It would be amazing and fantastic if she is able to pull it off!  Max  got his drone out and took some footage for the video he is doing.

A quick trip to the grocery store to purchase food and hygiene items for the prison run tomorrow was the last thing we had to do today.

It was almost 8pm when we pulled into the lot across from our hotel.

Tired but feeling good about what were were able to accomplish today.  We walked along the sea front to find a place to have dinner.  It really is a beautiful island and we both can see ourselves returning.

Sunday dawned sunny with zero chance of rain and a high of 75.  In other words….perfect.  Max had arranged with Davade a volunteer from Switzerland to go to the beach and maybe bowling with some of the interpreters.  We had a quick breakfast at our hotel and headed grab the car and go to a neighboring village to pick Davade up as he was going to drive the van to pick up the others.  Well, i’d left the lights on so the car was dead.

Using the Universal drivers language of a raised hood….we soon had someone who jumped the car.  Today we’d planned to also do the shopping for the prison/jail run we are doing on Tuesday (more about that later) but literally every.shop.was.closed.  But my favorite bakery was open so in addition to beautiful flowers from Max for Mother’s Day I also got to get an iced coffee- a Greek specialty.  Super yummy and very refreshing!!!

After coffee bakery stop we went earlier to pick Davade up.  The guys dropped me off in Chios city central and I went to work with a legal NGO called “RefuComm” while they drove to Vial Camp to pick up a couple more interpreters and they ultimately not only got to go to the beach, they also went bowling.  It was the interpreters 1st time bowling and they all beat both Max and Davade!  There were 5 interpreters along with Max and Davade and Max said a great time was had by all.  To get out of the camp and just have a relaxing day hanging out with friends is something that does not happen very often for the interpreters.

RefuComm is a fantastic organization that provides legal help to refugees especially when their asylum application has been rejected.  While there are VERY clear EU laws about this process, unfortunately daily refugees are being sent back to war zones.  It’s a really big problem- hence the prison run later in the week.  The police are usually tipped off when an application is going to be rejected for a 2nd time and what usually happens next is the refugee is picked up and either held in jail for a minimum of month or deported.

Jo Chen is a volunteer I met maybe 2 years ago- she is originally from Macao but has been mostly here in Greece for the past 3 years.  In a past life she was a lawyer in the UK for 10 years.  Today she works helping sort out deportation cases for RefuComm.  The NGO got some funding to make and distribute on mini drives in 8 languages the refugees legal rights.  But this fantastic tool needs to be downloaded onto the cards so Jo and I spent 5-1/2 hours downloading on 3 computers these very helpful videos.

Most refugees have Android phones so it is very easy for them to load the drives into their phones.  Information is can be the difference between life and death for those whose cases have been turned down.

Yet another area of expertise that happens on a daily bases by volunteers all over the world helping refugees.

Today was a toiletry distribution to new arrivals as so many boats have landed on Chios these past weeks.  Most everyone stayed in the container/storage area getting ready and Janne and I had to go to 3 stores to find enough men’s deodorants to pass out to up to 500 people.  We finally found the last 200 and headed back to the containers about 12:00pm.

David from Switzerland was packing up diapers in packs of 10 with Ulie from Norway (and i’m the 2nd Norwegian, claiming it since i’m 50% Norwegian!)  so I worked with them for about 30 minutes and we packaged over 500 diapers.  The mothers in the camp only get 10 diapers for every 7 days so what Iris House hands out is critical.

The interpreters who are usually like puppies goofing around are still high energy but an edge has been taken off because they all are fasting during day light hours due to Ramadan.

Their 1st bite of food all day was at 8:16pm as this is when the sun set.  Those of us who are not Muslim have been told repeatedly NOT to worry about eating or drinking around those who are fasting but my midwestern sense of hospitality makes me only drink sips of water when no one is looking and to snarf down an energy bar when i’m alone.

Plus all the interpreters are tired, so they eat at say 8:15pm, sleep for a couple hours and get us at 2:15am to eat again for the 2nd of 2 meals every 24 hours.   So everyone is hungry AND tired!

Loaded both vans with so much aid we couldn’t see out the back windows.  AKA the usual.  Drove to the outskirts of the camp and set up for distro.  One of the interpreters who lives in Vial handed out tickets to new arrivals in the camp.  The rest of us met and discussed

everyones job during the distribution.  I was a floater, filling bins with back stock of:  toothpaste, tooth brush, shampoo, deodorant, pads for girls/women, soap, diapers and diaper cream if needed for the babies and clothes washing powder.

We were in the sun for over 4 hours and had to cut the distribution short as the line was getting unruly.  It was hot and no one had eaten for 20 hours.  We will return later next week to finish.  But we were able to give aid to almost 100 people.  One of the 1st people in line was a mom with a 1 month old baby boy.  I of course asked to hold it and got to for the 15 min it took for her to register and get her items.  Since it was hot and she was carrying things I mimed/offered to carry the baby to the gate of the camp.  She readily let me and without a shared language she let me know how tired but happy she was and I was in turn able to tell her I LOVED HER BABY!!!

It was almost 8pm by the time we’d unloaded the aid at the containers, I brought 2 interpreters home in the city and parked the car.  Max and I ate dinner at one of the restaurants on the harbor.  A beautiful sun set lit up the sky.

Chios seems to be filled with every middle schooler for a 10 island radius.  Well, it sure seems that way.  As I write this I can hear their screams and giggle, thanking God for ear plugs tonight.

Such a fantastic team working this week at Iris House- it is amazing how the new volunteers are instantly welcomed and feel useful.

Our first task was to grab 62 cookers from another warehouse.  Iris House is the only one of the 3 warehouses that distributes directly to Vial Refugee Camp.  We grabbed the cookers in

the 2 vans and returned to the container area to sort aid for tomorrows distribution of hygiene items.  We were only there a short while until a couple of us drove the 2 vans to the “1€ Store”.  Similar to our “Dollar Stores” Chios’s version was jam packed with everything you didn’t know you needed.

In our case it was shampoo, soap, deodorant and washing powder.  We stopped at the famous Chios Windmills for Max to shoot some video.  The interpreters LOVED the drone and I imagine Max will be making one of them.

We got 12 cookers ready and went to Vial to give to newly arrived people.  The interpreters had told the new arrivals that we were coming and we parked up the road from the camp.  Soon about 100 people had arrived.  With an increase of new arrivals they all wanted the cookers.  Janne and the interpreters did a great job registering all the new arrivals.  Most had arrived in the past 24 hours.  The camp is busting at the seam with many tents with 7-9 people crammed in them.  Picture a space maybe 10’X10′.

It was almost 7 when we dropped off one of the interprets that lives in town near our hotel.  We quickly dropped some items at our hotel and went and picked up Jo and her friend Sandy.  Jo is an independent volunteer i’d met in Athens about 18 months ago.  She was raised in  Macao but has traveled the world and is often here in Greece volunteering.  This time she is working at a NGO that helps with legal issues for the refugees.  It’s such important work  and it was really interesting to talk to both of them about the asylum process.

We drove to Karfas a sea side village about 15 minutes from Chios center.  We met David the Swiss volunteer with Iris House who is staying in Karfas.  It was a lovely dinner decompressing from the intense day and getting to know other kindred spirits.

Iris House has a handful of regular interpreters/refugees who work with visiting volunteers.  From around the world this weeks interpreters arrived to Chios shores from:  Cameroon, Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria.  The volunteers from the US, Norway and Switzerland.

Janne started Iris House 3+ years ago.  Chios was the island she and her family visited from Norway every summer.  She watched with increasing horror the humanitarian crisis happening in a place that was her home away from home.  She come to Chios for a 2 week holiday to help where she could and has been here since.

This morning Max and I drove the 15 minutes to the neighboring seaside village she lives in.  She’d already collected the interpreters from town and Vial Camp and we drove the 2 vans to the next seaside village to meet a new mother she’d discovered last week.

Having just arrived to Chios a week before her twins were born, this Cameroon mother had a C-section at the Chios hospital.  Not knowing anyone, and only speaking French a social worker dropped her 3 days later at an efficiency apartment.  Just mom and the babies.  No diapers.  No wipes, No clothing for the babies.  Nothing.  Not even food for mom.  Janne happened to be at the apartment complex and someone told her about the twins mom.

Today we visited her, like most new mothers she was tired.  But a special kind of tired that happens when you have 10 day old twins (both weighed just under 5lbs at birth) and are all alone in a country that is not home.  Thankfully for mom, there have been 2 Norwegian grandmothers volunteering these past weeks and they have stepped gladly and willingly into the grandmother roll for this young mom.

Both are boys and I held one for 20 minutes.  Gazing into the face of a miracle – the baby would back arch every 5 minutes or so.  Content in the sleep world where baby is not all quite here on Earth.

We reluctantly set the babies down and caravanned to the container area where Iris House now has their aid stored.  We spent the next couple hours collecting aid to be delivered to new arrivals.  In the past 2 days alone over 130 people have arrived on Chios.  Another NGO meets the new arrivals on the beach having been told where to go by the Coast Guard.  The new dry clothes given on the beach is the only thing these families have.  Most of the smugglers make them leave what ever they’ve brought from home on the beach in Turkey.  We prepared hygiene kits for the newly arrived:  shampoo, a sponge, dish soap, clothing soap, deodorant, tooth paste, pads, tooth brush and soap.

We took a van full of aid to Vial Camp to distribute to the new arrivals and Janne took a

van to the apartments with children to hand out clothing for children.  We all met back at the container area and repacked for a 2nd distribution – this time clothing for 10 single females who’d arrived this week.  Usually people get to pick their clothes out at a regularly scheduled distribution but for new arrivals it’s best to get them clothes as soon as possible and they will be able to hand pick out items during the next distribution.

At 6:30pm we dropped off the last volunteer.  It was a good day.  Ramadan (Muslim’s observe a month of fasting sunup to sundown, prayer and reflection each year) started on Monday and the volunteers from Vial were starting to drag by the end of the day.  Not even a sip of water did they take.  MUCH more self control then I could ever have.

We met Hasib an Afghan friend i’d met in October for dinner.  He reminded me so much of Max when we first met and wanted them to get together.  The fast ended at 8:20pm, we met at a restaurant in the port area at 8:00pm.  At 8:20pm Hasib excused himself to find a quite place to pray.  He returned to the table just as the waiter brought his food.  In that moment he was just like Max and his friends.  19-20 year olds digging into a plate of food- histories so different yet so much the same.

Just like Zach and I three years ago when he’d finished his first year at NAU, this week Max I went to Greece as independent volunteers after Max had finished his first year at ASU.  Max is going to film a video for Iris House, a Norwegian NGO based on Chios Island that I visited in Oct. 2018 and January 2019.

This is Max’s first time volunteering with refugees and he is super excited to use his video making skills to help where he can.  Between a couple of trips to Goodwill, donations from family and friends and left over aid from the Phoenix Refugee Baby Shower- Max and i were able to collect 3 clear plastic Ikea Dimpa bags of aid.  We also brought over a double stroller that Max had found on a curb in Arcadia with a “free” sign on it.  A huge shout out to Kirk a neighbor who was able to figure out the VERY confusing stroller that had been put together wrong.

Aegean Air (TO name names) lost the stroller between Frankfurt and Athens, but thinks it may catch up to us in a day or two on Chios.  We had already pre-paid for 4 checked bags so when Iris House asked if we could get some Abayas (traditional Muslim women’s coverings) during our 18 hour layover in Athens at the main warehouse and the warehouse just happened to have 2 big boxes of Abayas.  We arrived on Chios with a total of 4 HUGE bags of aid.

The big warehouse in Athens had been a Olympic basketball venue- i’ve posted pictures

of the crazy amount of aid here.  But I am SUPER happy to report that the warehouse currently has maybe 10% of the aid it did 3 years ago when I first visited the warehouse.  It is truly amazing that this much aid was distributed in 3 year.  Speaks to the huge number of refugees still arriving and those still stuck in Greece.  It also should be noted that this whole area (originally the Athens airport but rebuilt as 4 venues for the Olympics) has been sold and will be developed into high end housing and shopping with sea access.  The warehouse will have to move within the year.

We delivered a car load of  aid to a Carry the Future (CTF) partner.  We’d stored our 3 huge aid bags in Athens when we arrived early this morning.  It was 3am by the time I turned off my light this morning.  Thankfully i’d slept about 5-1/2 hours on the flight from Phoenix to Frankfurt!  Thankful for adrenaline and Athens drivers who never let you relax!

Max and I had a couple of hours to pass so we parked near the Acropolis and walked up

for a look see.  It was not an original idea but always an amazing view from the top.

Knowing that Chios’s Jumbo (a huge store that is a mixture of Walmart, Ikea and a dollar

store but the size and layout of an Ikea) was crazy small, we stopped at a Jumbo on the way to the airport.  This is a right of passage for all aid workers in Greece.

Our flight to Chios was 25 minutes, a prop plane and beautiful views as we flew and landed during sunset.  With only 1 gate, Chios airport is a step back in time.  As you walk down the steps of the airplane to the tarmac and walk the 30 so odd feet to the airport building, the door is filled with locals meeting arriving friends and family.  No TSA, no security.

Just smiles and cheers as loved ones enter the area.

 

 

We arrived in Athens about noon yesterday- a short 35 minute flight.  We went immediately to two IKEA’s in Athens to collect children’s potties.  CTF will be launching a new initiative to provide potties to camps.  We’d already cleared the airport IKEA of potties last week and they had not received a new shipment since.  The Athens IKEA had 40 potties so we cleaned them out too!

Last night we went to One Stop, and initiative that feeds unregistered refugees and the

homeless in central Athens. Two nights a week One Stop provides dinner, medics for people to see if they are sick and a van with washers/dryers so that people can wash their clothing.   Dinner prep was in full swing when we arrived at 6:00pm, but a school had donated home cooked meals and salad with messages on the lids that we distributed to those around the area.  We went out in all 3 times, carrying the food between us, finding the most vulnerable and offering them food.  Our leader was a Greek social worker, a vision of grace and beauty.  She spoke to them as if she were speaking to a dear relative.  Her voice full of respect, a smile on her face.

We returned to help the other 20 or so volunteers hand out over 400 meals.  I had worked with this group a year ago and at that time they were feeding 200’ish a night.  The need grows.  So many of these initiatives/NGO’s run on a shoe string.  Their impact is a tremendous necessity to such vulnerable populations.  We helped to clean up around the area and finished about 10:00pm.  A quick dinner around the corner from our hotel finished off the day.

This morning we drove about an hour to a camp that houses 1500.  The unofficial camp

“mayor” (a Greek volunteer who has worked at this camp for 3+ years) met with us and the Army representatives who officially run the camp about a possible collaboration with CTF.  It was  great meeting and many ways CTF teams can help.  We went on a tour of the camp- in addition to the ISO boxes there were 2 new buildings- permanent that had been build recently.  An indication that Greece knows that this is the future for many refugees.  Isolated camps.  No country.  No citizenship.

Dotted around the camp were other NGO’s and their ISO boxes- one was a school where
teachers from the Netherlands taught English.  “The children are so eager to learn- they sit on the edge of their seats eating up the lessons.  I wish my students at home were the same!”.   “No kidding” says every teacher, everywhere!

We were invited into the home of the resident “artist”.  His box the center of many activities including art and music- he gave us a snack of flat bread, ghee and homemade apricot jam and played his sitar – a traditional song.  Haunting and multi-layered.

We saw the “boutique” where residents can shop for 3 pieces of clothing every 3 weeks and the women’s center where women were doing yoga stretches and movement class.

The mood was light, the children were laughing.  A couple children drove bikes around
the fenced and barbed wired perimeter.  The fences not to keep them in as they were able to come and go as they liked.  But more likely, the fence to keep people out who want to harm the residents.

We drove the beautiful drive back to Athens and stopped along the way collecting

diapers at 2 different stores, we even found some potties at Jumbo!  We also stopped at the main market to get bulk goods for our distributions tomorrow.  The van was loaded!!!

We went back to CTF storage and organized the bins, added labels and grabbed the last of the baby beds.

The super moon watched as we made our way to dinner- a vegetarian place not far from our hotel.  A great way to end the day.  Good food, great company.

 

 

 

The day dawned to still seas.  Our plane did not leave the island until noon so we had

time to have a more relaxing breakfast.  We had dinner last night with the volunteers and interpreters from Iris House.

These boys are so much like our boys at home.  Full of life.  Silly.  Oh so tired when they are not being silly.  Quick to kid around.  Willing to work hard when needed.  I cannot help thinking what their future holds.  My heart hurts thinking of their uncertain
futures.  Thankful that there are people like those at Iris House that are looking out and supporting where they can.

Many of these young men have already had multiple rejections to resettle in Greece.  It now is a waiting game.  Some have as many as 4 rejections.  Those have been waiting in Vial for over 3 years.

Our time in Chios has gone quickly.  But I know we each leave a piece of our hearts here to return.  Tom will be returning in April and it will be good to get a first person account of how everyone is doing.

 

The morning broke with cloudy sky heavy with rain and a forecast that said “90% chance of rain”.  Not the best forecast when we were going to do toiletry distribution!  We communicate with CTF and their partners mostly on Whats App and Messenger.  All day long the phone dings with notifications of updates.  Plans change the day of a task, as well as we are constantly looking ahead in the week to keep things moving smoothly.

Today at breakfast we got notice from Iris House that a 40′ container of goods sent from Norway 15 months ago, tied up in transit had miraculously appeared at the container area and needed to be unloaded before we sorted and loaded our cars for the toiletry distribution.

We arrived at the container area fully expecting to unload the truck in the pouring rain.

No rain.  And there were about 30 volunteers from many of the other NGO’s on the island and all of their interpreters and volunteers.  The interpreters live at Vial camp or in Chios- boredom is stifling.  Unloading a truck of aid gives them purpose, people worked with smiles.  Happy to be helping.

Interpreters sprang into action and climbed up into the truck and started unwrapping the pallets of goods and we began the process of putting the already sorted boxes of aid into an empty container.  I was put in charge of organizing  and with tape marked where all the aid was to go- “men”, “women”, “children”, “hats, mittens, scarves”.

It was if a “start” button was pushed.  Soon lines were formed and the unloading began.

Pallets of aid soon became piles in the once empty container.  It only took about 30 minutes and just as the last boxes were put into the container the skies broke and it started to pour.

Everyone rushed to their vans/cars and headed back to the never ending work.  We loaded our van and Iris Center’s vans with hygiene aid (shampoo, deodorant, washing powder, toothpaste, diaper).  Since the center has closed the aid has had to come to the camp.  Not convenient or the best delivery method.

Tickets were handed out by the interpreters by area and soon a line formed.  The rain, while looking threatening, never materialized the 3 hours distribution took place.  Kids and mother’s we had given aid to were back in line for the third day.  The ground was muddy, it was cold.

It was bittersweet knowing this was our last day working on the island.  New friendships have formed and I was lucky enough to see friends from my last trip.

Dinner was at a family run restaurant in a beach town not far from Chios.  We were a table of 13, volunteers, interpreters, friends.  The founder of Iris House told us the the story of how she came to the island 3 years ago for 10 days………MAYBE 2 weeks.  And is still here providing essential items that without her distribution would not happen.

We will be sad to fly to Athens in the morning, and hope that if we do return our friends are not here in Chios.  But are instead resettled into their new countries.