First day in Athens

Athens, 14.06.2021

This morning, Fayad, Luna and I arrived in Athens. After moving into our flat, which Fayad had picked out for us, we made our way to Victoria Square. There we meet Ahmad, whom we already got to know in the course of our work on Lesbos, where he did a great job as a volunteer in the camp. Tomorrow he will fly to Germany, but he has introduced us to his friend Sadeq for the time in Athens, who can support us as an interpreter.

For us, it is always difficult at the beginning to determine which criteria we can use to support people. This requires good research, personal contact with protection seekers and NGOs and weighing up where the needs are greatest and the help is most efficient. For the few days we are now in Athens, we have decided to support women travelling alone with and without children. Today we have already met and talked to a few, initially with Ahmed's support and later with Sadeq's help. Both have done a wonderfully empathetic job - it is not at all easy for single women to accept a young man, which has been done very well here. As a first step, we have opened a WhatsApp group for better communication and in the coming days we will support them with food parcels. The plight of these women is particularly great, very touching and painful stories are behind their being alone here.

In the meantime, Fayad was on his way to visit a kitchen NGO that serves hot food, Luna took photos because we are also concerned about documenting the situation on the ground. After Fayad came back, he continued his photo project by taking pictures of children and printing them out immediately on his mobile photo printer. The children are always very happy to be able to hold a picture of themselves in their hands. It is those moments that not only bring a smile to children's faces. Gratefully, I observe these scenes from a distance. People feel noticed, seen, they feel this as a warming moment. 

I am deeply shocked by the stories people tell here. Although we know the facts, it is shocking every time people tell their own personal stories.
For example, there is a woman, aged 50, who lost her husband and two children while fleeing. Now she is alone here in Athens, totally desperate because she doesn't know where her family is.
Or the many families who live in one of the camps, who already have a positive asylum decision and now receive no support whatsoever. They ask for medical care. The doctors in the hospital issue prescriptions, but they are far too expensive to pay for. Or schools for their children. Leaving children without education for years is a form of human rights violation that we cannot accept under any circumstances.
There are also many young men travelling alone who try to explain to us why it is particularly difficult for them, that they would like to learn the language so that they can talk to the people here, that they want to find a job. But they know themselves that this is hardly possible for them here.

I also met a young man who is homeless, no longer allowed to live in the camp. He sneaked into the camp to join his friend who is still living there in a tent. In the process, he was picked up by the police and had to go to prison for a week until it turned out that he was already registered as a person entitled to protection. Now he is at liberty again and was able to tell me about his time in prison. His stories were extremely harrowing: there were six of them in a small cell, there are no beds, people sleep on the floor. The young man was lucky that a friend brought him a sleeping bag. Many of the things he told me I don't really want to repeat here because they are so sad. In any case, young men in prison are very vulnerable. The only positive thing the young man experienced there, because as an asylum seeker he no longer receives financial support, was that he was fed three times a day. After the week in prison, after the news from Lesbos about his status arrived, he is now back on the street and does not know what to do. He speaks very good English, he is a very friendly young man who is looking for nothing more than his independent life. Work, housing, food, friends. 

Now I'm back home, and I'm so sad and so angry at the same time, because I don't understand why people are left to live in such desperation and need. And once again, in addition to the whole human rights issue, there is also the big question: Where is all the money that Greece has received and is receiving to provide good accommodation for people fleeing, for those entitled to protection?

The fact that our federal government is now playing "best finds" with Greece and that the German Chancellor is making a statement on social media every time the Greeks make a small move, just to secure his and the populist politicians' hold on power, outrages me deeply.

All this, all this injustice, this violation of human rights is happening on the backs of people. People who have done nothing more than flee an unbearable situation, be it war, hunger, terrorism, the consequences of climate change, etc., in order to find protection elsewhere.

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