Tagesablauf und Impressionen unserer täglichen Arbeit auf Lesbos

I think it is also important that we make you understand what and how we work here on Lesvos for the people in the #KaraTepe camp.

Here, in the new camp near Mytelini, there are currently just over 8000 people, women, men, children, old people, sick people. There are over 1000 summer tents, usually shared by 6-7 people, often 2 families. Then there are also a few large tents where young people travelling alone live. The day before yesterday I went to see them in person. Since not all of them are equipped with beds, as reported in the media, there are many small igloo tents in these large tents where the young people can sleep. The floor is like concrete, hard and cold.

If you walk through the camp, it is noisy all the time, it is also very cold, helped by the wind, and between the tents, which are so close together that you can hardly get through, gutters have been dug so that the water can drain away in the event of rain. Which is an illusion, of course, because this soil here hardly absorbs any water, and the "seepage pits" , gutters dug by the people themselves on the run are more of a psychological reassurance. As we already know from the past, after one day of rain a large part of the camp is already under water. We are all very afraid of the winter rains, knowing exactly what it means in practice for the people here. Their few belongings wet, hardly any dry place to sleep, freezing children, sick, hypothermic people.

Now a lockdown is imminent, from Saturday people are no longer allowed to leave the camp, i.e. even the small errands are cancelled. NGOs, people who do not have accreditation for the camp, are not allowed in. Already during our last stay we were able to connect and work with Katarina and Nikos from Home for All. This NGO has been working on Lesvos for years in the best service for the people seeking protection. And they are also allowed into the camp, so we are with them too. They cook over 1000 hot meals a day for vulnerable groups such as diabetics, single mothers with their children. They also deliver food to the asylum office, where up to 80 families a day wait for their interview from morning to night without food. In the camp, a list is being prepared, a map, so to speak, on which each tent is registered with its number and occupants. This is extremely time-consuming and tedious, but it is the only sensible way we can support the people together. Jackets, children's needs, babycare, hygiene articles, shoes, everything can be packed into a bag and brought to each tent.

You can't stand in the middle of the camp and distribute goods, that would cause chaos. You have to imagine that you are standing in a village with 8,000 inhabitants and none of the people have even the most basic necessities. Going around the tents and bringing the most necessary things to the inhabitants is the best support you can give.

In one tent these are pampers, baby food, soothers, in the other blankets or jackets. Soaps, hygiene articles, socks, bonnets, masks. We also want to think of the children. We have bought lots of drawing paper, pencils, sharpeners, coloured paper for the artist Abdullah from Afghanistan. Every day, children come to him to draw, paint, be busy for a few hours and let their children's hearts laugh.

The last two days we were not in camp. This is because the lockdown is imminent, which means: all shops, except grocery shops, pharmacies and some supermarkets, such as cash and carry, are open, everything else is closed. We wanted to do as much shopping as possible, which is very difficult to get later, but which we urgently need. Socks, dummies, bonnets, pampers, hygiene products, etc.. The next few days we will pack the support packages for the respective tents. We can also access things that have been sent to us, things that are still being sent, also Georg Jachan will deliver a truck full of assorted winter clothes, blankets, etc. Nikos and Katharina have a warehouse and a container where things can be stored temporarily.

In the morning we usually go to the supermarket, get lots of things for the kitchen, from huge tins of tomato sauce, bags of onion, carrots, peppers, salt, pasta, whatever is needed.

Then food is packed, bread is cut, everything is stowed in the van. While the food is being delivered, we go shopping again, or we go with them to the camp.

Tomorrow morning we will first get 4 big thermo boxes to keep the food warm on the way to camp. One box holds about 90 portions. The cost for all 4 is about 800€. An urgently needed investment, because a warm meal a day is the minimum for everyone, especially for vulnerable groups in this extraordinary situation.

It will soon be dark at this time of year. When we meet again at 6 pm in the taverna, the kitchen, Arja, a long-time friend and supporter of Nikos and Katherina, quickly cuts the bread as a side dish for the last trip of the day. Dinner for the mothers with their children.

Today, 6 November we were in camp, I'm at a loss for words! Except: #LeaveNoOnBehind

Each day is a new challenge, things often change, you have to be flexible. And yet, at the end of the day, we are grateful to have worked through a lot again, to have been able to support people in the greatest need in one way or another. If you want to help, 50€ is about 13 meals p.d., or about 5 babycare packages. Thank you very much!

Doro Blancke AT93 3842 0000 0002 7516 BIC RZSTAT2G420 Subject: Lesbos or

Helga Longin "Unser Bruck hilft" AT30 2021 6216 9756 3700, Subject: Lesbos

The idea that it will now be very cold here, too, and that rain and storms are coming, makes us very uncomfortable. The reality that there is still no evacuation of the camp in sight only causes us more incomprehension and bewilderment. If Europe continues to watch how people in the EU are treated, actually mistreated, just to maintain a populist policy that is far removed from human rights, then we are destroying all our democratic and humanitarian principles.

#EvacuationNow #Lesbos #Greece #Courage #HumanRights #144Lives #LeaveNoOneBehind