Arrival successful! 

Got here a week ago, Sunday the 29th after a long old journey.

Settling in to working with Lifting Hands (the NGO I’m volunteering with) and slowly getting a grasp of the situation here in Greece - in the mainland it seems as if a lot of the camps are switching from crisis mode into more long term management. Yazidis continue to arrive at the camp, news of the dire situations at camps on the Greek islands has spread (many of these islands have now become detention centres within themselves with access to the mainland being granted to refugees) and as a result people are starting to make the journey to central Greece overland - a group recently arrived having walked from Turkey. 

Due to Lifting Hands not being granted access to inside the walls of the camp, it’s headquarters have been set up 100m from the camp’s entrance. It’s a bizarre situation - I’ve been using my van to deliver food and hygiene goods to the camp; I reach the entrance and whatsapp our contact inside who’ll come to the gate collect the goods for distribution. The camp’s residents repeatedly invite us in to share food and tea but we’re obliged to decline, lest we put strain on Lifting Hand’s already stretched relationship with the IOM (International Organisation for Migration, of which each municipality has it’s own branch with it’s own set of behaviours). It transpires that there’s some embarrassment from the Greek authorities that third parties are stepping in to provide services which they are not and that our denial of access may be the IOM’s expression of dented pride.

The camp’s residents are free to come and go as they please, a hopeful sounding arrangement - one far more humanist than detention; until met with the fact that they’re seriously lacking in any opportunity to seek and their return is to a glorified shipping container. There’s an image here of the camp - https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/yazidi-children-play-at-the-serres-refugee-camp-northern-news-photo/884024720#yazidi-children-play-at-the-serres-refugee-camp-northern-greece-on-picture-id884024720 - that provides an idea of the accommodation. A lucky family may get a smaller container to themselves / one of the larger containers might be required to house upto 20 people. More individuals continue to arrive but extra accommodation does not manifest at the same rate. 

I don’t intend for this writing to criticise solely the Greek authorities, I appreciate they’re a country in the midst of economic depression who’ve found themselves in this situation due to geographical proximity; they’re already under strain when trying to care for their own nationals. The shutting of borders and refusal to accomodate migrants by wealthier Western European countries starts to appear as a juvenile “not my problem” response to an issue Greece hasn’t solely created.

As to where I fit into this situation is something I’ve been figuring out - at first I felt my presence was superfluous to the wellbeing of any of the Yazidis. Their most basic of needs have been met but it ends there, they find themselves by no fault of their own in a situation that can so easily become devoid of hope. Working with the residents on simple projects such as furniture or children’s play equipment doesn’t get them closer to a permanent home but provides a temporary outlet in which an individual can become involved in the act of creation, take ownership of an object they’ve helped realise or make something that’ll improve their daily lives - next week we’re starting work on an outdoor gym, beginning with casting concrete dumbbells. 

I’d like to thank you all for your donations that have played a part in getting me here and funding what myself and the Yazidis are able to achieve together. Much appreciated. All the best, Will.