Is there room for them in our inn?

Tue 29 Dec 2015, 15:30 (last edited on Fri 1 Jan 2016, 15:52)

Thanks to everyone for following these reports from people and places that Charlbury Refugee Action Group has been helping, or may help
in the future. It didn't spark a dialogue or any comments, but no matter.

To keep in touch with what is happening in refugee land, posts similar to these will continue to appear at www.facebook.com/charlburyrefugee

We hope to see you there. Keep in touch!

Dunkirk was the prime destination for the warm clothing, stout footwear, tents, sleeping bags and food that Charlbury people donated to our Christmas collection. Poppy and Vanessa from Hook Norton delivered them to the camp yesterday.

Here's a story that shows what the volunteers are up against. www.facebook.com/laurel.linden.12/posts/1965275313698488

Tue 29 Dec 2015, 09:30

Every cloud... There are lovely people out there.

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=216543145346078&id=100009711819721

Sun 27 Dec 2015, 13:10 (last edited on Sun 27 Dec 2015, 13:12)

Expect the worst. As the weather worsens, so the Turkish smugglers reduce their prices for the crossings to the Greek islands. They lose the dinghies anyway, as the smugglers do not normally accompany the refugees, and of course people pay up front, so there is no additional loss to them if people drown, and the poorer refugees will take the risk.

https://www.facebook.com/UnitedRescues/posts/207459269594803

Sun 27 Dec 2015, 10:11

Andy Smith, Labour MP for Hammersmith, visits the Calais 'refugee camp':

https://www.facebook.com/andy4hammersmith/posts/773526819425737

Sat 26 Dec 2015, 09:54

Kester Ratcliff lives in Bristol. At the moment he is volunteering on Lesvos. Today he has explained the bribery, costs and consequences of the people smuggling operation through Turkey:

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~ The Battle of the Bribes ~

The price of a place in a smugglers' boat ranges between $700-1200 per person. We've also heard from some poorer nationalities of refugees recently that the bad weather price is sometimes $500, but at the same time Syrians are still paying $1200 because they're on average richer than Afghans and others.

One million refugees and forced migrants have entered Europe by the Mediterranean route this year.

These rubber inflatable boats are designed for 10-15 people but they normally put 45-50 in each boat.

So the total price per boat load is about $54,000, for a 6-8km crossing.

The bribe paid to the Turkish coastguard per crossing or to look away for two hours for any number of boats at a time is $35-40,000. The boat and engine probably costs about $5000.

Many refugees have to make multiple attempts at crossing, because they get caught and turned back by the Turkish coastguard. When that happens they have to pay all over again. It's not unusual to make three attempts before succeeding.

The sea crossing is not the only part of the route where they have to pay smugglers to pay off the police or coastguard. They also have to pay huge smuggling prices for the travel to Istanbul and to Izmir. I've also met an Afgani family who said they'd been turned back and paid three times to get through Istanbul.

Another pair of Afghan-Iranian engineers said that they'd been forced to flee because the Taliban threatened to kill them for apostasy because they were openly atheist and didn't keep Ramadan. Obviously, the Quran says "there can be no compulsion in matters of religion", but authoritarian traditionalists in all cultural traditions are typically not very well acquainted with their claimed tradition's texts and history. The two engineers who spoke good English and translated for us also said that they'd been kidnapped while hiking through the mountains across the Turkish border and extorted $1000 each to be released or be killed, and one person who refused to pay was killed in front of them.

So if we could count the number of repeat attempts for each successful crossing and for each part of the journey, it's probably not an unreasonable estimate to guess three payments per person on various stages of the route.

1,000,000 x $1200 x 3 ~= €3bn

So the bribes paid to the Turkish police, coastguards and presumably politicians controlling them and the remaining payments to the shadow economy in Turkey are probably roughly equivalent to the €3bn bribe paid by EU governments to the Turkish government to commit refoulement, illegal push backs and to attack refugees at sea with water cannon and try to sink them, or anything to stop them entering Europe and claiming their intrinsic and universal human right to humanitarian asylum when they really need it, as the vast majority of them clearly do.

So, unsurprisingly given that the battle of the bribes is roughly evenly weighted, the Turkish coastguard play off both sides approximately in proportion to their opposing interests- at night they look away and pretend they couldn't possibly see the boats, and in the day they mostly do not allow them to cross. This one was lucky. They won't have to pay ~$54,000 to the smugglers who pay ~$35-40,000 to the Turkish coastguard again. They're just about to land in Skala Sykeminea now, towed in by the Medicins Sans Frontieres - Greenpeace jointly funded and staffed rescue boat.

Ulhamdillalah assalaameen.

And here is Kester's 'day job' on the island:

I'm up on the hill above the lighthouse, watching and systematically scanning the sea for about 240degrees around with military grade night vision binoculars lent by someone in the military to Lighthouse Relief (the night team here) on a tripod.

The moon is so bright I hardly need a headtorch to go up n down. It's quite windy n wavey now. No boats on the sea yet as far as I can see. When Erlend showed me how to use the night vision binoculars earlier there was a fishing boat out, and we could see the man and the outboard engine and the angle of the boat going against the waves. If I see a boat I can also measure exactly how far away it is.

We aim to alert Proactiva lifeguards long enough in advance for them to tow any refugee boats around to Skala Sykeminea harbour, which is a much safer landing, but if they do have to land here - we don't see them far enough out to alert Proactiva in time, or they look as though they're heading for Tsonias harbour around the next headland from here but sometimes then veer off course and head for here, then we're ready to meet them in 5mins. We sleep in our wetsuits here. We now have a big generator and 7 large LED floodlights on the three or four possible landing points around the lighthouse here, so we can floodlight the area. There's also LED rope lights along the steps we built up from the best landing side with the steepest almost-cliff.

If we see them in time two of us get in the water with signalling lights just like the kind used on airport runways to guide them around to the relatively least dangerous side. The lighthouse was built as a warning to ships that there are dangerous rocks just below sea level in front of it, but refugees skippering boats, probably for the first time, tend to aim for the lighthouse. A few days ago a boat hitting those rocks popped on one side and flipped over, dumping everyone in the water 50m out. Everyone was rescued, including a 4mth old baby, Seuwan, who had to be resuscitated twice.

I should do another sweep with the night vision now

Fri 25 Dec 2015, 11:21

Amy Bird lives in London. She is part of the Refugees Welcome - UK group:

Hi everyone,

Before the end of the year I just wanted to say thank you to each and every member of this group. Sometimes it's hard not to be overwhelmed by what is happening and to feel like it is a bit hopeless. We are deluged with negativity from the media - it feels like no-one really cares and that fear and hatred is the predominant feeling out there for refugees.

So, as we're about to start a new year, here's a roundup of some of the good things that happened in 2015 - big and small - that can give us hope and inspiration for the coming year. The stuff that doesn't always get coverage but it's more common than we think...

- In the UK 2 million people offered up their homes to refugees; millions and millions of pounds have been raised, and mountains of aid has been donated, sorted and distributed.

- The UK government gave in to spontaneous pressure from the public and accepted 20,00 refugees over the next five years. Still nowhere near enough but more than they were going to do.

- Germany has taken in over 1 million refugees this year alone.

- Canada is taking in 25k Syrian refugees and is greeting them with choirs singing Arabic songs of hope ... and has just announced it will double its intake in 2016 to 50k!

- Abdul Halim al-Attar, a homeless refugee selling pens on the streets of Beirut inspired a £120k twitter crowd fund. With the funds he has set up three businesses employing 16 Syrian refugees.

- Yousef Rajab - a two year old boy badly burned from a bomb in Syria was able to get to the safety of Turkey with his father thanks one man - Rohan Karat and generous members of the public and media.

- A Canadian couple downsized their 'big' wedding and donated over $16k to refugees. A Turkish couple invited 4,000 Syrian refugees to eat and celebrate with them.

- Syrian refugee Alex Assali living in Germany said thank you to country that took him in by feeding the homeless.

- Social media went into melt down trying to find injured Syrian boy Azam. BBC Newsnight found him alive and well (and cheeky!) in Germany with his uncle. He has now been reunited with his family.

- Scotland welcomed refugees by taking out front page spreads and distributing welcome packs of Tunnocks Teacakes, Irn Bru and notes apologising for the weather.

There are so many more - see the link below for some examples that will restore your faith in humanity!

www.buzzfeed.com/patricksmith/ways-refugees-and-migrants-were-welcomed-in-2015#.he96lQEem

Merry Christmas to those who celebrate it and a happy new year to all!

Thu 24 Dec 2015, 08:55

Maria Tran paid homage last night to a local Lesvos hero, at the same reporting that Rayyan Haries' kitchen at Platanos appears to have been given a reprieve:

I have great news about the Platanos camp. The police did not show up today to dismantle the camp as they threatened to do. When the Mayor's office was contacted, they claimed that they didn't know about the order. Hopefully, all the publicity that we've raised and the support that everyone has shown on the ground and in social media did the trick to put pressure on them to not touch the camp.

Thinking about the camp reminds me to do something that I've been wanting to do for a long time, which is to properly thank Apostolis for everything he's done for the camp and for the help he's provided to hundreds of thousands of refugees that arrive through the north shore of Lesvos.

This is not the first time I've profiled Apostolis, nor will it be the last. I'm not exaggerating when I say that Homeric songs should be sung about this wonderful man. I met Apostolis while volunteering at Skala food station when I was there in October. Most volunteers are a bit afraid of Apostolis because he fiercely guards the milk and other scarce snacks, reserving them for the babies. On any given night, you can hear him yell out, "milk for beh beh", meaning the milk is just for babies, at the new volunteers whose soft hearts compel them to pour milk for men who ask for it.

Apostolis taught me everything I know about how to deal with children experiencing trauma. He has an amazing instinct to identify the emotional state of the children, knowing which ones he needs to give an extra piece of candy to or which ones need a stuffed animal to bring them out of shock.

I learned during this trip that Apostolis is the unofficial father of the Skala camp. Starting February, he and an Austrian (or Australian) named Patrick started patrolling the north coast of Lesvos because they noticed boats coming in. Back then, it was just the two of them out there. He recalls fondly that they'd drive their little beater van up and down the coast, giving people whatever they had--4-5 pairs of shoes donated by friends, a ride to the road. It was in during the summer when the volume of people arriving started to soar that he put a call out to Athens and got a group of anarchists to come and help him set up camp. People like Alex Aristopoulos, Sofia Vouvaki, Peydar Efrini (Abdul), Dimitris Mamakos and Feral Fauno showed up to help and our little Skala Platanos camp started to form. Then we had others like Rayyan Haries showed up to cook and Michael-John Von Hörsten showed up to provide medical services and we all became a family--each unit providing a vital, complementary service.

Apostolis tells me that he used to be at the shore helping boats come in. But he stopped doing that shortly before I met him because a boat crashed on the rocks while he was out there and he wasn't able to save a 2 month old baby. That incident still scars him. He chokes up telling me this story. Since that time, he only works at the camp, giving food to children. Like his friend Celina Kyriakou, there are some things that haunt you too much and makes you have to change course.

It was very important to me and other donors who have heard me talk about Apostolis that he doesn't have to worry about limited supply of milk, stuffed animals or candy for the children. Since my time here in October, the camp is getting donations for milk from another organization, but Sea of Solidarity funds stuffed animals and other things for children, like shoes.

Apostolis speaks limited English and on a good day, I know about 10 words of Greek. But that hasn't stopped us from forming a deep bond. I love this man and consider him my Greek father and he's told me that he loves me like a daughter. When we said good-bye this time, he gave me his Palestinian scarf (shown in the photo) that he's had for 13 years. I am so touched by this act. I think of it as my battle scarf and hope to make him proud every time I wear it. Just like others whom I've met volunteering here, I gave this man a piece of my heart in return.

[Here is the photo Maria mentions: https://www.dropbox.com/s/9htswve3iekwk31/Apostolic.jpeg?dl=0 ]

Jeannie Etherton got home (Stroud) from Calais late last night: increasingly, wooden shelters are being built to replace tents, but it's a slow business and takes materials and organisation:

Fresh back from Calais Jungle..was a family trip this time as Hector Ellie and Nico came with us.. (as well as Kay and Joe and Toni) .. so much mud..it was rainy and windy and tents blew flat in front of us... desperate people angry and fed up....loads more shelters have been built..

Hector Ellie and Joe spent a day building and helped get 10 shelters up and see the people move into them immediately. .. we celebrated Yalda (solstice) with friends old and new...it's good to see people that I've connected with and to build our relationship more..we become friends..I'm selfishly glad they are still there..they are not.

Rowan's caravan got delivered to the Caravans for Calais yard with the promise that it would be on site in next couple of days...the xmas food hampers were delivered to the family field. .there was enough for the families we knew but many people went without .. handed over €500 towards firewood for the camp..delivered an art therapy pack to the school...Helped with distributions. .helped in the warehouse. .helped with a new kitchen being set up. .and recorded some stories (vocal not visual and with full permission) .. it is at the point of our equality in our humanity that I fall apart and cannot understand what is happening in this world..so much pain..so much horror.. one beautiful Afghan woman said to me that at the moment there is a big dark cloud over her world...she is waiting for God to shine the sun in her world again....

I hope all refugees and people suffering in today's global humanitarian crisis get to feel the warmth and light of the sun in their world again soon.... #noborders

Tue 22 Dec 2015, 09:37 (last edited on Tue 22 Dec 2015, 12:49)

Fadi Mansour writing on Leros yesterday.

21 december 2015
One of the toughest days more than 1300 people in leros today I was woket up at 6 am by a call from the police There was about 250 people they arrived to pantali.

The police will provide a bus for them so they would just sit and wait,

So we start with breakfast at 8 am and there were about 230 they arrived from Farmakonis.
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At 7pm in the evening I got a call from police that they could not get a bus and they want me to pick them up with my car, I ran immediately to Panteli for I did think women and children in the cold for more than 13 hour. we got to picked them up. :)
The camp is full and more than 300 people sleeping outside because there is no more space in tents unfortunately.

Tomorrow Tuesday there a boat to Athens but unfortunately there is not room for more than 100 people refugee....

If you think it's all over because the western media has lost interest, think again! This report was posted last night. It's only a snapshot of one place. It doesn't mention the hunger strike on Lesvos, or the forced repatriations, or the drownings. But this is enough for now…
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Greece: Official UNHCR numbers have confirmed the arrival of 7,596 refugees during the weekend. Most of the new arrivals are landing on #Lesvos and #Chios shores. By 10PM today, there were cca 1,000 confirmed new arrivals (possibly more due to conflicting reports) on Lesvos.

Volunteers from Chios are reporting a busy day with cca 2,000 refugees in the camp, but no numbers of new arrivals are provided yet. Influx has also dramatically increased in #Leros, where the camp is overflowing with no more room in the large MSF tents and UNHCR Ikea huts. Refugees are sleeping outside and more volunteers are needed. For several days now, #Moria camp is also beyond its capacity, so more people are forced to spend the night outside. With additional refugees coming from #KaraTepe camp for registration, even SIA refugees have to wait up to four days in order to get their documents in Moira.
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Following the 3 billion euro deal between #EU and #Turkey, volunteers say more ships are coming during the night and landing on random, more distant places, probably in order to avoid attention of Turkish police patrols. While most of the boats still arrive safely, some of them land unattended in remote fisher villages, where there are no volunteers site. If they land to such places during the night, refugees are left soaking wet on freezing temperatures, sometimes for hours, waiting for someone to spot them and organize a transport to the camps. By 1PM today, 150 people have arrived to Chios camp, coming from several boats who got stranded for between 3 and 18 hours before rescuers managed to approach them. Some of the rescued refugees were still dripping wet when they entered the camp.

And on the border with Macedonia, after they make the crossing…
youtu.be/_e0ThOrTbxo

Meanwhile, meet a hero:

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3366040/Grandfather-converts-bus-kitchen-feed-refugees-Christmas.html

Mon 21 Dec 2015, 16:29

Written from Calais last week by Louise Edwards, who lives in Mold. As refugees fade from the news bulletins and TV screens, the situation is actually getting worse. Worse in Calais and Dunkirk, worse on the Greek islands and in Athens. The bodies of dead babies, children and adults washing up daily and nightly on European beaches is no longer news. Unbelievable? Believable.

Calais Camp 17.12.2015

Thursday saw three vans of aid travel down to Calais, two from Share in Flint with blankets, sleeping bags, tents and warm clothes kindly donated by our local communities. A special thank you to Aidan Coleman and his driver Jed whose collections of aid from St Peter's church in Holywell helped fill the second van. The third van was filled with food donated through a Muslim charity called 'Serving Humanity.'

Our donations were delivered to the refugee support group Care4Calais run by Clare Moseley, John Sloan and their fabulous team of volunteers. Just over a month ago they acquired a much needed storage unit in Calais, easily accessible from the port and tunnel and not far from the camp.

Upon arrival, we quickly unloaded and then reloaded the vans with blankets and sleeping bags to be distributed in the camp that afternoon. Each van went in to the camp with a team of 7 volunteers. This is how many people it takes to be able to distribute aid in a way that is civilised, dignified and safe for all. It was wonderful to see the strong emphasis all volunteers placed on treating the refugees with dignity and kindness. The conditions that they live in are far from dignified and there is little kindness shown in the inhumane ways they are treated by the huge police presence around the camp.

Our van was very quickly emptied as men of all ages patiently queued to be given a blanket. As always, it was a humbling experience to be amongst a group of people who have experienced such hardship. Hardship in their home country, during their long and exhausting journey north and upon arrival at a place they believed held the prospect of a better, safer life. Many of these mens' faces expressed a deep sadness, an understandable sense of hopelessness and despair. Yet others obviously remained hopeful, smiling as they waited, and all shared their gratitude for the small item of warmth we offered them. I admire these men so much for being able to retain a sense of a hope, whilst living in a place where they are so clearly not wanted.

After the distribution Sam Mantache and I took the opportunity to spend some time walking around the camp. We both struggled to find words to describe the experience. It felt like being in a movie set, it was so totally surreal. Even though we were there, even though our feet walked through the mud, our eyes saw the flimsy tents and buildings, our ears heard the sounds of police sirens close by, our noses caught the smell of poor drainage and our hands shook those of the people we met - it seemed unimaginable that people, human beings just like us, actually lived in this place.

As we walked we watched other volunteers hard at work. Clare Moseley was busy delivering special boxes of aid to the tents of the most vulnerable and later we saw her handing out gas canisters to be used for cooking. Others were bringing building materials in to the camp to help create more stable structures than the flimsy tents that we saw everywhere. Some volunteers manned the First Aid caravans and others were helping out in the kitchen areas to prepare food for the evening.

A few 'shops' and 'cafes' lined the streets of the camp. Refugees who have a little money to spare have found a way to supply their fellow refugees with basic supplies. In other areas of the camp a library has been set up and one area is designated to 'Art in the Jungle'. We saw signs of creativity around every corner, symbols of hope, expressions of a desire for peace and unity.

Sadly we also saw a huge construction site, set right in the middle of the camp. It is believed that this is to be a huge 'Detention Camp'. It's hard enough to see the suffering endured in the camp already. It is harder still to imagine all these people, being formally detained and deprived of their basic human right to freedom.

It seems to me that these brave people are asking us for so little. They simply want the opportunity to live and work in a safe place - they haven't come to 'scrounge', they haven't come to attack or hurt us. They have so much to give, so much to offer, if we could only stop being so fearful and see the good that would come from welcoming them rather than rejecting them.

I cannot imagine what courage it must take to leave your home, your friends and your family, not knowing what risks lie ahead of you on your journey to find safety and peace. Yet the unknown of what lies ahead has to be more appealing than what they leave behind.

Through conversations with refugees on Leros and in Calais, it's clear that no one makes this journey lightly. I have met grown men who are dentists, doctors, teachers, engineers, physiotherapists....they have been unable to work for years because of the bombing and attacks in their home countries and have struggled to find money to feed their families. Eventually, after much consideration and heartbreak, they make the decision that it's better for them to leave, to find a country that will welcome them in the hope of bringing their families to join them, than it is to stay and risk the very real prospect of death.

We at Share will continue to collect and send aid to support the refugees in Calais and in other areas of Europe for as long as it is needed. The refugee crisis continues to grow and the media in the UK is failing to show just how huge a crisis it is.

The response to the photo of the little boy washed up on the shores of a Greek Island months ago was huge. There are now bodies of women, men and children being washed up on those same shores every day! So why isn't this being shown in our newspapers and on our TV sets?

Please don't think because you don't see it that it isn't happening. It is. Now more than ever, refugees need our help. Our government has made the decision to bomb Syria yet fails miserably to offer support to the Syrian people who understandably continue to leave their country in search of safety. Those that end up in Calais are seen as a threat, as an inconvenience, as a group of people to be detained rather than supported.

They depend on fellow human beings like us to offer them compassion and to show them through our actions, no matter how small, that they are not a forgotten people, that their lives matter and are as important as ours.

Please help us to help them. No one person can change the world alone, yet we can each do something small and together make a difference.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post and please feel free to share it far and wide. The general public perception of the refugee crisis is not necessarily an accurate one. I don't pertain to know all the facts, all I do is share my own experience in the hope that it sheds some light and truth on a situation that without more compassion shows no sign of improving.

My warmest wishes to you all,
Louise

Sat 19 Dec 2015, 08:54

Photographs and a video by Reuters Photographer of the Year, Yannis Gehrakis:

widerimage.reuters.com/story/greece-witnessing-the-migration-crisis

Fri 18 Dec 2015, 16:20

I have just seen this video:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVtEb7Gps1g&sns=em

Thu 17 Dec 2015, 09:43 (last edited on Thu 17 Dec 2015, 13:18)

Maria Tran is an American volunteering on Lesvos. She went to help because her family were Vietnamese boat people who were picked up and survived… A couple of days ago she wrote:

"We packed 500 snack bags this afternoon and brought them down to the port and handed them out to refugees. The ferry ride to Athens is 11 to 15 hours and many people don't have money for food.

While we were there, a man came up to us and showed us that he just had an operation and got his kidney removed. We had heard that people are selling kidneys in Turkey to pay for the dinghy to get to Greece. We paid for his ferry ticket and will get him a room for the night.

My heart is broken to a million pieces because I am leaving Lesvos with that man's story etched in my mind.

Love you Rayyan Haries, Anna Moutzourelli, Katerina Moujourelis, Patrick McBride, Sofia Vouvaki and Petros Tsetris for making this snack and toy run with Peter and me.

Extra special to have Bogdan State from Facebook and his boyfriend Nick show up to help.

So much love. So much heartbreak. That is my story of Lesvos."

Maria is part of the volunteering group Sea of Solidarity. They have just funded the kitchen at the Pikpa camp on Lesvos to provide 300 meals a day for 30 days. Maria has now moved on to Athens, from where she wrote last night describing a day giving out oranges and bananas to refugees on the streets and in new camps. Then, this morning, she posted this little piece of happy news for her Facebook followers:

"I woke up to happy news today. Do you remember the beautiful Afghan girl I met about 10 days ago, Tehera? The one who learned English through watching Youtube and loves Mark Zuckerberg? I wrote her twice to check in on her.

I just got an email from her. Her family made it to Germany. She's been in a refugee camp in Heidelberg for 3 days now. I have visited Heidelberg before and Peter's grandfather went to college there. I am happy picturing her and her family safe in a place that we're familiar with.

Here's a quote from her email, "it was a hard way, playing with life and death but god's has a dream for me."

No matter which God Tehara believes in, I am happy for her and hope that there are good things in her future.

Is there anyone in the Heidelberg area who wants to go and check in on them?"

www.facebook.com/charlburyrefugee
www.charlbury.info/news/1708

Wed 16 Dec 2015, 10:56 (last edited on Thu 17 Dec 2015, 10:01)

This snapshot is from Calais.

I woke up this morning to read this, written by a Brit who stays regularly at the Jungle in Calais.

Note that Sudanese who get to Greece are not now allowed to proceed further, as there is officially no war in the Sudan. Under new regulations the European Commission can require member countries to send them back 'home', or send border guards in to do it for them.

.

"Urgent News from the Jungle

I want to tell you guys about our Sudanese friends.

Syria is in the news a lot at the moment, but Sudanese is in fact the nationality most highly represented in the Jungle refugee camp in Calais. The Sudanese people we have met are from Dafour. A region where the Arab government are persecuting African, tribal people en mass. It is genocide. Modern day genocide. Many of our Sudanese friends tell us stories of true horror. One told me about his baby twin brother and sister who were burnt alive in their family home when it was set on fire by government militia. In the same attack on his entire village, he was chased by a man on horseback with a machete. He has big scars across his face to prove it.

The Sudanese area of the camp is where we always stay. Ultimately hospitable, gentle and kind, we have made many friends here who insist on us sleeping in their shelters, often sharing 'beds' to give us theirs. Obviously we try to refuse, but cause more offence in trying to do so, and eventually compromise so everyone is as comfortable as possible.

Anyway yesterday I walked into the small community I have come to know very well over the months. Greeted by the usual smiles and hugs, I embraced the guys whilst swallowing a lump in my throat. They looked bad. On hearing my voice, (it's bloody loud), the friend I talked about above crawled out of his little shelter, bleary eyed. As he stood up I was shocked, he looked emaciated.

I hugged his bony frame. This beautiful man was tall and well-built when we first met back in August. Strong and handsome despite the scars. He was funny too, referring to Dafour as DaWar, bringing light and positivity, a bit of ironic humour to his situation. We had banter, played cards, he's only 24.

Anyway yesterday I embraced a different man. His eyes watery from the tear gas, his skin grey, his limbs painfully skinny, he looked ill, very very ill, an air of total despondence all around him.

I soon began to understand why. This area of the camp runs alongside Chemin Des Dune, the road many people used to distribute aid into the camp from. Recently the police have closed this road to volunteers and vehicles carrying aid entirely. A constant police presence (at least 3 riot vans), blocks the entrance, I guess, in an attempt to control who and what goes in and out of the camp. This has had a huge effect on the Sudanese area of the camp who had come to rely on these donations and are seriously suffering as a result.

Many times I have woken up in this part of the camp and gone to brush my teeth to find queues of people waiting out the back of a van along Chemin Des Dunes. I would return to find my friends sharing stale croissants and yesterdays pastries, or offering me grapes from a pallet of fruit and veg. This area of the camp is now pretty unreachable by car and therefore all this has stopped.

Not only this, any food the guys had managed to stockpile was burnt in last month's devastating fire in this area on the same night as the Paris attacks, along with their few possessions and entire shelters. The closest water point is also pretty far away and their health is seriously suffering as a result.

Unfortunately we've seen, not just in Calais, that many volunteers arriving to the camp naturally follow the same patterns and distribute to the same places, creating a big divide between areas of the camp. Kitchens established by volunteer groups are truly amazing but also naturally become used by certain areas / residents of the camp and not others, for various cultural / internal reasons that I don't truly understand.

But anyway, our Sudanese friends are truly malnourished and it is clear to see. And it's affecting them deeply. I asked the same friend if he was still going to school every day, as he had been very passionate about learning French, (he is seeking asylum in France), but he told me he no longer had the energy.

They need some good food, some warmth, some love and some hope. I'm not into begging but please please please donate to them whatever you are able to, by following this link:

mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/theworldwidetribecorefunding1

The friend mentioned is not in this picture."

Tue 15 Dec 2015, 09:03 (last edited on Thu 17 Dec 2015, 10:04)

Refugees from everywhere but Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan are blocked from leaving Greece. They are piling up in Athens in their thousands with no certain future. Amy Bird was busy after midnight...

"Eidomeni is operating as a transit camp as it was intended. About 3000 a day crossing the border.
I'm in contact with people who were removed from Eidomeni last Wednesday and taken to Athens. They are truly forgotten.
There is no secure accommodation, big queues for food, people are getting ill after 4 weeks of living rough.
The stadium where a lot of the people were taken is due to be cleared on Wednesday, there's no concrete news on where people will go.
The lack of information is huge. There are volunteers trying their best to support the Refugees who are now stranded in Athens.
I don't know how long refugees will stay in Athens waiting to be taken to detention centres and deported.
I hear that some have headed back to the islands as conditions are so poor in Athens!
There must be plenty of people are putting themselves in great danger, paying smugglers to try to get them out of Greece. Many are robbed and left in the middle of nowhere.
I plan to go to Athens as soon as I have sorted out some transport so I can have a mobile information point with phone charging and transport for warm clothes and food.
Ongoing support is going to be needed in Greece throughout the winter and beyond.
Let's not forget them."

If you want a picture of what is going on across Europe, this sheds some light on the numbers. Arrivals on the Greek islands are still very high. The value of people smuggling to the Turkish economy far outstrips what the EU is paying Turkey to prevent it.

This was posted yesterday evening:
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#Greece.Unchanged situation at #Taekwondo stadium near Athens, where up to 2,000 people are staying after they weren't alowed to cross Macedonian border due to their nationality. The stadium was due to be cleared out by 17th of December, but officials are not relocating the refugees yet. Most of them know about the deadline and they are very worried about their future, but noone seems to have any concrete info at the moment.
Refugee Housing Squat in #Notara26, Athens is urgently asking for food as they have nothing to cook anymore. You can contact them at notara26@riseup.net
By noon today, 16 boats have arrived to #Chios island, more of them coming in the afternoon. Chios coastal intervention teams are full, but they are asking for volunteers in the refugee camp and in warehouses. For several hours today, there was noone to distribute warm clothes to the refugees in Chois camp due to lack of volunteers.
By 5PM today, more than 1,000 refugees have arrived to #Lesvos island. Kara Tepe refugee center is asking for donations of thermal blankets, mens shoes (sizes 40-45) and warm socks. As they are planning to organize a big barbecue party for Christmas in #KaraTepe, they are also asking for toys and other gifts for children. You can send your donations to the following address: VCA International: The Volunteer Coordination Agency (for Fred Morlet), Kara Tepe, 81100 Mytilini ��" Lesvos, Greece. In #Moira camp, The Wild Lemon Team, Better Days for Moria and The Breakfast Club are all asking for volunteers at the moment. No Border Kitchen on Tsamakia beach is asking for volunteers to cook and serve food for arriving refugees. Their contact is noborderkitchen@riseup.net
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#Macedonia. Yesterday, 2621 people have entered the country. Today, 1,145 refugees have entered #Gevgelija and continued their trip to #Tabanovce transit camp by 14.45PM. As temperatures are very low and both camps don't have enough heating, the refugees are still freezing while waiting to continue their trip. Some heating devices were brought to #Gevgelija last night, but there are still not enough heaters to keep everyone warm. As only Syrian, Afghan and Iraqi refugees are alowed to enter the country, many are still trying to travel to Macedonia illegaly. We must repeat our warning: every day we are hearing new stories about people who were beaten and robbed by their traffickers. Most smugglers will not bring refugees to a promised destination. They will just abuse them and leave them on the road. If you can, please warn people about this danger.
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#Serbia: Volunteers from #Preševo and #Miratovac are reporting cold, but calm day with less arrivals. Last night, two big groups of refugees from Afghanistan and Iraq arrived after midnight, with five women and nine kids including two very small babies have arrived to #Dimitrovgrad, where refugees usually come in a very bad condition. They were forwarded by buses to #Belgrade. Volunteers are still not alowed in Dimitrovgrad camp, but IHO team and independent volunteers managed to distribute 60 food packets, water, baby food, clothes and shoes to the refugees. As temperatures have dropped heavily, everyone is asking for more winter clothes, shoes and socks.
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#Croatia: By 4PM today, 2,052 people have entered #SlavonskiBrod camp and continued their trip to Slovenia. As local authorities are prioritizing fast transit, refugees don't have time to rest before continuing their trip. Volunteers are doing their best to give them basic necessities before they leave. Donations of both warm clothes and shoes are needed. Volunteers that want to work in the camp for more than one day need to be announced five days in advance due to the new accreditation process, so please take that in consideration when planing your trip to Slavonski Brod. Volunteers coming for one day only can be announced a day in advance, and they will work with a visitor pass.
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#Slovenia: By noon today, 2,097 refugees have entered the country, with 1,182 staying in #DobovaLivarna (pictured here) where our volunteers have witnessed a hard night. Many families with very small children have arrived to Dobova during the night, and there were not enough baby bottles, diapers, wet wipes or other necessities for so many crying babies. Also, hygienic conditions in the camp are getting very bad ans the tents are not cleaned regularly, not to mention the toilettes which are disgraceful. Our volunteers have tried to clean up as much as they could, but there were not enough trash bags in the camp. Second AYS shift reported better conditions during the day."

Mon 14 Dec 2015, 17:23 (last edited on Thu 17 Dec 2015, 13:13)

Thanks to a Charlbury resident who wishes to remain anonymous, a large family tent plus a smaller tent, a sleeping bag and some ground mats were collected today and are on their way now to the refugee camp at Dunkirk. If you have heard bad things about the conditions at Calais, by all accounts Dunkirk is much worse.

Charlbury Refugee Action Group is collecting unwanted tents, clean warm clothing (including padded coats, socks, gloves and woolly hats) and stout trainers and walking boots. Please email charlburyrefugee@gmail.com if you can help.

Mon 14 Dec 2015, 11:26 (last edited on Thu 17 Dec 2015, 13:16)

These two reports came in this morning...

Kashmir Hussain is from Oldham. He was on his second visit to Lesvos:

"So my second trip to Lesvos was different to the first. As soon as i landed here had to go straight to the morgue which was a refrigerator container where the bodies of the deseased where kept, 3 of us had to go inside to pick the bodies up which were just piled on top of each other the hardest part was moving bodies to get to the bottom ones there was small tiny babies children to men & women each had tag on there legs some had names but most had numbers. Then we had to put the bodies in the hearse & take them to the graveyard where we giv the bodies ghusal(wash) & put kaffan(white cloth) on them & then buried the bodies 1 by 1 it was tough and emotional thing i hav ever done in my life and i will never forget this for the rest of my life.. Allhamdulillah all burials got completed the people who took part was Greengate Trust, Mustafa, SKT welfare & High wycombe boys may allah swt reward everyone immensely

Please do dua for the people that have left this world may allah swt grant them highest rank in jannat AMEEN"

Leah Wild is just back home in Stroud after driving back from volunteering in the Greek islands... (They took the ferry to Venice, in case you ask.)

"The world we live in....

Where people with nothing.... People who have been brutalised and exploited and ignored and abused and forgotten, can say 'I thank you sister, I thank you brother, I thank you Mother'. I thank you God.

So many smiles and hugs and thank yous and thank Gods. Thanks given to people whose Governments have had a hand in the brutalising and exploiting and ignoring and abusing and forgetting. Thanks given to Gods who don't appear to be watching.

The world we live in.....

An ostensibly modern world. A world where we are taught that we give the gift of civilisation to these barbaric 'others' who invade our shores.

These 'others' know the true meaning of Thank You. These others are the survivors of our foreign policy. These others are you and they are me."

Sun 13 Dec 2015, 11:16 (last edited on Thu 17 Dec 2015, 13:17)

Every day I read reports from volunteers on the front line of helping refugees as they cross the Aegean at night from Turkey. Or making their faltering way on land across Europe.

As some people may wonder why Charlbury Refugee Action Group is raising money to help people fleeing persecution, war and murder in this way, I thought I would post some of these reports here. After all, it can't really be so bad, can it?

These reports all appear on Facebook, often with photographs which I can't show you on the forum. You'll have to use your imagination when it comes to drowned children with grey, bloated faces. Or parents and volunteers bending over lifeless bodies.

So here is my story of the day... It is from Merel Graeve, a volunteer from London who has just returned to Lesvos for another six weeks after a short break home.

"The nightshift is from 12am till 8am, so we slept during the day but got up in the afternoon on time to buy 40 pairs of shoes: we didn't want to have to turn away these people again. Philip Mold, part of your direct donations have made sure that there are 40 people right now who's journeys have been made a hundred times easier, as they are now wearing brand new walking and sports shoes that will support them on the long walks they will have to endure for the next few weeks.

As ever, as always and as I remember it, there are the faces of trauma all around me. There are crowds of people, but a few who stand out who make you feel some kind of inexplicable connection, who break your heart just by looking in their eyes. A 15 year old Yazidi boy in a thin leather jacket who managed to escape from mount Sinjar: he made it here all alone, many of his family still left behind. I gave him a brand new pair of shoes and pulled out the warmest layers I could find: I cannot even think about the traumas this child must have seen in his short life and here he stands before me smiling.

The little Syrian girl with her dad who kept giving me kisses whilst I was changing her wet trousers and shoes. The Syrian father and 11 year old son. The boy couldn't speak any English but he just smiled the whole time whilst I tried to pile as many blankets as I could find and rubbed his back.

His father tells me his wife and daughters are already in Germany whilst the two of them stayed behind to make money for their crossing. "I want a future for my children" he says. "We are from Rakar, there are only bombs and rockets and shootings, smoke and rubble. There is no school. If it was just me and my wife we would stay, but we go for our children in hope for a better life, for their education." How can anybody in their right mind argue with that?

Another group that broke my heart were 2 boys and a girl, all cousins, 19 and 20 years old. They were Palestinians from Syria, (so they are essentially double refugees…), from a camp that was under siege from Assad for a year where people had nothing to eat and no water supply. When Assad pulled out, Isis pretty much took over. And now here they were, young, beautiful and in optimistic spirits even though they had all left their families behind. How much can a human take? How strong can one person be? The stories are heart wrenching as always. A reminder of why I am back in Lesvos. These are the people who need our love so much."

www.facebook.com/charlburyrefugee
www.charlbury.info/news/1708