My name is Andro, I am your brother ..
I met Andro on my first day distributing food parcels in a makeshift camp in Northern Greece. We arrived with 240 carrier bags full of fresh and dried food; potatoes, tomatoes, onions, rice, garlic – which we had put together earlier that morning. Each bag had enough food for a family of four.
As we were preparing for the tent to tent distribution, a group of young lads approached the van.. They were to be our helpers.. I didn’t know this then, but these guys help out 7 days a week – without them, life would be a lot harder for the small group of volunteers I was working with.
Groups of 2 volunteers were assigned an area to distribute the food to. Andro offered to come with me and help, as it was my first distribution. The first thing you notice about Andro is his disarming smile, you feel at once at ease with him. We nicknamed Andro ‘Fancy Pants’ as he always seemed to look sharp and fashionable, it was a complete mystery as to how he managed this.. but I never saw him look disheveled or scruffy.
As you can imagine the bags containing groceries were pretty heavy to lug around the site, however, Andro would not let me carry the bags. Just like a caring brother, he came around with me for the whole distribution – carrying the bags and going to get more from the van when we ran out. Each day, he helped me in this way; as well as carrying the bags, he helped with translating and general communication. However, when I moved onto ladies underwear distribution .. unfortunately, Andro could not help any more !!
Andro was invaluable for crowd control at camp, at only 22 (he had his 22nd birthday during my visit) he could manage large groups of frustrated people. With either a smile or a firm look or a tut and shake of his head. Always seemingly cheery – Whenever I saw Andro at camp, he would come up with a smile and a hug, asking if I needed help.. When I think back, it truly breaks my heart that he remains in limbo, clinging onto a tiny glimmer of hope.
Andro is in camp with his mum, other members of his family are in Germany. He is good friends with Samer (see previous blog), as Samer is alone, Andro’s mum has also become close with Samer.
Andro and his mum are Christians from Baghdad, I wonder how they are after hearing the horrific news which came out yesterday from Baghdad? It must so hard for them.
A quick note regarding religion – I only found out that Andro was a Christian after I asked if I could write about him and asked him for a few details. Of all the people I met during my visit to Northern Greece, I realised that not one person had mentioned religion – either theirs or mine.
We talked about; family, where we were from, what we did for a living, how shit the situation is, how dangerous their beloved countries are, how they never really wanted to leave, how scared they were crossing the Aegean Sea, how worried they are about their children;s education, how much they missed loved ones, how the borders wont open, how you get a belly which wont go away after you have kids,…… I could go on and on .. but religion was not mentioned once …
This is important, as religion is one of the things that; politicians, those in power and extremist groups of all persuasions try to divide us by – try to scare us with – try to make us believe that we are fundamentally different for their own purposes they want us divided.. When, above all we are human and religion doesn’t fundamentally divide us or even feature in conversation for the majority of us…
He is Andro, he is your brother
Solidarity for refugees 