Northern Greece .. Solidarity and humanity are needed more than ever..

We are on the second day of Eid here in Northern Greece, I am on my sixth day.  The situation is not so desperate as Lesvos or Idomeni which is a big relief.  However, people are still trapped here having escaped from war and trauma. Again I am struck by the incredible kindness and honor of these people in the face of such hardship.

I have had time to play with the children and talk to their parents, setting up little activities.  A lady here, I shall call her Fatima has been looking after me as I have been caring her and her family.  Fatima is 7 months pregnant and here with her 3 young children and husband.  The rest of their extended family remain in Syria.

Two days ago she fell in the shower and hurt her wrist.  She looked in pain and her smile was gone.  She told me that she couldn’t move her fingers and her wrist looked swollen and bruised.  I went to the Military on camp and asked whether she could see a doctor.  They said they could arrange for an ambulance to take her to hospital.  However Fatima did not want to leave her family and go off in an ambulance, she told me she would wait until the doctors came to camp the next day.  That evening as I was playing jump rope with the children, she brought me out a plate of delicious salad and hugged me.  I find it difficult to explain the depth of feeling I felt from this gesture  of kindness and friendship.

Fatima escaped from Syria 7 months ago, the family travelled through Turkey and across the sea to Lesvos like so many other families.  As I look at the children aged 18 months, 4 and 5, I find it impossible to imagine the fear they must have felt.  Fatima’s husband was given a 2 minute explaination of how to drive the boat and he was then responsible to get the passengers safely to the shore.

Safe passage for people fleeing war remains a far off seemingly unreachable dream.  I think of the week when 900 people drowned in the Mediterranean, the same week a gorilla was shot in an American zoo.  I think about 900 people all in one space, a mixture of men, women and children, 900 people dead and yet the media were more interested in the gorilla, 900 people of color drowned in the Mediterranean is no longer news.   I think of whole families wiped out because of the growing worldwide inequality and my anger and frustration burns, I want to shake the politicians and those in power and force their eyes to open.  But their eyes are sown together, their mouths firmly shut and their ears are full of cotton wool, they refuse to see, speak or hear.

Yesterday was the first day of Eid.  Funded by my amazing donors, I bought presents for everyone at camp.  A bag filled with’ small toys, a ball, some sweets, bracelet making bits, crayons, stickers and paper for the children, lipstick for the women and playing cards for the men.

I was invited for tea at Fatima’s tent yesterday, the children were sitting sticking and coloring using the items we had distributed earlier, showing me proudly the pictures they had created.  This was even more touching as her young son is a wild, cheeky boy who is seldom not in trouble, to see him so calm and engaged was quite a surprise.  Fatima’s husband was Skyping his family in Syria, wishing them a happy Eid.  He excitedly gave me the phone to speak to his family, I wished them Eid Mubarak and they laughed and waved at me. Fatima showed me pictures of her younger sisters wedding and her family.  I showed them pictures of my family we chatted through google translate

They are our brother and sisters, our worldwide tribe, why can’t everyone see this? Why must false barriers be thrown up at every opportunity?