A short writing about my work in the camp, easier said than done. The past weeks I’ve met a lot of new people and heard many different stories. On one day you have to move people to another tent because their previous will be destroyed. The other day you are asking people, in your best English or French, their shoesize to see if you have any new for them in stock. Every day in complete different.
On a day in the camp I went with another volunteer of EuroRelief to the men rubhalls to hand out decision tickets. Having this tickets means that the people have an appointment to hear the decision if they receive a passport or not. The new that we were handing out the tickets spread thru the camp very fast and in a second we were surrounded by 30 men, asking for tickets for them. Most of them were very happy with the ticket but it was a mixed feeling that also people are rejected. A man told us that this was the third time in two years that the received the ticket, he told that the last two rejections he cried in his bed for a couple of days. At that moment you want to do anything for him but all you can do is hear his story and feel very sorry for it.
A life full of insecurity, waiting and doing nothing seems horrible to me. But yet I’m surprised how people can make something beautiful of such a misery. A couple of days ago I was drinking tea with a couple from Afghanistan, they had built a veranda and a garden full of beautiful flowers and herbs. The smell around that tent was really amazing.
The big moments are celebrated big. A farewell party for a family that received passports and can travel to Athens or getting intensely hugged by a women that by coincidence have the same name as my mom. That moments show a much we have in common and that we are not so different, in the end we are human after all.
Amelie – short term volunteer