In 2015, 856,000 people passed through the Greek islands, and in 2017 and 2018 only just under 30 thousand (according to UNHCR). But 2019 brought already a growth – over 60,000 newcomers. Today, boats coming to Greek beaches are back again, and practice shows that you can get stuck in Lesbos for a good few years. Nikos and Katerina run a small restaurant on the island, where every refugee can feel at home and eat a meal for free.
15.07.2021
Kasia has just joined our team in Lesbos. At the Foundation she is helping us to delve into the meanders of internet innovations, and on the island she has been tasked with developing a system that will link the 30 volunteers who distribute daily meals with the ‘Home for All’ kitchen. This will streamline the communication of the number of meals and other needs in specific tents in the camp.
We’re giving her the floor today because she is joining us for the first time and has a fresh perspective on what we are doing here.
“On the very first day it became apparent that the crisis on the island is more that of a lack of goodwill than a humanitarian one.
We visit children who have been hearing for weeks from the medics here that they should come back later. We also see resigned mothers who, initially, don’t even bother to tell us about their children’s health problems because these proved too small for the camp’s clinic. When they see that we keep our word and return with the medicines to the neighbouring tents, they finally ask us to examine their children too.
For us, every child’s suffering is important and deserves attention.
Today, having succeeded in buying the necessary medicines made us happier than any Christmas present would. We were afraid that we would have to send some of them from Poland, and yet we did it! In a moment we will hand them over to the parents. Thanks to the medicines you helped us obtain, Melanie, who suffers from asthma, will breathe freely, Louna will cure her anemia and Abder’s mum will heal his skin problems.”
You can still help us. We are leaving on Saturday, but until then we are visiting tent after tent in the near 40 degree heat and providing assistance to all the children who need it. Join us: support pharmaceutical purchases for children in Lesbos by visiting GoodWorks 24/7.
27.08.2023
The unpaved road stretches for kilometres and winds down the mountainous slopes. It cuts through bone-dry pine forests. From here to Mitylena, the island’s capital, it is more than 40 kilometres. To any sign of civilisation – more than 10. Out of sight, out of mind of all outsiders, a gigantic new refugee camp is […]
14.08.2023
Onur was a baker in Kurdistan. He is not afraid of any job. Stately, broad-shouldered, hands like vices. They have strength and feel. He arrived in Lesbos eight years ago. Abdul got off the boat on a Greek beach a year later. In Syria, he was a mechanic. He has fixed up his decrepit old […]
09.08.2023
“No disease will touch them. They are wild trees. They have already survived more than one pest.” When Nikos talks about olives, he grabs the listener’s full attention. You fall into a tunnel where there are you, Nikos and the olives. We talk like this for several hours. I don’t know how many. Nobody is […]
