We are incredibly proud of our first official team in Lesvos, Greece. They are currently working on the northern shore of Lesvos, where refugees are landing by boat.
SCM Team manned the Sikaminea’ Al-Zahara post from 13:00 after Al-Zahara team took a break, where they serviced 3 boats around 11:00.
We cleaned/tidied up site and sorted supplies, especially clothing. Recruited individual volunteers from UK, Norway and Sweden and assigned them duties.
Late afternoon a boat with around 50 (mostly Afghani single men) arrived and was processed promptly. Shortly after sundown two boats landed, one after another with mostly Syrian families. More tired and wet than usual arrivals. They were served hot soup, bread, fruits and water. Dr. Zahra was very busy tending to elder women and an exhausted pregnant lady. Zohab coordinated help for families with young children, David with water and information for the road ahead. Swedes and UK volunteers helped with dry clothing and Norwegians helped with food and housekeeping. We were told it was a record processing over 100 persons in 35 minutes. They made the bus to camps in good time.
There were reports of more boats to come so the team decided to work through the night. Al-Zahara team came back with several thousand dollars of new clothing and food supplies. They also started the kitchen duty with Nehari beriani and later boiled eggs for morning arrivals.
We helped cleaning, resetting and sorting the site and setup night holding tents for refugees arriving throughout the night as buses only run during the day.
Frequent police patrols and fire department visited the site during the night.
Only around 6:30 one boat was serviced by volunteers in vans and cars as it landed over 30 mnt away from site. Dr. Zahra stayed at the site where it was overwhelmed with several cases, even with the help of a Swedish ER doctor. Dr. Zahra accompanied a late pregnancy case to local hospital and stayed with her till triad and examination. We are picking up that lady tomorrow to reunite her with family in camp Moria.
Zohab back by the hotel spotted a family in a small boat. He noticed the wife was pregnant and took the family of six en route to hospital. They decided to join other Syrian families instead of going to hospital.
Now the mayor requested the Sikaminea site dismantled and all volunteers are pushing back. We’re trying trying to get updates as this may impact our intermediate plans. Zohab suggested he stays at camp Moria tomorrow where refugees are dependent on volunteers for food supplies.
Seas are rougher in the last two days and I reckon that will continue. On the way back to the hotel refugees were trekking the mountain roads, needing water and food. At least two boats landed between 4:00 and 6:30 in locations far from usual landing points and away from volunteer’s sight.
Tomorrow is Day 4 and assessment may change.
-Zahra, Zohab, and David
To learn more about how you can help, volunteer information is located here. If you would like to support our missions to Lesvos, please click here.
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