These days our Volunteer Team has been working to welcome back the Kurdish refugees who are returning to Moria Camp. A couple of weeks ago, there was a big riot in camp. The rumour is that it all started when some radical Muslims persecuted and stabbed some Kurds for not keeping the Ramadan fast. In fear for their lives, nearly all Kurds fled from Moria Camp.
Now the authorities finally convinced them to return. But all their tents had been taken by other new refugees. So, as they returned (in several buses fully packed) our team helped setting up new tents for them, transporting their luggage and distributing food and water. This has been hard work, specially since it has been very hot in Lesbos (38•C)
Our volunteers reported that last night, at around 22:00, they were still working with the camp management to find accommodation to three Kurdish families who were waiting for a tent. At the same time a large crowd of refugees was watching the football World Cup match in a big screen set up for them. Joining the festive climate there were lots of kids playing around with pieces of wood, rocks and whatever they can find in the rubbish; seeing a child holding a proper toy at Moria Refugee Camp is extremely rare.
The photo you see is from one of the most iconic places in terms of the refugee crisis in Europe: the “Life Jacket Graveyard”. It is a deposit of life jackets, clothes, boats and shoes used by the refugees as they try to cross from Turkey to Lesbos. “To see the number of life jackets there is quite shocking, considering each one represents a human being. To see children’s clothes there is just heartbreaking” – one of our volunteers said.