#lifeguard hellas
20.03.2016 port of mytilini, lesbos/greece. this is the last ferry loaded with refugees from the camps in lesbos for this day. there are still hundreds of syrian in kara tepe, about 700 pakistanis in the olive grove and a few other cases. about the main camp moria we have no confirmed information, since all the ngo´s are expelled from the hotspots now. there was a ferry leaving lesbos today around noon with about 2000 refugees heading to the islands in the south to pick up more refugees and then to go to kavala in the north of greece. i don´t have the exact number but the guess is around 4000 refugees arrived 20.30 o´clock in kavala harbor. they will be brought to several camps in the area. the refugees have to go on the ferry´s to pireaus and kavala, because the eu want to clear all camps on the islands for the new coming refugees, so they can be separated from the ones that comes from the 20.03.2016 on. these one will be handled on the new rules, that are part of the new deal with turkey. the deal implants the plan to deport all incoming refugees back to turkey and for every refugee coming the eu will accept an approved asylum seeker from turkey. this deal is bullshit on many levels and is breaking a lot if european laws, as well as the geneva convention of human rights, which strictly forbid mass deportation. the deal use not the term of mass deportation but use a cover up term which means the very same. this goes along with the fact that turkey is actually not approved as a “safe third country”, so any kind of extraction of migrants and refugees to turkey would be illegal. apart from that it creates other issues. when the plan is to accept refugees from turkey for every “returned” refugee, and only then, and this is done to discourage the refugees from coming “illegal” to europa, the refugees actually knows that there will be a huge need to have them come on boats to greece so even if they are returned other will have the chance to enter. this is dividing and rule at the malicious level. with no people coming to “illegal” to eu, the eu don´t have to accept “approved” refugees from turkey. think about this for a while. if you want to know more about the legal issues of this deal, here is a good read: http://eulawanalysis.blogspot.gr
in some of the photos you can see laura jansenfrommovement on the ground from holland. the last weeks she was part of a team helping the refugees directly in the harbor, providing food and clothes, helping to organize the boarding procedure, negotiate with the police forces to keep them calm and give an incredible amount of love and care to the refugees before they leave into a unknown future. she and a lot of other volunteers from ngo´s like movement on the ground,team humanity, proactivia/open arms,lifeguards hellas, starfish foundation,northern lights aid,scm and more are working over the limits around the clock to make this transition as endurable as possible. again i can not point out enough my deepest respect and admiration for these volunteers and their work. one more detail in the end: the refugees actually have to pay the ferry tickets themeselves.
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27.02.2016 molyvos, lesbos/greece. local and international activist came together at the beach of molyvos today at 13 o´clock, to show their solidarity with the refugees and to demand a humanitarian approach to the refugee crisis in europa. this event took place all over europa.
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11.10.2015 between eftalou and skala sikamineas, lesbos/greece.
this photo shows a beach, about 20 minutes after a rubber dingy had reached the shaw. it is a place where you have to climb up to a dirtroad and then walk for 30-40 minutes. the person on this photo is a photojournalist from italy that worked on the island several times. right now lesbos is kind of calm on the surface, no boats came during the last days as far as i know. it was very windy, but the weather was warm. we ask ourselfs on the island what causes the stop, if it´s the turkish coastguard or police, or the high presence of navi vessels on the water. maybe it is just the wind, or they have no boats right now. we don´t know. on the other side it is getting hefty here under the surface. a lot of volunteers suffer from the low action, feeling not needed here. the goverment and political pressure is getting stronger as well. the camps are officially run by the military now, a lot of the food distribution will come from them as well, at least that is the new plan. the lifeguards spend time on the beaches waiting. frustration. the thing is, every one here knows that there are 2.5 million or more syrian refugees in turkey, another estimated 2 million refugees and immigrants and most of them want to, need to come, because there is no future for them in turkey. the western military analysts now think that assad actually going to win the war against the people of syria this year with the help of russia. so there will be no way in the future for the syrian refugees to go back to their home, it would be suicide. i guess another 500.000 to 1.000.000 syrians will flee in the next month from syria for the very same reason. same time europa close its gates, planing to use greece virtually as detention camp, while the country itself is falling even deeper into crisis. we know, they will come, somehow. if not to lesbos, chios, kos, samos, they will find other, even much more dangerous ways. the number of more than 4000 dead refugees last year will skyrock, but they will come. there is no other choice. there is nothing left for them, for their children. they deserve a future!
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ON THE ROADSIDE
08.02.2016 near skalochori, lesbos/greece. facing all this intense moments within the refugee situation on lesbos, it is sometime almost hitting you how beautiful this island can be. there is actually a good reason why it is so popular among tourist that seek for nature beauty, birdwatching and to come to ease. this part of the island is still there, even if some of it is now facing this crisis, but even in these parts of the island you just go around the next corner, stop and think: “wow, thats beautiful!”
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30.01.2016 the hope center elpis, between eftalou and molyvos, lesbos/greece.
this afghan kid was one of the first refugees arriving at the hope center elpis. thekempsons and the volunteers provided some toys in the welcome and food area. it was a joy watching the kids playing with it, knowing that most of them might never really had the chance for a normal childhood so far, since they come out of war-zones and refugee camps, where this kind of “luxury” is not existing. this girl got herself some toys and went out to the terrace, to play with it.
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30.01.2016 the hope center elpis, between eftalou and molyvos, lesbos/greece.
philippa and eric kempson are artist who live here on the island and longterm activist since the refugee crisis on lesbos. the hope center elpis is their new project, a transit camp, based in an old hotel at the beach between eftalou and molyvos. with the help of many ngo´s, private organisations and foundations they where able to rent the hotel, which was closed for 7 years. during the last weeks they started to reconstruct the hotel, it is still in progress. today the first group of refugees arrived there and will probably stay overnight, since all the camps on lesbos are full because of another ferry strike in greece. the association of ther hope center work together with several other groups on the island, like a drop in the ocean, dirty girls of lesbos islands,starfish,lifeguard hellas and others. as far as i understand the concept it is a transit camp for the refugees to stay for a few hours, getting some dry cloth, medical attention, food, the possibility to use showers and sanitation and if it´s needed they can stay even overnight. since it looks like 2016 will even see a bigger number of refugees will come to the island, this camp will be needed for sure. actually we will much more of this facilities on the island.
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29.01.2016 limantziki beach, near molyvos, lesbos/greece. around 10 o´clock this morning another shitty plastic dingy arrived at limantziki beach, the base of the hellas lifeguards. a boat fromseawatch guided them to the beach. the lifeguards hellas and another volunteering lifeguard group from international lifeguards helped the boat to land on a improvised base. volunteers from scm,drop in the ocean and one local member of irc then took over the further care. it was done smooth and fast, no screaming, a lot of smiles by the volunteers, so even the refugees that where stressed out from the horror ride, in particular some of the small kids, calmed down very fast.
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