Bericht Archive - Page 11 of 14 - Andrea Koltermann

28. December 201819. January 2019

Back home, Friday, 24th of August 2018

The first night in my one home. I’m happy to see my family again, to sleep in my own bed. In Greece I didn’t sleep very well. There were so many questions in my brain. These questions are still alive in my thoughts.

What is going to happen to all these nice people? Going back to their homes is no option at this moment. Will they be able to move to another country, to find a safe place to live and to work, to be integrated somewhere? Will their children ever have any chance to get a good education? Will these traumatised people ever have the possibility to live a normal live? Children that have seen war, played war, escaped war. Young man, who had been soldiers, trained to kill other people with machine guns, other young men, fled before they would have been forced to kill by order of the military.

Since I was grown up, I decide what I want to do, where I want to live and with whom I live together. There are many people in this world who won’t ever have these possibilities.

I believe that I did a very good work the last two weeks, but was it more than a drop in the ocean? I know, every ocean is made of many drops.

Could there be more important things that should be done? Like organising medical and therapeutically help?
Will I go back to Nea Kavala to continue my work over there? Will I offer my help building up other camps in Greece?
Can I do some similar or better work then I did in the detention centre in Greece also here in Germany?
Will I organise information events for volunteers and other interested people?

16. December 201819. January 2019

Nea Kavala‚ day fifteen, Thursday, 23th of August 2018, my last day

My schedule today:

Women’s Space, English class
Final meeting with coordinator Molly
Going back to Germany

My last English lessons at the Women’s Space.

Englischunterricht — Foto: Andrea Koltermann

I feel happy and sad at the same time. I feel as if my stay had just started and I also feel like I had been here for month.

I’ve got so many ideas about things that could be done here.

I have my final meeting with Molly. Further communication with other Dråpen i Havet volunteers will take place in an after-stay Facebook group.

I talked to them, I worked with them, I played with them, I danced and laughed and cried with them, I listend to them telling about their lives, their problems, their fears and their future plans. I taught them a little bit English and German, they showed me a little bit of their way of life, I showed them a little bit of my way of life.
But do I realy know what it means to be a refugee? Of course, I don’t and I would never do.

Good bye everyone!

Flughafen Makedonia — Foto: Andrea Koltermann

Airport Makadonia, Thessaloniki

9. December 20183. January 2019

Nea Kavala‚ day fourteen, Wednesday, 22th of August 2018

My schedule today:

Women’s space, English class
Check out market
Gardening

A small boy who had told us a few days ago that he would move alone to Belgium to live with his uncle and aunt the following day. Now he is still at the camp. He tells me that he was only waiting for his passport, and then he would have to leave. But it was not really sure if he would leave. He seemed to be sad. The boy speaks a little bit English but no French. I ask him if he’d know his uncle and aunt, but he didn’t understand my question.

In the big community area there is a fire drill practiced by the military and the fire brigade. They make a fire in a grill and everybody who wants can try out the powder fire extinguisher. The children have a lot of fun. I ‘m happy to see this. I know that the people are very afraid of fire. Losing their homes again for them would mean to lose everything they have for another time.

Commuinty Space — Foto: Andrea Koltermann

I meet the mother and daughter whom I visited the day before again at the English class. They try their very best to speak and write in English, and they make fantastic progress.

Today is my second to the last day at Nea Kavala. I have my lunch break. A young man from Syria comes to sit down with me at the community space. You can clearly see, he isn’t going very well. He shows me some strange scarring’s on his arms and legs. As much as I understand those were caused by torture of his imprisonment for one year. He had pains but here at camp there wouldn’t be a doctor to care for him. He tells me in his cracked English that he has been here for five weeks now after he was imprisoned for one year.

Will the people at Nea Kavala ever get any chance in their live? Will they get the possibility to start a new life somewhere else. Or will they be refugees without any home? Will Nea Kavala turn into a long-term camp for people without any other perspectives? That is not the idea of Nea Kavala, but could this get possible? Will the people get used to live here?

Foto: Andrea Koltermann

Some refugees already started to run their own business at the camp.

My last gardening evening.
I see a small boy playing with a toy-machine gun. I’m startled. First he appeals to something else, later he directs it towards the other playing children. His mother gave it to him. Nobodys shows any reaction. This seems to be normal over here.

Foto: Andrea Koltermann

I’ll miss the children and their parents.

Foto: Andrea Koltermann

Living at a camp like Nea Kavala gives people the chance to feel safe for the first time after many years making experiences of war and violence.
But how long?

2. December 201819. January 2019

Nea Kavala‚ day thirteen, Tuesday, 21th of August 2018

My schedule today:

Meeting
Women’s Space, English class
Check out Market

Our coordinator Molly gives us an update of the political situation in Greece
(21th of August 2018)

Because of increased crossing the Evros around 6000 had stuck in the Balkans
Lesvos has now exceeded 10000 refugees which is a record. People are sleeping on the streets
Push backs from the EU are also gaining momentum
The agreement is that EU countries can send people back but must loosen restrictions on family reunification applications
Greece has no capacity left, there is no place for returned people to go. Families and unaccompanied minors will not be returned to Greece
Nearly 60000 refugees in Greece as of June this year
They won’t be returned to the islands

For aktuell information read: https://greece.greekreporter.com

Today a young colleague of mine and I are invited to the container of a Syrian family of my English class. It is cosy inside. The family consisting out of six members share two about 10 qm rooms in there. In the first room there are two fridges, a small place to cook and four beds.

Bunte Container — Foto: Andrea Koltermann

In the second room there are three big mats. The Muslim family celebrates Eid today, which is a day on which usually the extended families meets up, celebrates, dances and eat together. We sit down on the ground with the mother and the three daughters trying pita bread with a sauce consisting mayonnaise and garlic. Besides we also have crumbled egg and wine leaves filled with rice.

Considering that there are not much food choices at the camp the mother and the daughters have made fancy food. We would love to stay longer, but unfortunately, we only have half an hour lunchbreak today.

Quickly the youngest daughter shows us how talented she is. Besides being able to cook she is very good in drawing and besides being able to speak Arabic she also speaks Turkish, English and a few sentences French. I hope that the very best for this nice family.

It is so amazing to see the positive energy in so many of the people and children! (S.L., volunteer from Norway)

25. November 201821. January 2019

Nea Kavala‚ day twelve, Monday, 20th of August 2018

My schedule today:

Women’s Space
Laundry
Gardening

I leave Pigi and go back to the hotel at Polycastro. The others decide to stay at the house and drive the 25 km to the camp every day. I prefer staying at the Hotel in the nearby city.

Today my parcel had arrived after a delay of one week. There are T-shirts and other shirts in it which got too small for my son. So that is exactly the size that was missing over here. I also had packed two first aid boxes.

Today there are two new entrants at my English class. Eight women went over to class level two. One of the new women has big problems following the lessons. I understand, that she had never written our letters before, so I sit down next to her and practise writing the letter A.

Der Buchstabe A — Foto: Andrea Koltermann

After a few minutes she copies it, it is lying on its side, but it definitely is an A. We continue with the other letters of the alphabet and she is so happy.

At the afternoon I work at the laundry again. I’m hungry, because I haven’t eaten for hours. I’m getting myself some sweet cakes and an ice coffee frappe at a Kurdish take away which is served by a refugee.

Falafel Imbiss — Foto: Andrea Koltermann

The making is very easy. A spoon full of Nescafé powder is getting mixed with a third cup of ice-cold water and then gets foamed up. This tastes incredibly delicious and it is more refreshing at this heat than hot coffee. He also makes delicious falafel.

This evening it rains for the first time. Two children and I make a rain dance outside the laundry. Later at the gardening project we see a rainbow and the children enjoy a lot.

I love the evening mood at Nea Kavala.

Would you like to live as a refugee?

You spend the whole day together with people you get to know better and better. It feels like being part of their community, but at the evenings you leave the camp, drive back to your hotel and after a couple of weeks you take the bus to the airport, you go back to your home …

And the refugees have to stay.