Nea Kavala, day seven, Wednesday, 15th of August 2018

My schedule today:

Women’s Space
Sewing project
Gardening project

Nähmaschine
Foto: Andrea Koltermann

Somebody broke in into our shop and stole some sewing machines. The self-made buildings are not safe, and the police and the military didn’t notice anything. Volunteers and refugees are very sad about this.

A man from Africa mounts a new lock onto our door.  Helping hand are always easy to find over here.

The sewing project doesn’t take place today.

Foto: Andrea Koltermann

Gardening in Nea Kavala means to let children learn how to use utensils like shovel, spade, bucket and watering can. It’s not really expected to get any harvest from seedings. Because they had lived in a country with war or because they were fleeing these children had never had any possibility to play like other children. The most important thing this evening is, that the children and also the volunteers and the parents have a lot of fun. At the end of the day, four children are sitting upon the sink to wash themselves.

Gießkannen, Gartenprojekt
Foto: Andrea Koltermann

“Children in a refugee camp

Most children are very skilled in climbing, but they are delayed in their other development. First, they need to learn how to play. Often, they just wander around the street or are watching the adults. Unfortunately, there is not much interesting or informative things for them to see.”

My roommate
Foto: Andrea Koltermann

Today my good friend and roommate leaves Nea Kavala and goes back to Norway. Many evenings We’ve been talking about our experiences we made over here. Volunteering at a refugee camp is not always easy, but we agree that it is a very good experience. I will miss her.

Dropen i Havet needs more volunteers. In this video volunteers tell about their experiences at Nea Kavala.
https://www.facebook.com/drapenihavet/videos/164763401111932/

 

Nea Kavala, day six, Tuesday, 14th of August 2018

My schedule today:

Women’s Space
Laundry
Gardening project

A friend had asked me to describe how people used to live at the camp and what their future prospects were.

Imagine a small village with one long street on a never used military airport runway. Along this road there are built about 160 containers.

Rollfeld Nea Kavala
Foto: Andrea Koltermann

Syrian artists painted the sanitary buildings to give some colour to the tristness of the refugee camp.

A few weeks ago, they had added a big army tent with small sleeping cabins to give another 100 people space. At the camp there are lliving about 750 people.

Armeezelt
Foto: Andrea Koltermann

While I am taking some morning mood pictures, a man from Iraq comes to talk to me. He tells me, how difficult it was living at the camp. It would be dirty, he shows me that he was bitten by many mosquitos and he complains that there was almost no possibility to get medical help when needed. He had been over here for about two years waiting for documents to leave the camp.

I would like to help him if I could.

Waschräume
Foto: Andrea Koltermann

The service buildings are usually cleaned regularly but they are very scabby. The plumbing’s are rotten, they have many lacks. At some places the plumbs are missing, and the water runs to the ground.

The camp would need an installer to repair many of the pipes, but I’ve never seen anyone doing work like this.

This camp is meant to be temporary, so these little aesthetic repairs probably would never be done.

Because of this temporary concept there is not one flower planted in the whole camp.

Women's Space, English class
Foto: Andrea Koltermann

“I love giving English lessons at the Women’s Space.”

It is the second time for me to work at the women’s English class this noon. At the camp they offer English classes level one and two for women six days a week. Level three takes place in mixed groups for men and women. Only a few women visit them because often their husbands don’t allow them visiting classes together with other men.

Treffpunkt Laundry
Foto: Andrea Koltermann

The afternoon I work at the laundry, that is one of my favoured jobs. As the days before many people, mostly young men come to sit next to us in front of the laundry. They like to talk.

Mostly done communication content is smaltalk, “How are you?”
“Where do you come from?”, ” How long have you been here?” The answer to the first question normaly is “fine, how are you?”. That like it’s used to in USA, I don’t know if people would do in their own language.

A young Syrian tries to communicate by speaking into his mobile phone and letting an online translator write a translation. That seems to be a good idea, but many times the translation doesn’t make any sense.

One guy was just returned from his language class at Polycastro and asks me to help him with his English homework.

Hausaufgaben
Foto: Andrea Koltermann

Bit by bit I’m starting to really like everyone around here. They are all so hearty. Among the inhabitants of the camp there are many children and young man in my sons age.

I think that many of these young men could get a job in Germany if they would ever get a visa. They are so polite, and they really would like to learn and to work.

The big difference between these young people and my own children is that my children have had a save childhood, and now they are grown up and just have to choose their way of living.

Icecold winds from Sybiria will bring a cold winter to Greece. Donations for blankets and sleeping bags:

 https://www.facebook.com/donate/1959933580764422/10217188784373006/

Nea Kavala, day five, Monday, 13th of August 2018

My schedule today:

Women’s Space
Gardening project

I was asked to help at the English classes that are organised by We Are Here, another organisation that works at the camp and Dråpen i Havet cooperates with.

Women’s Space, Foto Andrea Koltermann

They offer English classes for women in different levels and had asked me to help with filling the sheets and teaching pronunciation for the new ones and sometimes give them some private coachings to them who needed most.

These buildings were made by NGos and refugees, Foto: Andrea Koltermann

There are 22 women and teenage girls in the class and they have a lot of fun. Learning English is a big challenge for Arabic people. I understood this a few days ago, when a guy from Syria gave me a lesson Arabic weekdays. Arabic people use to read from right to left side and all their letters look different from our letters.

Wochentage auf Arabisch
Foto: Andrea Koltermann

Usually the woman at the camp are very shy. Most of the time communication is mens task, but later that day I meet some women of the German class again. They are smiling, happy to meet me. Some even sway at me and call “hello teacher!”
I’m so happy about this and I’m really looking forward to the next lessons tomorrow.

Garten Projekt 1
Foto: Andrea Koltermann

In the evening we do a gardening project with children.

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

Foto: Andrea Koltermann

The children don’t want to get their clothes dirty. Also I don’t want to.

Do something together, burrow, play with water and make some buildings of sand, that’s a funny way to communicate even if you don’t speak any common language.

Children in Arabic cultures.
Growing up in an Arabic culture is very different from the usual experiences children make in our western cultures.
Often families use to live together in large families. Grandparents and older sisters take care for the smaller children. Having four or more children is not uncommon. In many families the women are 10 to 15 years younger than their husbands and start bearing children at young age.
Even very small children play outside the houses all day long. If something happens everyboby would help them. Communities take care for everyone’s wellbeing. Turned out of their family structure by the flight many people feel unsure in their parenting skills.

The winter in Greece will become cold.
Donations: https://www.facebook.com/donate/1959933580764422/10217188784373006/

Polycastro, day four, Sunday, 12th of August 2018

Day off

Today is our day off. In the morning I have a late and long breakfast at the hotel and watch TV. Big discussions about asylum for refugees take place in Germany. It seems that only these people that have a very good education would ever have any chance.

https://www.zdf.de/dokumentation/zdfzoom/zdfzoom-auslaender-rein—der-streit-ums-einwanderungsgesetz-100.html

Some volunteers and I spend the afternoon at the skra waterfall in the mountains near the border to Makedonia.

You could swim in a small lake next to the waterfall. To take a bath in the 12 degrees cold water is great while it’s 32 degrees outside.

zum Skra Wasserfall
Foto: Andrea Koltermann

On our way back, we are stopped by the police. They ask for our documents and who the car is from. I ask myself: “Does our Italian driver look like a refugee with his black hair?”

Nea Kavala, day three, Saturday, 11th of August 2018

My schedule today:

Vincente warehouse
Laundry
Feeling meeting

This morning some volunteers meet at the warehouse. Donations that are not immediately needed are stored here. The organisation always collects the items until they have enough of every sort before they get offered in the shop. So, they avoid jealousy and conflicts among the residents.

Donations
Foto: Isabel Sevé

In the afternoon I work in the laundry again. One of our volunteers and two residents are playing backgammon in front of the laundry container. Children are watching them carefully.

Wäscherei Backgammon
Foto: Andrea Koltermann
schreiben in arabisch
Foto: Andrea Koltermann
Andrea auf arabisch
Foto: Andrea Koltermann

A young man from Syria writes my name in Arabic letters. They only use consonants, no vocals.

 The time seems to stand still. The people have a lot of spare time and seem to be happy to have some distraction. A young man from Afrika tells me in french that he is bored with waiting and he really wants to work.

Speaking the same language makes communication easier.

A volunteer is making a goodbye gift for a long-term-coordinator who will be leaving today.

Schrift
Foto: Andrea Koltermann

In the afternoon all volunteers are invited to participate in a feelings-meeting. The coordinators are eagerly interested in our wellbeing.

Feelings Meeting
Foto: Andrea Koltermann

This evening is reserved for a long-term coordinators goodbye party. She had been team coordinator for the Dråpen i Havet volunteers at Nea Kavala for one year. The owner of a nice cafe in Axioupolis cooks a delicious dinner for all of us.