We’re raising £3,000 to provide relief to refugees in dire need in Lesvos because we can and we should #refugeelivesmatter. JustGiving
The generosity of my family, friends, colleagues and employers (who are also friends) as well as supporters from the ever generous Celtic family on the huddleboard and Celticminded in funding our effort to offer support to refugees arriving on Lesvos has truly humbled me. I’ve been wanting to write this blog post for some time, but normal life has an annoying habit of getting in the way, especially when you neglect it for so long!
It’s been around a month now since I returned to London and my friends and colleagues will tell you that my head is still in Greece and I’ve not been the same since returning.
Since arriving on the Island, Ciaran and I were based out of camp Pikpa which is on the south coast near Mytilene airport. We arrived here by chance, looking for somewhere to drop off the cargo of emergency blankets and socks we had brought with usfrom London. A Marhacar operator put us in touch with Matthew from Pikpa and before we knew we were in Greece, he had us out on the beaches doing the nightshift and didn’t look back! Continue reading “Camp Pikpa – The village of all together”
We keep meeting really cool guys from Syria named Omar…
During our first week here, there was a young guy – only 20 years old – who’d arrived at Pikpa around the same time as us. His English was brilliant and his sense of humour irrepressible – he worked with us on a tool shed renovation project.
Another organisation doing wonderful work in Calais who we volunteered with for a few days is L’Auberge des Migrants
laubergedesmigrants.fr
facebook.com/groups/calaismigrantssolidarity
Caritas are active across the globe in responding to the refugee crisis and are working in Calais with local division, Secour Catholique being one of the main groups supporting refugees directly in the Jungle.
cafod.org.uk
caritas.org
secours-catholique.org
The weather has been really bad for the last two days. Since we arrived here on Lesvos, we’d been enjoying pleasant days in which you could walk around with a t-shirt. At least the Glaswegians would – the locals, clearly accustomed to warmer weather, have been cutting about in winter wear and giving us odd looks when they see the flip flops. I exaggerate, of course, but the relativity is there.
Another grassroots organisation which has lots of good information available on their blog is The Worldwide Tribe who are doing some fantastic work in the Jungle and here on Lesvos too.
theworldwidetribe.com
facebook.com/theworldwidetribe
Stuart is banging the door at 3am. “Get up ya daftie”. I have overslept – we’re supposed to meet Matthew at 4am near the port in Mytilene.
IRC have some good information on the situation in Greece here: rescue.org
The roving aye 