Fighting gridlock with soul
With reporting from Croatia, Greece, Macedonia and Serbia
Marley in Greece
Dozens of men line up single file on a dusty, trash-strewn road near an abandoned warehouse, waiting patiently in front of a small kitchen. When each reaches the front of the line they get a plate of hot curry, an apple and a few slices of bread. And a song. "Good friends we've had, oh friends we've lost, along the way..."
Dozens of men line up single file on a dusty, trash-strewn road near an abandoned warehouse, waiting patiently in front of a small kitchen. When each reaches the front of the line they get a plate of hot curry, an apple and a few slices of bread. And a song. "Good friends we've had, oh friends we've lost, along the way..."
“Good friends we’ve had, oh good friends we've lost, along the way…”
Volunteers belt out the old Bob Marley tune as they serve up the food, a rare bright spot for the men, mostly refugees from the Middle East. The lyrics drift over them as they carry their food back to their faded tents or squeeze into burned-out cars for their meal.
All across the Balkan region, in Greece, Macedonia, Serbia and Croatia, refugees that can’t get into camps for refugees and asylum seekers stay in abandoned buildings, or under the open sky in parks and forests near the borders. Large, impromptu settlements develop near national borders, as they wait for the chance to move closer to a better life in a West European country.
 Loading... |
While the influx of immigrants has dropped since many European countries closed their borders in March of last year, tens of thousands of refugees remain stuck in Balkan countries, without shelter or any kind of basic health care.
|
An army of 4,000 volunteers
Politics and plodding bureaucracies slow help from the government, but a sprawling network of volunteers has stepped into the gap. In the European Union alone, more than four thousand registered volunteers work together with activists and international aid organizations, to provide everything from food to baby carriers.
“Maybe I've never cried this much in my life, but I didn't laugh as much either. I've never felt better,” says volunteer Mojca Česnik from Slovenia, who has come with her husband and daughter to prepare food in Thessaloniki, Greece.
“It all comes together. All. If you defend them only as people, as normal people, then that's what they are, you know? We're all people. Nothing else,” she says.
Česnik volunteers with the group Soul Food Kitchen, which each day prepares hundreds of meals for refugees in Thessaloniki. Volunteers cook two hot meals a day to be distributed to about 400 refugees and homeless people in local streets and parks. They come from all over the world to serve time in the group’s bustling kitchens: Australia, Slovenia, Portugal, Italy, England. Each stays for nine days, cooking food and developing friendships.
Politics and plodding bureaucracies slow help from the government, but a sprawling network of volunteers has stepped into the gap. In the European Union alone, more than four thousand registered volunteers work together with activists and international aid organizations, to provide everything from food to baby carriers.
“Maybe I've never cried this much in my life, but I didn't laugh as much either. I've never felt better,” says volunteer Mojca Česnik from Slovenia, who has come with her husband and daughter to prepare food in Thessaloniki, Greece.
“It all comes together. All. If you defend them only as people, as normal people, then that's what they are, you know? We're all people. Nothing else,” she says.
Česnik volunteers with the group Soul Food Kitchen, which each day prepares hundreds of meals for refugees in Thessaloniki. Volunteers cook two hot meals a day to be distributed to about 400 refugees and homeless people in local streets and parks. They come from all over the world to serve time in the group’s bustling kitchens: Australia, Slovenia, Portugal, Italy, England. Each stays for nine days, cooking food and developing friendships.
Adis Imamović Pixie, a co-founder of the group, surveys the scene at one kitchen and nods in approval.
“There were 94 people at breakfast today. And now we will add between 30 or 60 more to that. We change the number of meals depending on the number of people working here,” he says.
“There were 94 people at breakfast today. And now we will add between 30 or 60 more to that. We change the number of meals depending on the number of people working here,” he says.
At a formal camp in Andravida-Kyllini, in Western Greece, which houses refugees trapped in the country in 38 houses, volunteers do more than prepare food - they run the place. Administrator George Aggelopoulos, who handles the everyday needs of the families living there, is a volunteer.
“I have been here since the first day, more than 13 months now. The food is now better, but after that, the problem is that the government has stopped its catering service, and now they just give some money for food,” Aggelopoulos explains, adding that the payments do not solve the lack of nutritious fare.
“I have been here since the first day, more than 13 months now. The food is now better, but after that, the problem is that the government has stopped its catering service, and now they just give some money for food,” Aggelopoulos explains, adding that the payments do not solve the lack of nutritious fare.
Photo Credit: Katarina Šapina
|
|
Warehouses as homes
In another Balkan country, Serbia, roughly 85 per cent of refugees, asylum-seekers and migrants are accommodated in government shelters. However, an estimated 1,000 refugees and migrants are still camping out in smoke-filled, derelict warehouses, according to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR). In such temporary shelters, volunteers are the main connection between the authorities and refugees. One such location in the town of Obrenovac is home to nearly 400 people. When they line up for the long wait for lunch from a volunteer kitchen, a bearded man in a bright orange shirt walks among them, firing off jokes and silly pantomimes until he gets a smile. “I try to ensure that nobody skips the line and I am entertaining for the refugees,” says the man, American Larry Stenton. He spent almost two years volunteering in countries along the refugee route, including Serbia, Hungary, Croatia and Greece. Mobile Hospitals The refugees need more than food and good cheer. Groups such as the World Health Organization (WHO), have found that the health problems of refugees and migrants are similar to those of the rest of the population, with added risk due to their living conditions. “The most frequent health problems of newly arrived refugees and migrants include accidental injuries, hypothermia, burns, and gastrointestinal illnesses,” the organization said in a report. Psychosocial disorders, reproductive health problems, higher newborn mortality, drug abuse, nutrition disorders, alcoholism and exposure to violence are also ongoing problems. WHO reports that children are prone to respiratory infections and gastrointestinal illnesses because of poor living conditions, and urges governments to provide easier access to proper healthcare for children. |
In Andravida-Kyllini, public health administrator Tsagri Chara says the government is focusing on the youngest residents of the shelter.
“We gave vaccines against Hepatitis for children, and we try to find resources to ensure better care for them. The main goal is to protect them from diseases, ” Chara said.
In the Macedonian village of Gevgelia, situated at the country's main border with Greece, an ad hoc health care system strains to cover the needs of refugees and immigrants. Docmobile, formed in 2016 in Germany, enrolls doctors to drive around local communities and provide care to the homeless, or those living in abandoned buildings, who don’t have access regular care.
“We are mobile, so we go wherever we are needed to provide medical cover for refugees. I am in Greece because my friend who was here told me about the bad conditions and I become aware of the situation so I applied to help,” says Sophie Gedeon, a doctor from France.
“We gave vaccines against Hepatitis for children, and we try to find resources to ensure better care for them. The main goal is to protect them from diseases, ” Chara said.
In the Macedonian village of Gevgelia, situated at the country's main border with Greece, an ad hoc health care system strains to cover the needs of refugees and immigrants. Docmobile, formed in 2016 in Germany, enrolls doctors to drive around local communities and provide care to the homeless, or those living in abandoned buildings, who don’t have access regular care.
“We are mobile, so we go wherever we are needed to provide medical cover for refugees. I am in Greece because my friend who was here told me about the bad conditions and I become aware of the situation so I applied to help,” says Sophie Gedeon, a doctor from France.
|
“I do not know how long I will stay because I do not want this project to stop. But it is hard because of the administrative duties and paperwork,” she explains. As donations of medicine pour in from around Europe, including Germany, Belgium, and England, part of Docmobile’s role is to find qualified doctors and nurses to check it is not expired or otherwise unsafe. |
Rose Hansen and Sophie Gedeon in Macedonia (Photo Credit: Katarina Šapina)
|
Lightening the load for refugee mothers
Some groups tackle more specific issues. The Croatian association Parents in Action aims to ease the burden on refugee mothers with a particular product - baby carriers.
“When the refugee crisis on the Balkan route intensified, we were watching the photos and they disturbed us. We were looking at hundreds of children and we knew we need to do something,” explained group member Ivana Zanze.
Founded 15 years ago to assist mothers in need, the group shifted to baby after a suggestion from a volunteer. “In one month we collected around 300 carriers which were sent to Serbia and Macedonia. They were shared in parks where parents were hanging out with their children,” Zanze said. The organisation has since shifted to producing its own carriers.
Despite these efforts, casualties and deaths among refugees and migrants crossing the Mediterranean Sea is still high. UNHCR has reported over 8,000 lives lost in 2015 and 2016. Still, the volunteers aren’t giving up. “A lot of people asked me if I think I'm gonna change the world. So we figured we are not gonna change the world, but we will make lives of one, three people easier,” says Vlado Česnik, who helps his wife Mojca in a Soul Food kitchen in Slovenia. “The system isn't working. Politicians only discuss, but this all happening. In some way this is a rebellion against the system,” he says.
Some groups tackle more specific issues. The Croatian association Parents in Action aims to ease the burden on refugee mothers with a particular product - baby carriers.
“When the refugee crisis on the Balkan route intensified, we were watching the photos and they disturbed us. We were looking at hundreds of children and we knew we need to do something,” explained group member Ivana Zanze.
Founded 15 years ago to assist mothers in need, the group shifted to baby after a suggestion from a volunteer. “In one month we collected around 300 carriers which were sent to Serbia and Macedonia. They were shared in parks where parents were hanging out with their children,” Zanze said. The organisation has since shifted to producing its own carriers.
Despite these efforts, casualties and deaths among refugees and migrants crossing the Mediterranean Sea is still high. UNHCR has reported over 8,000 lives lost in 2015 and 2016. Still, the volunteers aren’t giving up. “A lot of people asked me if I think I'm gonna change the world. So we figured we are not gonna change the world, but we will make lives of one, three people easier,” says Vlado Česnik, who helps his wife Mojca in a Soul Food kitchen in Slovenia. “The system isn't working. Politicians only discuss, but this all happening. In some way this is a rebellion against the system,” he says.
Title Photo: Katarina Šapina