This is a letter we received from Greece this week from a camp where we have members working and volunteering. Oinofyta is one of the few camps organized under principles of SELF-RELIANCE. We love it.
We have missionaries in Greece who are working on meeting some of these needs, but if you are interested in getting involved with helping this camp, the contact information is at the bottom of the letter. Contact Lisa Campbell directly. She is awesome.
Hello all,
I hope this finds you all well. The last few weeks have been very
busy here at Oinofyta. We have filled all of our tents as well as one of the
large ‘entertainment’ tents. The original estimate of the capacity of our 50
tents was 400, but that was based on putting 8 people in each tent. Our colonel
is against putting people in a tent together who are not family and so we have
some tents with 3 or 4 residents and one tent that has a family of 8 in it. We
do have some shared tents, but those are either friends or extended family. Our
singles are in tents together, but only 5 to a tent. Our current population is
250. The majority of those are families and this morning when we received a new
family, the count of families was up to 53 plus 3 tents with singles in them.
They began the build out in the factory a few weeks ago and the
sleeping quarters are now close to completion. The bathrooms and showers are
not ready yet, and it will be another month until all of those are completed.
Our original goal here was to provide the Sew and Seed project,
and possibly help with some organizational processes, but that has expanded
exponentially. Because this was a small camp initially, none of the ‘big’ NGOs
were interested in operating here so Do Your Part and AdventistHelp became the
only NGOs working here. We have been joined by a few others now and are a very
well-organized camp.
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| Lisa Campbell (2nd from rt) |
In the past few weeks we have completed the chicken coop, ordered
a new kitchen setup that will provide identical burners, controls and gas
bottles for all of the stations and will have automatic delivery each week. The
gas company is going to train 5 of our residents in how to properly use the gas
bottles and burners so that it will all be done properly and
safely!
The garden projects are going very well. ArmandoAid has provided
micro gardens to all the residents who want them. They found a tire place that
is willing to give them the tires for free (so they don’t have to pay the
disposal fee) and are putting them outside the tents with herbs, tomatoes and
other plants that can grow in a small space. It is nice to come in to the camp
and see some green growing! The containers have had to be put on hold as they
try to figure out how all of the waste water is going to be handled when they
fill the new quarters. The containers were being built in the space near the
septic tanks. There is a large septic tank in place, but when they double or
triple the number of showers, sinks and toilets it will need to be pumped out
daily if not more often.
We have been tasked with providing much of the infrastructure here
because the government cannot handle the financial requirements. We are looking
at bringing in a new electrical line to serve half of the camp. The first
estimate I received was for 7,500 euro. I have two more companies coming in to
see if we can get a better price. The government will pay the bill if we can
bring the service in. We have also been trying to get a DSL line in so
that the residents can have WIFI. This has been a very hard task because we
don’t have a VAT (Tax) number for Greece yet (we have applied for it, but like
most things here in Greece, it takes a long time). We have finally gotten
around that hurdle thanks to Disaster Lab Tech and their connection to a local
NGO that is willing to allow us to use their number for the DSL contract, but
we can’t seem to get the company out here to install the line. This has been
one of the biggest frustrations for the residents. They have to purchase data
for their phones so that they can communicate with their families back home or
in Europe.
In looking at the new sleeping quarters and speaking with the
general contractor, there will be no doors provided. This is unacceptable to me
because they will need their privacy. We are pricing out 107 expansion rods and
curtains to provide privacy for each of the rooms. There is also no electricity
being provided to the individual rooms, so I am getting estimates on that too.
We have also had many visitors to the camp from various
organizations. We had a visit from the EU Humanitarian Relief agency and they
were very impressed with our program here. They spoke with me for about an hour
and were furiously scribbling notes to present to other camps on the projects
we have. The UN Health Services representative visited as well. With the build
out in full swing, we have also had visits from many Army and Air Force
personnel and members of the Ministry of Migration. On Saturday the Minister of
Defense will visit our camp.
Last week we had a team of journalists here to document the
stories of the refugees. They will be putting their work on the internet. Their
organization is called Their Story IS Our Story. Most of the
residents were willing to interview with them to have a chance to tell their
story to the world. I am looking forward to seeing the completed work.
Last night our residents celebrated the end of Ramadan and we
provided the means for them to have a huge feast, we were invited and enjoyed a
wonderful meal with dancing and singing provided.
We have had a commitment from a very generous donor family to
build an Education Center for our residents. The center will be housed in a
prefab building that will be set up onsite and will have 20 computers and 4
printers for the people in the camp to use. This wonderful donation will allow
our residents to continue their education or get an online degree. For the
teenagers this will allow them to get back into their studies and graduate from
school.
Thanks to another generous donor, we have been able to provide a
new prosthetic leg to one of our residents who lost his leg to a bomb 6 years
ago at the age of 13. He walked from Afghanistan through Pakistan to Iran and
then to Turkey on his old leg. It was an old leg when he got it and it was
broken by the trip. He jokes with us that he is going to donate it to a museum
when he gets his new one.
Each week we are providing around 600 kilos fresh produce for the
residents to supplement the food provided by a contracted caterer. There are no
fresh vegetables or fruit provided by this company with the exception of one
orange per person per day. We also provide rice and cooking oil for them. The
cost of just these weekly deliveries has grown as the numbers have grown and
now we are spending around 750 euro per week to ensure they have a balanced
diet.
We are working with several suppliers to try to get the best price
on regular shipments of the consumable products like shampoo, laundry soap,
dish detergent and such. These are the everyday items that we all take for
granted, but they cannot provide for themselves since they are not allowed to
work.
We have had another new baby born in the camp, and now have a one
month old and a 12 day old. Tomorrow we will have our third baby born by a
scheduled c-section. We are working on renting an apartment so that these new
moms don’t have to come home from the hospital to a very hot tent with a newborn.
Our mom and baby area is very popular with the new moms and those with nursing
babies.
The most recent community council addressed the need for a
playground for the children. This will cost about 6,000 euro so we are trying
to get that sponsored as well.
We had an offer for washing machines and I will be contacting that
organization to see if we can get those started so that the residents don’t
have to continue to hand wash all of their clothes.
The UNHCR representatives are here two days a week now and we have
been working with them to provide various items we need. They have sent us
sleeping mats, solar lights and sleeping bags. We will be putting another
request in tomorrow since we will be getting so many new people in soon.
Our residents began the official process of registering today. The
Greek Asylum services and UNHCR came and gave them all wristbands so that they
can be bussed to another camp tomorrow for the registration. This is a great
step in the right direction because they will now be considered legal refugees.
Most of our camp have been illegal for months now since they were originally
issued papers that were only good for 30 days.
We are looking for volunteers to come help us in the camp. If you
are interested, or know someone who is, please give them my contact
information.
I am very grateful for all of the support we have been given. It
has been very humbling to be a part of this wonderful work, and get to know the
stories of the people here. We could not give the help we have without the
support of so many great people backing us.
Please feel free to share this email with anyone that you feel
would be interested. We are happy to have people following the story of the
Oinofyta camp. We also have a Facebook page that you can follow.
Thank you!!!!!
Lisa R. Campbell
Vice President/Greece Project Manager
Do Your Part (.org)
"All the adversity I've had in my life, has strengthened me.
You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best
thing in the world for you." Walt Disney (1901-1966)
