"We have the world we deserve" said the philosopher John Paul Sartre. But that clearly cannot be true. Due to nothing but pure luck, I am born with a Norwegian passport that allows me to travel the world -- moving fast, freely and safely ---while knowing that I will always be able to return home. This Christmas I will spend with my closest friends and family; sharing home-made food, drinking wine, playing board games in front of the fire place and exchanging gifts none of us really need. For the refugees in Souda camp in Greece, the situations is completely different. Born in countries plagued by war, violence or extreme poverty, they have fled from their home countries only to meet fences and barriers. With no options for safe passage, they have had to pay hundreds or even thousands of dollars to smugglers to facilitate their dangerous journey across the aegean sea. The refugees in the camps were the "lucky ones" who made it, but now they are stuck. Many of the refugees in Souda refugee camp in Chios have been on the greek island for 6-9 months, waiting for their application to be looked at, an interview, a chance to rebuild their life -and regain control over their own future. Meanwhile, the weather has steadily deteriorated. Chios in the winter is extremely rainy and windy and the refugees do not have adequate shelter. A few weeks ago, the refugees were also attacked by neo-fascists. Members of a far-right group showed up two nights in a row, burning the refugees' tents and throwing rocks at them. A Syrian friend of mine found two of his children inside a burning tent. Fortunately he was able to get them out before they were injured. Since the attacks (which went largely unnoticed by global media) pregnant women and small children have spent many nights outside the camp, in the cold, due to fear that the facists will return. For others, the attacks are not much worse than the daily existence in the camp, where all power, control and choices are taken away from them, and nobody knows when it will end. "It would be better to be killed by a bomb in Syria than to rot here", one of them said.
Responding to this injustice and suffering are complex and difficult and change will not happen over night. We know this far to well and it often leave us feeling paralyzed. While much needs to be done (both to address the root causes of war and poverty, and to give the refugees stranded in Greece (and elsewhere) a new home) there are also small things that can be done to make life in the camp less unbearable. Knowing this, my friends in the the organization "Drop in the Ocean" are telling me that there is currently a great need for shoes in the camp, as very few of the refugees have proper shoes and many do not have shoes at all. I also frequently get facebook and whatsapp messages from friends in the camp who are to cold to sleep. Dear friends, regardless of what your politics are, I ask you to donate money to this simple cause. Drop in the Ocean is not an organization that always asks for money. When I asked, for about a month ago, i if they needed help fundraising, they told me that they at that time had enough clothes to distribute. Now there are a great lack of shoes, and they ask for help. Today the temperature in Chios was 0 degrees and the wind (and frequent rain) are making everything ten times worse. Shoes will not allow the refugee to move very far, but it will help protecting them from the cold. For many, particularly older people, is also a question of dignity. For 30 euros, volunteers on the island can buy one pair of decent shoes. Please consider giving 30 (or less or more) euro away for christmas this year. All the money you give will go directly to this cause. Please contact me if you have any questions or concerns.
