After 4 days in Central Athens, we moved down to the suburb of Kerastini, where we spent a week living with another wonderful Warmshowers host, Filippos, and volunteering at the refugee camp based at Gate E1 of Piraeus Port. This is an unofficial camp, staffed entirely by volunteers. The refugees here are in a state of limbo having arrived after the land borders from Greece were closed, but before the March 20th deadline after which all refugees arriving by sea are returned to Turkey – these people cannot leave Greece to seek asylum in other European countries, but neither are they classed as illegal by the Greek authorities and sent back to Turkey. The result is hundreds of families living on the concrete floor of the terminal car park in tents, with their daily needs (food, medical care, childcare etc) met by an eclectic group of volunteers with very little official support.
The refugees are mainly Syrian and Afghan, with some from Iran and Iraq. The vast majority are families with very young children. During the week we spent there, we gave out breakfast in the mornings, and as this was during Ramadan, it was often the children who were not fasting who came to collect the food, lugging enormous boxes around with a strength that put our arm muscles to shame! They were very sweet, friendly, and keen to play, climbing on walls to hurl themselves at Jonathan, playing clapping games with us both, or running around and climbing everything in sight. They were also very resourceful at entertaining themselves, often to the dismay of all the volunteers, as this would involve stealing food just to see our reaction, sneaking into the kitchen, and giving us a good poke when our backs were turned. It was hard not to feel annoyed at times, but they were usually just looking for something to do, and would help us by counting the fruit (often in Arabic, Greek and English), handing out rolls to those in the queue, and guarding the juice and peaches from their peers (although the juice protectors and juice attackers often swapped roles!)
In the evenings, we volunteered handing out food in the dinner queue. This was a much more intense experience – because it was Ramadan, food for breakfast, lunch and dinner was handed out at the same time, a somewhat challenging task when trying to cram food for 26 people into one cardboard box! While the queuing system generally worked well, there was some tension, both among the refugees and the volunteers during this process, particularly as the most popular items of food (fruit juice and sandwiches), tended to run out before the end of the queue. This problem was exacerbated by a small number of refugees coming back more than once to collect food. While it felt incredibly difficult to say no, as the days went by we realised that some people were having more than their fair share, while others were missing out. This was clearly very frustrating, both for the volunteers handing out the food, and for the vast majority of refugees who were abiding by the rules and waiting their turn.
During our week volunteering, we became aware that there is a more unpleasant side to the camp which it would be naïve to ignore. There have been fights during dinner, and there were rumours of a young woman with several children being ‘protected’ in ways that sounded deeply abusive. Equally, while 99% of the volunteers were there with the principle aim of helping the refugees in whatever way they could, there was one man working at the neighbouring camp who seemed to thrive on the unregulated nature of the situation, and the resultant power he could wield. Yet, in general, throughout the week, we came into contact with incredible people from both inside and outside the camp. We were absolutely amazed that a collection of untrained volunteers from all over the world could come together and fulfil such a mammoth task - working long shifts, staying overnight, and giving their time freely to try to make a difference to the experience of those living in the camps. A real highlight of our time was speaking to these volunteers, and seeing their generosity and kindness. In the same way, the refugees we met were resilient, good humoured and thoughtful, greeting us with smiles every day, sharing their stories, and often going out of their way to help us fulfil tasks.
After a week, we said goodbye to Filippos who had made us so welcome in his house: cooking and eating together in the evenings and chatting over a beer had been a real pleasure for us and had reaffirmed the incredible hospitality we had experienced in Greece.
As we cycled to catch our ferry to Samos, we passed the camp. As we did so, we realised that while cycle touring offers a wonderful opportunity to see the world, it can be easy to miss out on the deeper experiences you can get when you stay somewhere longer, and particularly when you volunteer. Our time in Piraeus was very short, and we are still far from grasping the full complexity of the refugee crisis, the challenges faced by those who have arrived in Europe seeking asylum, and by those who have dedicated their time for free to try to help in some way. We saw on both sides the frustration of trying to change a situation at ground level that is not being resolved on a Europe-wide level. But we also saw volunteers and refugees from all around the world working together in a difficult situation, and displaying generosity, humanity and respect.