Blog Post 20 Sharing Circle and Panaguida, a small fishing village
Blog Post 20
Sharing Circle and Panaguida, a small fishing village
May 6, 2018
Gentle Reader,
I was finally able to visit Panaguida, a small fishing village just north of Kara Tepe. The bus system here seems to have no truly reliable schedule, and I knew I could take a taxi to Panaguida, but I did not know if I could find one for getting back to the apartment. Because our Friday Sharing Circle was scheduled for dinner at Panaguida, I headed down to the Lidl, the local grocery, and caught the bus from there. The bus was actually headed for Moria, but at the fork in the road the driver showed me the village within walking distance.
I instantly fell in love with this place. Quiet, peaceful, right on the water. I especially enjoy watching people go about their daily business, in this case doing repairs and painting down by the water. The shoreline is filled with outdoor cafes, which have inside counterparts right across the road. I walked around the village for about an hour, meeting many friendly folks along the way. I settled in at Kitchen Bite, getting a table on the water, and had some water and bruchetta with fresh tomatoes and basil. On whole grain bread. Delicious.
We met for Friday's Sharing Circle at a restaurant on the water, right next to Kitchen Bite. We have a steady changeover of volunteers each week. This week, the only veteran volunteers were Martijn, Anil (founder of Movement on the Ground), Paulein (soccer coach with Barcelona Program), and myself. The other six volunteers were all new this week. Sonne and Rhiann, from Holland. Kindert from Holland. Annie and Richard from Australia. Bianca from Holland. Absent was Michal from Poland and Anne from Holland. We missed their presence very much.
This is Martijn , from Holland, who has lived here about two years, if I am remembering correctly. He is committed to working for integrity and dignity on behalf of the refugees. He spends much of his time at the Olive Grove Tent overflow area at Moria. There, 560 unaccompanied minors live, with all men in one section. He and Anil are attempting to introduce some of the Kara Tepe concepts at Olive Grove, so that the place feels and operates more like a village than a camp.
Rhiann, Kindert, and Sonne... all from Holland. Rhiann has been investigating ways to make communication clearer, with so many languages spoken at Kara Tepe. She has a good eye for looking at a situation and coming up with ways to improve. Kindert and Sonne have been all over Kara Tepe, doing a cable project, and installing fans in the housing unit (Isoboxes) of the residents. They are greeted with open arms when they show up with the fan units for cooling. We are told that families often invite them to stay a bit for chai or even lunch or dinner.
Paulein is the dog whisperer at Kara Tepe. She is a gentle soul, and the dogs adore her. She is also quite the force working with the young people and football. The program is values based, so she does a lot of conversation with the young people, always with the focus on "Kara Tepe United!!"
Our Sharing Circle on this Friday night was as wonderful as it was vital. All of the volunteers can talk with friends and family at home about experiences at Kara Tepe, but it is the volunteers we work with that are on the ground, together, experiencing Kara Tepe. Naturally, being there, they get it. We are asked to share our highs and lows of the week, and I must confess that it is hard to think back to events from the early part of the week. Days at Kara Tepe are long and very hot, and we all go back to our various apartments completely wiped out. Even those of us with roommates don't tend to process much of the experience at home, as everyone is anxious to get some needed rest to refresh us for the next day.
Many of the new volunteers talked about how the camp was very different from what their original perception in their head happened to be. We had all read about the camps, with much of the press focusing on Moria, known sometimes as "Moria Hell." As I've said in previous blogs, Kara Tepe is very different in so many ways. It feels far more like a working village than a camp, and we refer to Kara Tepe as a village or a campus, not a camp. Kara Tepe's residents are the most vulnerable, and they have been sent here after being processed through the "hot spot" of Moria. Kara Tepe is composed of families, the elderly, and those facing physical/mental challenges.
Yesterday I learned of another camp nearby called "One Happy Family, " which is a day camp for refugees, not a nighttime facility. I found out a little about this place through reading, prior to my coming to Lesvos. However, I learned a bit more from a woman we've added to our taxi ride at the end of the day. She works at Happy Family in the day, and she was telling us about the new playground they are building for the children. The woman in the cab was on her way to the water, for her evening swim.
Anil, who is the founder of Movement on the Ground, discussed some of the recent happenings and initiatives at The Olive Grove at Moria. He met recently with the head of the village of Moria, asking him what issues he is dealing with in his community. The man broke down in tears, as no one had ever asked him these kinds of questions. Movement is here for refugees and communities impacted by the presence of refugees here on Lesvos. Anil told us about a situation that had caused considerable tension in town. Several of the young men had taken iron piping from the fences of the farmers in the surrounding areas, so they could prop up their tents better. This caused much resentment of the refugees in town. So, to "mend fences", they have begun a project in The Olive Grove where several groups of young men will rebuild the damaged fences of the farmers. Movement on the Ground has purchased new iron piping. It's a win win for everyone, and repairs relationships that have been broken or damaged.
Anil and Martijn have also worked tirelessly at getting the food distribution to Olive Grove more organized and less chaotic. They were pleased to report that an organized system is now in place, with everyone getting their meals. Martijn was saying how much it pleased him to go to Moria in the morning and see residents of Olive Grove que up and chat with one another as they waited for food. These are folks from several parts of the world , sometimes groups that aren't exactly friends. To create a village, cooperation and flexibility, as well as specific rules, help facilitate a peaceful environment. When good systems that are fair to all participants are put in place, a village can slowly begin to emerge.
I hope to visit Moria this week, but for now here are some photos I found on the internet...
The Moria Refugee Camp, sometimes known as Hell, is designed for 2300 people. Currently, Moria has 7000 residents. Also, there are only 50 toilets in the camp for 7000 people. Perhaps you can imagine what a sanitation nightmare that is on a moment by moment basis. As I stated earlier, all of the residents at Kara Tepe have come through the hot spot of Moria first, before being placed at Kara Tepe. Everyone I talk is very happy to be at Kara Tepe, after having lived in Moria.
For my part of Sharing Circle, I talked about the following:
1. Lows: The Shop is really a microcosm of the world, in some ways. It is a place where people come just to chat sometimes, but also a place where they come for clothing and shoes. Due to the nature of donations and sponsorships by various NGO's, we never know when we will have donations arriving. Sometimes we get a small shipment of new dresses or bras... and the news spreads rapidly. Annie found a pair of new Nike sneakers under a shelf, gave them to the man who was in the shop, and within five minutes of his departure from the store, numerous men were at the door asking for shoes. They had heard a huge shipment had arrived, new shoes, and they were on the waiting list for shoes.
We have had many people, especially men, angry about the lack of available shoes. This anger is understandable and justifiable, but we only have what we have to give. Our wonderful interpreters, who are residents or former residents living in Myteline giving back to the village, are often the messengers of bad news regarding clothing or shoes. As volunteers, we want to take the role as "heavy," but the residents hear the words from the interpreter. One man lashed out at me through an interpreter, saying I must hate Afghanis because I was not giving him new shoes. Nothing could be further from the truth, but this was the man's impression. I had no idea what country he came from, nor did it matter in terms of clothing/shoes distribution. But we are good scapegoats when people become frustrated with a very challenging living situation.
By some accident, one man's clothing selection got lost in the shop. We had thought his clothes mistakenly got placed in another family's bag. We even went to the Isobox of the other family to check if this was the case. No. So, I felt bad that the man did not have the clothes he had taken an hour to select. We never solved the mystery of the missing shirts and pants.
All of these incidents converged, and I found myself with tears that could not be contained. I headed to the backroom of the shop, just to hide for a few moments. One of the interpreters, a lovely young woman from Iraq whose mother just had surgery to remove a brain tumor, showed me where she goes to cry. She called it "my crying place," and she offered it to me. I don't think I have ever been so moved by human kindness and empathy.
Here is the "crying place." She sits on the beige sweater on the floor, tucked under the hanging clothes. This is where she cries. This is where I cried.
2. Highs: The highs of the week have to do with residents who are beginning to share their journeys and their stories with me. Initially, when I asked about the journey here to Kara Tepe, the resident I was speaking to simply said, "I cannot go back to Iraq." This week, three residents talked with me about more of the specifics of their personal journey. I felt embraced by their trust, grateful that they shared parts of their journey with me. I will talk about these journeys, using different names for sake of security, in a future blog post.
******************************************************************************
Here's some background information on Olive Trees from Greek cultural tradition:
To end today's blog, in honor of all the good work Anil and Martijn are doing in The Olive Grove at Moria, I will end with a few thoughts on olive groves....
Fredrika Bremer
May your day be filled with people you trust, with people who trust you with their stories. May your life be as life-sustaining as that of the ancient olive tree...
Namaste,
Marianne
Sharing Circle and Panaguida, a small fishing village
May 6, 2018
Gentle Reader,
I was finally able to visit Panaguida, a small fishing village just north of Kara Tepe. The bus system here seems to have no truly reliable schedule, and I knew I could take a taxi to Panaguida, but I did not know if I could find one for getting back to the apartment. Because our Friday Sharing Circle was scheduled for dinner at Panaguida, I headed down to the Lidl, the local grocery, and caught the bus from there. The bus was actually headed for Moria, but at the fork in the road the driver showed me the village within walking distance.
I instantly fell in love with this place. Quiet, peaceful, right on the water. I especially enjoy watching people go about their daily business, in this case doing repairs and painting down by the water. The shoreline is filled with outdoor cafes, which have inside counterparts right across the road. I walked around the village for about an hour, meeting many friendly folks along the way. I settled in at Kitchen Bite, getting a table on the water, and had some water and bruchetta with fresh tomatoes and basil. On whole grain bread. Delicious.
We met for Friday's Sharing Circle at a restaurant on the water, right next to Kitchen Bite. We have a steady changeover of volunteers each week. This week, the only veteran volunteers were Martijn, Anil (founder of Movement on the Ground), Paulein (soccer coach with Barcelona Program), and myself. The other six volunteers were all new this week. Sonne and Rhiann, from Holland. Kindert from Holland. Annie and Richard from Australia. Bianca from Holland. Absent was Michal from Poland and Anne from Holland. We missed their presence very much.
This is Martijn , from Holland, who has lived here about two years, if I am remembering correctly. He is committed to working for integrity and dignity on behalf of the refugees. He spends much of his time at the Olive Grove Tent overflow area at Moria. There, 560 unaccompanied minors live, with all men in one section. He and Anil are attempting to introduce some of the Kara Tepe concepts at Olive Grove, so that the place feels and operates more like a village than a camp.
Rhiann, Kindert, and Sonne... all from Holland. Rhiann has been investigating ways to make communication clearer, with so many languages spoken at Kara Tepe. She has a good eye for looking at a situation and coming up with ways to improve. Kindert and Sonne have been all over Kara Tepe, doing a cable project, and installing fans in the housing unit (Isoboxes) of the residents. They are greeted with open arms when they show up with the fan units for cooling. We are told that families often invite them to stay a bit for chai or even lunch or dinner.
Paulein is the dog whisperer at Kara Tepe. She is a gentle soul, and the dogs adore her. She is also quite the force working with the young people and football. The program is values based, so she does a lot of conversation with the young people, always with the focus on "Kara Tepe United!!"
Our Sharing Circle on this Friday night was as wonderful as it was vital. All of the volunteers can talk with friends and family at home about experiences at Kara Tepe, but it is the volunteers we work with that are on the ground, together, experiencing Kara Tepe. Naturally, being there, they get it. We are asked to share our highs and lows of the week, and I must confess that it is hard to think back to events from the early part of the week. Days at Kara Tepe are long and very hot, and we all go back to our various apartments completely wiped out. Even those of us with roommates don't tend to process much of the experience at home, as everyone is anxious to get some needed rest to refresh us for the next day.
Many of the new volunteers talked about how the camp was very different from what their original perception in their head happened to be. We had all read about the camps, with much of the press focusing on Moria, known sometimes as "Moria Hell." As I've said in previous blogs, Kara Tepe is very different in so many ways. It feels far more like a working village than a camp, and we refer to Kara Tepe as a village or a campus, not a camp. Kara Tepe's residents are the most vulnerable, and they have been sent here after being processed through the "hot spot" of Moria. Kara Tepe is composed of families, the elderly, and those facing physical/mental challenges.
Yesterday I learned of another camp nearby called "One Happy Family, " which is a day camp for refugees, not a nighttime facility. I found out a little about this place through reading, prior to my coming to Lesvos. However, I learned a bit more from a woman we've added to our taxi ride at the end of the day. She works at Happy Family in the day, and she was telling us about the new playground they are building for the children. The woman in the cab was on her way to the water, for her evening swim.
Anil, who is the founder of Movement on the Ground, discussed some of the recent happenings and initiatives at The Olive Grove at Moria. He met recently with the head of the village of Moria, asking him what issues he is dealing with in his community. The man broke down in tears, as no one had ever asked him these kinds of questions. Movement is here for refugees and communities impacted by the presence of refugees here on Lesvos. Anil told us about a situation that had caused considerable tension in town. Several of the young men had taken iron piping from the fences of the farmers in the surrounding areas, so they could prop up their tents better. This caused much resentment of the refugees in town. So, to "mend fences", they have begun a project in The Olive Grove where several groups of young men will rebuild the damaged fences of the farmers. Movement on the Ground has purchased new iron piping. It's a win win for everyone, and repairs relationships that have been broken or damaged.
Anil and Martijn have also worked tirelessly at getting the food distribution to Olive Grove more organized and less chaotic. They were pleased to report that an organized system is now in place, with everyone getting their meals. Martijn was saying how much it pleased him to go to Moria in the morning and see residents of Olive Grove que up and chat with one another as they waited for food. These are folks from several parts of the world , sometimes groups that aren't exactly friends. To create a village, cooperation and flexibility, as well as specific rules, help facilitate a peaceful environment. When good systems that are fair to all participants are put in place, a village can slowly begin to emerge.
I hope to visit Moria this week, but for now here are some photos I found on the internet...
The Moria Refugee Camp, sometimes known as Hell, is designed for 2300 people. Currently, Moria has 7000 residents. Also, there are only 50 toilets in the camp for 7000 people. Perhaps you can imagine what a sanitation nightmare that is on a moment by moment basis. As I stated earlier, all of the residents at Kara Tepe have come through the hot spot of Moria first, before being placed at Kara Tepe. Everyone I talk is very happy to be at Kara Tepe, after having lived in Moria.
For my part of Sharing Circle, I talked about the following:
1. Lows: The Shop is really a microcosm of the world, in some ways. It is a place where people come just to chat sometimes, but also a place where they come for clothing and shoes. Due to the nature of donations and sponsorships by various NGO's, we never know when we will have donations arriving. Sometimes we get a small shipment of new dresses or bras... and the news spreads rapidly. Annie found a pair of new Nike sneakers under a shelf, gave them to the man who was in the shop, and within five minutes of his departure from the store, numerous men were at the door asking for shoes. They had heard a huge shipment had arrived, new shoes, and they were on the waiting list for shoes.
We have had many people, especially men, angry about the lack of available shoes. This anger is understandable and justifiable, but we only have what we have to give. Our wonderful interpreters, who are residents or former residents living in Myteline giving back to the village, are often the messengers of bad news regarding clothing or shoes. As volunteers, we want to take the role as "heavy," but the residents hear the words from the interpreter. One man lashed out at me through an interpreter, saying I must hate Afghanis because I was not giving him new shoes. Nothing could be further from the truth, but this was the man's impression. I had no idea what country he came from, nor did it matter in terms of clothing/shoes distribution. But we are good scapegoats when people become frustrated with a very challenging living situation.
By some accident, one man's clothing selection got lost in the shop. We had thought his clothes mistakenly got placed in another family's bag. We even went to the Isobox of the other family to check if this was the case. No. So, I felt bad that the man did not have the clothes he had taken an hour to select. We never solved the mystery of the missing shirts and pants.
All of these incidents converged, and I found myself with tears that could not be contained. I headed to the backroom of the shop, just to hide for a few moments. One of the interpreters, a lovely young woman from Iraq whose mother just had surgery to remove a brain tumor, showed me where she goes to cry. She called it "my crying place," and she offered it to me. I don't think I have ever been so moved by human kindness and empathy.
Here is the "crying place." She sits on the beige sweater on the floor, tucked under the hanging clothes. This is where she cries. This is where I cried.
2. Highs: The highs of the week have to do with residents who are beginning to share their journeys and their stories with me. Initially, when I asked about the journey here to Kara Tepe, the resident I was speaking to simply said, "I cannot go back to Iraq." This week, three residents talked with me about more of the specifics of their personal journey. I felt embraced by their trust, grateful that they shared parts of their journey with me. I will talk about these journeys, using different names for sake of security, in a future blog post.
******************************************************************************
Here's some background information on Olive Trees from Greek cultural tradition:
From Moriai: Sacred Arboriculture in Athens:
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The Mythical Origin of Moria (Olive) Trees in Ancient Greece[edit]
The Contest for Attica (Athens)[edit]
According to Greek mythology, upon his establishment of the newly founded city (polis) of Attica, king Cecrops desired to appoint a patron deity and protector over his new city. Poseidon (Olympic god of the sea, earthquakes, and horses) and Athena (Olympic goddess of wisdom, craft, and war) both desired to lay claim to the ancient Greek city. Appearing before king Cecrops and a gathering of the people of Attica on the Acropolis, it was decided that a contest between the two powerful Olympians would be held. Whomever could bestow the more useful gift to the people of Attica would be declared patron deityand have the city named in his/her honor. Poseidon was the first to present his gift; striking a rock with a powerful blow of his trident, a spring of salt water burst through. Athena came next; as she thrust her spear into the ground of the Acropolis, she knelt down and planted an olive branch in the hole, which quickly grew into Greece's very first moria (olive) tree. King Cecrops and the people of Attica deliberated the usefulness of the gifts. Poseidon's spring made of salt water was not suitable for drinking or much else, yet Athena's precious gift proved to be suitable for an abundance of purposes. Athena was hailed winner of the competition and was crowned patron goddess and protector of the city (polis) of Attica, whose people adopted the name Athens in her honor.
From Olive Oil Times, Laura Aitken-Burt writes:
To end today's blog, in honor of all the good work Anil and Martijn are doing in The Olive Grove at Moria, I will end with a few thoughts on olive groves....
Fredrika Bremer
Namaste,
Marianne
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