Aug 14 Day 4 Evening Shift

Aug 14 Wednesday

Day 4

I was right about the days being longer and harder.  The day began mildly, coffee and pastries were eaten after going to get them and then the relaxed morning which included doing some laundry for me.

We met Kim and three new arrival volunteers from South Carolina (and you could tell by the accents that was home for them) and we ate at a restaurant on the waterfront.  Interestingly there are four restaurants on the cove waterfront.  They all have seating outside by the water but the kitchens and main dining room are across the street.  Waitstaff carry food across the street.  Dodging traffic is not too much of an issue.  The traffic through town is steady but not too heavy.

The food in this typical Greek restaurant is served family style.  You order dishes rather than meals that are passed around.  Several of us crossed the street and were invited into the kitchen to look at and select our fish that was swimming in the ocean peacefully a few hours before.  The fish was weighed and paid for by the kilo rather than per fish.  The meal was: Greek salad (technically every salad we eat while here is a Greek salad but this was the ‘Greek’ Greek salad.), fried zucchini, sausage, stuffed eggplant, fried calamari, fried fish and then for dessert, watermelon and Greek Yogurt (see note above about salad) with candied cherries on top.  It was all delicious.

This is John butchering one of the fish we picked out.  It was very good once the bones and head was removed.

Our shift started at 4:00 PM and went to midnight.  We were given an orientation and a walkie talkie and an orange vest.  This vest along with our badges gave us enough apparent authority to result in every other refugee asking questions or favors of us.  Our response was to smile and refer them to people with real authority.

Our tasks for the evening (not all on each task) included: 1) running up and down the in-camp warehouse pulling together burritos of the appropriate size and all the other things for the new arrivals. 2) after the sun went down and got a little cooler we were outside the fence leveling a plot of ground that a tent will be placed on for new arrivals.  They had to remove a stump and a ton of rocks.  The plot of land was on a slope so we were moving dirt from the high side to the low and we needed a short retaining wall to hold the dirt on the low side.  As we dug up rocks, all the kids (age 2 to 9ish) hanging around were very eager to carry rocks down to the pile at the low side for use in the retaining wall.  The kids were so eager to move rocks that several of the smaller ones began to carry rocks from the nearby level site that had been built earlier that day.  They took down the corner of that retaining wall and brought them to our pile of rocks. 

The third task was that a couple of us were assigned to guard the gate at area B and C.  Section B houses unaccompanied minor boys from 12 to 17.  Section C houses single women and girls.  The gates do not keep them in as they can come and go as they please.  The gates are there to keep other people who do not belong out. 

Every person has a police paper with their name and photo and where they live.  So, my job was checking papers of people wanting in to section B.  Some went in and out so often I did not have to see their papers because I recognized them.  Then there were the little kids 7 to 11 who lived nearby but wanted to play.  They would try to sneak in when other residents were going in or out.  They were climbing up and over the fence.  Generally, they were just being boys.  The concrete area in front of the gates was the playground for all the kids: volleyball (no net), wrestling (yes on the concrete), playing at fighting, one scooter was ridden and fought over a lot, and general kid stuff when there is nothing else to do.

I was asked to go with Maria an I-58 worker to escort a woman who was a victim of domestic abuse back to her tent.  Let me tell you a bit about I-58 before I go on.  I-58 stands for Isaiah 58.  If you are brave enough you should read that chapter before going on. I-58 was started by group of Mennonite churches in Indiana and Pennsylvania and surrounding areas.  The people of the churches had their hearts broken for refugees and hundreds of them have been coming two or more times a year for 90 days at a time (the longest tourist visa you can get).  Most of them are young ladies and they basically run the organization of Moria.  I am very thankful that they are here to serve.

The woman and her children that we were escorting back to her tent is located outside the camp fence in an area that they call the Jungle.  It is an olive grove that is just outside the boundaries of Moria camp.  There are scores of tents set up between the olive trees, including the Tom Cruise tents.  Tom, I am sure, has no idea the tents are here or named after him.  The last Mission Impossible movie that Tom was in has a scene with a bunch of these very nice and large tents in one scene.  After the movie they wanted to give the tents away and EuroRelief somehow wound up with them and they marked them all TC-704 or some other number.   TC stands for Tom Cruise.

I digress.  This family that was living out in one of the tents was about seven people including a father and mother.  They were from Afghanistan.  It seems that the father had decided he wanted to return to Afghanistan thinking life here was worse than at home.  The mother and children disagreed.  Their life in Moria (as difficult as it is) was far better than the life of a woman in Afghanistan.  So, the father began to beat the mother and kids to persuade them.  The police were called and the man was sent to detention and would not return anytime soon or perhaps forever.  She had been sleeping in a section for abused families but felt safe enough to return to the security of her tent.  We were helping get her to the tent.

Midnight came and the PV gang were sufficiently tuckered out and smelly to quickly shower and crash.