Aug 16 Friday
Day 6
The Night Shift at Moria
John and I were the EuroRelief staff/volunteers who were here
from midnight to 7:30. There are a half dozen police officers who are stationed
near the housing for the minor boys and single women.
New York is said to be the city that never sleeps but Moria
will give NY a run for their money. We
had an area where we are supposed to walk every hour or so and as you walk
around there are always people walking or sitting or playing cards. John and I took turns sitting in the New
Arrivals building (where all the supplies are held for the new arrivals – clothes
and sleeping bags etc.) while the other person is sitting out in front of section C
where the single women are located. Our
job there is to make sure no one who does not live in section C enters section
C. The ladies have to show their ID card
that has section C stamped on it. They
go in and out a lot until around 2:30 AM.
Some of them were frequent enough that I did not need to see their
card. Others I had to check. Most were not bothered by this checking. Some forgot their cards in their rooms. I told them they would have to sleep outside
the gate on the sidewalk. They often
produced their cards or someone vouched for them. It breaks the tedium.
One lady wanted to know if I would put her in my suitcase
when I returned to America. I told her I
only brought a carry on, very small bag.
She laughed and said she could squeeze in. I did not say this to her but, no she would
not come close to fitting.
Our other duties on the night shift are to straighten and
clean the office/warehouse area we occupied.
To my chagrin we also had to carry out the garbage. The new arrivals receive their meals here in
the new arrivals area. So as of today,
there are 597 new arrivals that have not been assigned a place to sleep so they
generally sleep in the large circus tent area on sleeping bags. Some will sleep outside on the edges of the
streets. But all 597 come here to get food 3 times a day. The EU and the Greek government contract with
catering company to provide food. The problem
is that the food is often a Greek style diet that these new folks are not used
to or familiar with. For example, they
often provide this piece of bread that is hard and crusty – think a giant crouton. The Greeks crumble it up and put it on things
or in things. The immigrants just ignore
it and so there are lots of it that is not taken. They often have hard boiled eggs. One per person. Some people do not take it and rather than
offer a second egg to SOME people which might cause resentment or worse a fight
for those not getting a second egg then EuroRelief will trash the leftovers. It breaks my heart to throw out
lots of good food. But more will come
tomorrow.
We are here when the water bottles for breakfast is
delivered. Then the breakfast food comes
as well as milk and coffee containers about the size of an old-fashioned milk
can (from the dairy). These are stacked in the very small office and ready to
hand out.
After our shift Kim picked us up and returned us to our
hotel. John and I walked to get coffee
and pastry and sit by the sea. Back at
the hotel it was our weekly room cleaning time so we waited in the courtyard
while the cleaning lady did that.
Lunch was at Skiniko where up until then I had partaken of
only their coffee.
After lunch John and I both slept from 3:00 to 11:00 ready for our next shift.
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