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Amira, refugees:
“I have been living in these conditions for a year and three months.”
Refugee (anonymous)
“This is our daily life.”
Danilo Campailla, Photographer:
»Who wants to camp all winter? All the time.”
But the refugees from Lesbos have no other choice. Heavy rains, storms and flooded tents have been a part of daily life in the Kara Tepe makeshift refugee camp since mid-October. Currently almost 7,500 people live there, a third of whom are children.
Never again conditions like in Moria: With this goal in mind, the new Kara Tepe transition camp was built in September after the fire disaster. The reality is different: there is a lack of electricity, food and hot water. People sleep on stony ground.
Danilo Campailla, Photographer:
“There is noise all night. People cannot sleep peacefully in tents. When it doesn’t rain, the coast is wet. Children retain this moisture. The tent only has electricity for two hours a day because there is only one generator. There are no shops, no parks, there is nothing. Due to the closure measures, camp residents can only leave the camp for four hours one day a week. «
For Amira this is a reality. The 21-year-old Afghan has lived in Lesbos for almost a year and a half. First in Moria, now in Kara Tepe. Because the internet connection in the field is very bad, Amira talks to me at the apartment of a refugee worker. Fearing the authorities, he wants to remain anonymous.
“A few toilets are not enough for thousands of people. Is not sufficient. There is no toilet paper or water in the bathrooms. It’s really bad. We are three families with 7 people in a tent. The tent has two layers and a tarp on top. It’s very difficult to stay warm, especially when it’s windy, stormy and rainy. “
According to aid organizations, many of the refugees are traumatized by circumstances in the camp, especially children and young people. The most common symptoms include sleepwalking, panic attacks, and bed-wetting.
“The children definitely [von den Umständen] affected. If you [ihre Tochter] he sleeps at night, suddenly wakes up and says he sees fire. So she is scared. Keeps kids very busy. When I found out about the raped girl, it hurt a lot. That was the worst news. I would like to inform people who live far from here about the situation. It was very difficult for her mother and she was only 3 years old. Since then, I have not been able to let my daughter play alone with her friends. Her father or I always have to be with her. “
According to Doctors Without Borders, 49 children were treated with suicidal ideas or suicide attempts in Lesbos this year. One hundred children and adolescents are on the waiting list at the city’s children’s clinic.
Thanasis Chirvatidis, child psychologist on Lesbos
“The worst cases of children we see are those who want to be isolated or express the desire to end their lives. They want to be in the store all the time, they don’t want to socialize, and they really want to die to stop the pain. You want to stop feeling like this. “
Many aid organizations and journalists fear that the refugee camp will be further isolated due to the corona pandemic. For weeks there has hardly been a chance to enter the camp.
“You can try to follow the procedure, but they will tell you: ‘It’s forbidden, go talk to Athens.’ Everything is prohibited on the island. The main clause is: It is prohibited. And nobody gives you an explanation. ”
The Kara Tepe Tent Camp is only supposed to be temporary. But a new camp on Lesbos was only announced for September 2021.
Amira, refugee
“There are many people who have lived here in these conditions for several years. Some for two or three years. And yet they have to stay here. ”
Danilo Campailla, Photographer:
“The first thing that has to happen: you have to get people out of the field because it is inhuman. You can’t stay there. And Europe has to act because Lesbos is part of Europe. »
The reality in Kara Tepe is sobering: the promise that after the Moria fire disaster there will be no new slum camp was not kept. And winter has just begun.
