I don’t really want to say this. I don’t want to think it and I don’t want to feel it. But the more often we come here, or to Calais or Dunkirk, the deeper the black hole of despair that so many people are in seems to become.
We drive past the camp on Chios. Taking photos is not allowed. It is an older camp that has been converted into a closed facility. It lies two to three hours’ walk from Chios town. We are not allowed inside. NGOs that try are turned away.
We speak with one of the few NGOs here. They distribute food—through donations and purchasing. One of the volunteers lives in the camp. His story is horrific, but I will not write it down here. Afterwards, we talk about the large number of people with psychological problems, and the total lack of care for them.
Imagine this: you come from a war. You begin a terrible journey, are abused, raped, or detained along the way, and eventually risk your life on a boat. When you arrive, you are first locked in a camp, and then the waiting begins. Meanwhile, the images keep replaying in your mind and you wake up crying at night. Hopelessness and trauma are a deadly combination. Stories of suicide follow one another.
When people in the Netherlands talk about refugees as all being criminals, who should be kept out at the border, without any compassion, we are in fact signing death sentences—not only by letting people drown or handing them over to violence through shady deals with dictators, but also by letting people suffocate in their despair.
No, not everyone—not every refugee. The strength of people to survive also proves endlessly great. But every person who drowns in hopelessness, despair, and nightmares—truly, that is one too many.
I have said it before: I know what that feels like. But there was a line of people ready to help me. I don’t know—or actually, I do know—what would have happened if that hadn’t been the case.
They are infinitely brave, the people who work here day and night. And as long as nothing changes about the harsh winds blowing through Europe, these brave people truly need much more support, both financially and morally.
Ruhi Loren Akhtar Refugee Biriyani & Bananas
Lianne Engelkes