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Hello, my name is Evmorphia and I am a Greek-American artist/educator from the Boston, MA area.
For the past four months I’ve been living on the Greek Island of Rhodes, and have recently been spending time with the refugee community, trying to learn their stories and help out in any way that I can. Their life here is hard, and their needs are barely being met.
I came across the camp—in an old abandoned slaughterhouse—on a walk the day after Christmas. I stepped inside to take a look around and was enthusiastically welcomed by some wonderful people who invited me to sit with them in an open-air “room.” They were grilling pita bread on a fire in an old metal barrel, and immediately I was handed a piece. My first instinct was to refuse because I didn’t want to take food from their meager supplies. But I understood it was important to accept their hospitality and share bread with them.
We communicated as best as we could, mostly with gestures and smiles, and the big picture gradually unfolded. As of now (early January), 190 individuals from Palestine, Somalia and Iraq live in this unofficial refugee camp. Forty are women and 15 are children, three of them infants. The Somalis are fleeing a genocidal civil war and starvation due to the barren lands because of climate change. In conflict zones, women and children are always the first to be targeted and become victims of human trafficking as sex slaves who can reproduce children to become the next generation of warriors. There are young gay men fleeing persecution and death, and every Palestinian outside of Palestine is a refugee.
Now, because of the Coronavirus, the migrants/refugees are especially vulnerable and their ability to improve their situation is almost impossible. This is a complex situation in Greece, as it is all over the world. In this one dismal camp, there are holes in the roof and the doors between rooms are patched together with fabric and pieces of wood. There is no heat. The women, gracious, strong and very weary, wash clothes in buckets of cold water, and try to maintain as much dignity as possible in this desperate situation as they try to help their families and each other in any way they can.
There is a small group of wonderful generous people here, volunteering their help. A very special Rhodes elder has been working with the refugees since they started arriving six years ago. He picks up food once a week, with funds from a caring donor, and delivers it to the camp, methodically writing down every person’s name who receives a small bag of food (chicken legs, rice, pasta, bottle of vegetable oil). Others donate clothes, medicines, shoes, hygiene supplies, toiletries, baby supplies, etc. Since I first set foot inside the camp, I could see the need is endless—and overwhelming.
All of my grandparents are ethnic Greek immigrants from Greece, Turkey and Romania. They fled persecution, poverty and war. My maternal Grandfather left Greece in 1908 and immigrated to the greater Boston area in Massachusetts. Papouli (grandfather) left his village because there wasn’t enough land for the 9 siblings. He, as the oldest, left with the next oldest brother to seek opportunity for work and send money home. My grandfather became a fruit and vegetable seller, starting with a horse and cart and then with a truck. When my mother was a child she use to help him during the summers. This is so poignant to me, and I believe it is why I feel compelled to bring fresh fruits and vegetables to the people living in the camp.
I know that I can’t change much here, or solve the problems. All I know is that refugees and immigrations have existed for thousands of years because of war, poverty, oppression, barren lands, religion and greed, injustices, racism, sexism. And because of empires, caste systems, and colonization.
With this GoFundMe, I am hoping you (and I) can contribute and help in some small, but meaningful, way. Whatever money comes through this page will go entirely and directly to helping ease the daily needs of the people in this Rhodes refugee community. Everything we take for granted is lacking here.
Thank you for donating whatever you can. It brings us all a little closer together. As I continue my efforts to help this struggling community, I will be sure to keep you updated and share this journey with you.
Evmorphia Stratis
For the past four months I’ve been living on the Greek Island of Rhodes, and have recently been spending time with the refugee community, trying to learn their stories and help out in any way that I can. Their life here is hard, and their needs are barely being met.
I came across the camp—in an old abandoned slaughterhouse—on a walk the day after Christmas. I stepped inside to take a look around and was enthusiastically welcomed by some wonderful people who invited me to sit with them in an open-air “room.” They were grilling pita bread on a fire in an old metal barrel, and immediately I was handed a piece. My first instinct was to refuse because I didn’t want to take food from their meager supplies. But I understood it was important to accept their hospitality and share bread with them.
We communicated as best as we could, mostly with gestures and smiles, and the big picture gradually unfolded. As of now (early January), 190 individuals from Palestine, Somalia and Iraq live in this unofficial refugee camp. Forty are women and 15 are children, three of them infants. The Somalis are fleeing a genocidal civil war and starvation due to the barren lands because of climate change. In conflict zones, women and children are always the first to be targeted and become victims of human trafficking as sex slaves who can reproduce children to become the next generation of warriors. There are young gay men fleeing persecution and death, and every Palestinian outside of Palestine is a refugee.
Now, because of the Coronavirus, the migrants/refugees are especially vulnerable and their ability to improve their situation is almost impossible. This is a complex situation in Greece, as it is all over the world. In this one dismal camp, there are holes in the roof and the doors between rooms are patched together with fabric and pieces of wood. There is no heat. The women, gracious, strong and very weary, wash clothes in buckets of cold water, and try to maintain as much dignity as possible in this desperate situation as they try to help their families and each other in any way they can.
There is a small group of wonderful generous people here, volunteering their help. A very special Rhodes elder has been working with the refugees since they started arriving six years ago. He picks up food once a week, with funds from a caring donor, and delivers it to the camp, methodically writing down every person’s name who receives a small bag of food (chicken legs, rice, pasta, bottle of vegetable oil). Others donate clothes, medicines, shoes, hygiene supplies, toiletries, baby supplies, etc. Since I first set foot inside the camp, I could see the need is endless—and overwhelming.
All of my grandparents are ethnic Greek immigrants from Greece, Turkey and Romania. They fled persecution, poverty and war. My maternal Grandfather left Greece in 1908 and immigrated to the greater Boston area in Massachusetts. Papouli (grandfather) left his village because there wasn’t enough land for the 9 siblings. He, as the oldest, left with the next oldest brother to seek opportunity for work and send money home. My grandfather became a fruit and vegetable seller, starting with a horse and cart and then with a truck. When my mother was a child she use to help him during the summers. This is so poignant to me, and I believe it is why I feel compelled to bring fresh fruits and vegetables to the people living in the camp.
I know that I can’t change much here, or solve the problems. All I know is that refugees and immigrations have existed for thousands of years because of war, poverty, oppression, barren lands, religion and greed, injustices, racism, sexism. And because of empires, caste systems, and colonization.
With this GoFundMe, I am hoping you (and I) can contribute and help in some small, but meaningful, way. Whatever money comes through this page will go entirely and directly to helping ease the daily needs of the people in this Rhodes refugee community. Everything we take for granted is lacking here.
Thank you for donating whatever you can. It brings us all a little closer together. As I continue my efforts to help this struggling community, I will be sure to keep you updated and share this journey with you.
Evmorphia Stratis