Athena Centre for Women - Volunteer Reflections

I spent a month in July 2018 volunteering at the Athena Centre for Women (a project by Action for Women) on the Greek Island of Chios.  The centre serves women living in Vial Refugee Camp, a severely overcrowded and underserved camp where more than 2000 refugees reside in broken metal containers, tents, and in many cases, with no shelter at all, completely open to the elements. 

Athena Centre for Women provides a vital service to the women living in Vial who are able to travel to the centre.  Here women find a clean, quiet, safe and welcoming space to rest and relax for a few precious hours a day – something that hasn’t been available to them since leaving their war-torn countries, on the precarious road they’ve traveled to get here, or at home in Vial Camp.  In the centre women also have access to legal and medical appointments, bras and undergarments, sanitary supplies, a wholesome meal, and, depending on the skills and talents of volunteers who come, may have access to language, wellness, and art classes. 

I taught yoga and wellness classes at the centre, and generally supported administrative and coordination functions of the centre as needed.  I also engaged in many hours of socializing, snuggling babies, listening, giving and receiving shoulder massages, and sharing meals.  Together we experienced many funny and tender moments.  We anointed ourselves with essential oils, engaged in a photography project, and talked about dreams for the future.  When words failed us – because in a room full of five women there could be five different languages spoken – we communicated through art, body language, smiles, expressions of anguish and frustration, watery eyes, firm nods, and with hugs.  As volunteers, we would often cringe and ache internally when a request for a basic human need was made and we said “no” due to lack of resources or better solutions. 

Women from around the world come here to serve our sisters who have been in harm’s way for too long.  It’s hard not to be overwhelmed by the degree of suffering we witness, but also the courage and resilience; and the beauty of women in whose eyes we can also see ourselves.    In this place we bear witness to the tenderness and strength of each woman’s heart, as well as the grave consequences of war, forced migration, and poverty. 

For me the Athena Centre for Women represents a space where women gather to lift each other up, promote self-care, share wisdom and stories of joy and tragedy, and to develop self-confidence and friendship.  Here we learn about what it means to be brave, and how to engage in heartfelt, respectful conversations with women of diverse backgrounds, interests, and cultures.    

Women who come here from Vial camp are tirelessly struggling to survive; the women who volunteer here strive tirelessly to elevate and inspire; we all endeavor to keep hope alive.  Volunteers arrive as advocates and activists.  We leave with a more accurate perspective on serious world issues and crises; with images etched in our hearts that will never be forgotten, and with new friendships that poke holes in the walls between our cultures and nations. 

Volunteers and donations are needed. 

Apply to volunteer at https://actionforwomen.ch/volunteer/

To donate:  https://actionforwomen.ch/donate/ 

Watch a video about the Athena Women’s Center: 
https://www.facebook.com/actionforwomenCH/videos/1385208041623681/

Refugee Relief Work with Acupuncturists Without Borders

This post was originally published on my Facebook page on October 7, 2016.

I have just returned from Greece after two weeks working in refugee camps with Acupuncturists Without Borders. It is going to take me a while to process and digest all that I’ve seen and experienced. For now I just want to say, please remember that there is a massive humanitarian crisis happening in the Middle East and Europe. Lovely, courageous people feel all but forgotten in squalid conditions in camps. A message I found written on a wall in one of the camps spoke volumes: “We are not animals.” I’m asking everyone who reads this to remember that we are all immigrants in America – My family migrated just a generation before I was born an American. Someone reached out to bring us to safety. 

Google “refugees port of piraeus” and check out the pictures that come up to begin to get a sense of the enormity of this humanitarian disaster. 

The authorities are not handling it; the media is not covering it. 

I recently learned the significant difference between an Expat and a migrant; I’m embarrassed that the importance of this differentiation has never really crossed my mind before. My family of origin were migrants to America post WWII. Now, I’m considered an “Expat.” I am overwhelmed with sadness and shame when I consider that many previous generations of migrants remain paralyzed and indignant in an odd combination of fear and privilege, allowing history to mercilessly repeat itself. 

I am touched and deeply appreciative of the astonishing generosity of the Greeks (and others across Europe) who have given generously of their donations of food and clothing, despite not having enough for their own families. I heard a story from a Greek woman who went to meet refugees coming into the Port of Piraeus to see how she could help; they were not allowed to give food or even dry clothes to people coming off of the boats until they were registered – which takes many hours.

The majority of volunteers in the camps that I had the opportunity to speak to are young 20-somethings. They are driven and compelled by their incredible hearts, and are overwhelmed; stressed out, working long hours. Yup, that’s right, 20-somethings, from all over the world, essentially running the show in these camps. If there was military presence there, I did not see it. These kids are absolutely committed to the cause, many extending their terms of service because they don’t want to leave. They become very attached to the residents in the camps. They work long days, attend meetings in the morning and late at night, and some told me they felt guilty for coming home at night to a nice hotel or shared rental home. Most who I spoke to were not sleeping well. 

In addition there were two American women who impressed the hell out of me; both have dropped their lives at home to work full-time at the camps; one overseeing an entire camp (a 24/7 job); the other providing fresh, wholesome, and ethnically appropriate food to an entire camp as she understands how important this is for promoting the best opportunity for health and well-being among the squalid circumstances. 

We gave trauma-relieving acupuncture treatments and massages, and witnessed how relaxation and human touch could provide a few moments of calm and relief. We were showered with gestures of gratitude, and enthusiastically assisted by residents who would help manage our space and interpret for us. We were fed delicious traditional home-made meals and sweets in refugees’ tents and plasterboard-enclosed cubicles. 

I am obsessed now with finding ways to help. I will for sure be posting more on this later. Future trips with Acupuncturists Without Borders are certainly in my future. 

If your life circumstances won’t allow you to do anything else, please just pray for our brothers and sisters who are trapped, suffering, and deeply traumatized by this disaster. 

Are You Syrious?, is a blog and Facebook page that provides regular updates on the refugee crisis.  If you would like to support our refugee relief work in Greece and other crisis areas around the world, visit http://www.acuwithoutborders.org/donate/.

Find out other ways to help on my Activism Page