Yesterday’s blog caused a lot of interest and it was good to put the human face on the current refugee crisis, even it was only one person’s story. Perhaps I will hear more as we do more volunteering and as the situation continues, as it no doubt will do. As of Monday morning the appeal had raised 97% or its target. Take a look this morning and see where it is, and I am sure you can still carry on giving even if the target has been reached. Everything collected will be used for the benefit of the refugees coming through Symi, and the appeal is open until the end of September. Here’s the link again: http://www.everyclick.com/solidaritysymi/info
A cat having a laugh
In other local news, the wind has been a bit brisk, which has taken the temperature down to, at times, September levels, but when it stops blowing we’re right back up to August again. There was the festival at Nimos on Sunday night, there are many boats in and around Harani, I’ve seen quite a few with their sails up too. Real sailors, not the fair weather type, I’ve even seen gullets, those big Turkish cruise ships with masts and things, with their sails up, which is a pretty majestic sight.
Evrika saying hello
I’ve been working on a new book while I wait for the first draft of the last one to be printed and sent to me. Actually, I think I had an email to say it was on its way. Being a bit prolific at the moment, but I’m not complaining, though my typing fingers are. The Symi festival(s) continue with more performances and concerts and readings, plays and celebrations. These carry on into early September.
Roof tiles
There, after a longer ramble yesterday, today’s post is short, mainly because I’ve been having some RSI in my hand and shoulder and don’t want to overdo things; am trying to rest the two typing fingers for a while. (Actually I use eight over both hands, but not correctly, so it’s mainly two on each hand that do all the work.)
Adnan (not his real name) studied for a month at university in a Syrian city before the trouble there forced him to leave the town and his course. He was studying for a degree in French literature. For the next two years he lived in a village with no electricity, no running water and no internet, before escaping into Turkey. In Turkey he learned to speak some of the language while he made his way to the coast. He already spoke good English. One night, he and fourteen others escaped Turkey in a small inflatable boat. He was in the company of men, women, children and a pregnant woman. They were half way to Greece when another boat appeared from nowhere and men in masks attacked their boat, stole its engine and slashed the inflatable which then sank beneath them.
Some of the group waiting to go up to the police officers
Adnan, a freelance photographer by then, lost his Nikon camera, and his other camera along with all his possessions apart from his phone and what he was wearing. He was able to call the Greek coastguard but there was no reply. He managed to call some friends in Turkey and, after two hours in the water, help arrived from the Turkish coastguard. He was taken back to Turkey. A few days ago, after some time had elapsed, he tried again and this time arrived safely on Symi where he has been with around 400 others waiting for their papers to be processed.
Emergency beds in case needed
On Saturday, he was at the Symi refugee aid station waiting for some laundry to come back. The clothes he was waiting for were all he had, and a volunteer had taken them to be washed; one of the things the volunteers do if they can. He told me he didn’t want to stay in Greece but wanted to complete his studies in French Lit somewhere in Europe. While we were talking he was also translating for his friends and others who came for clothes, water and toys for the children. Adnan was, I would say, no older than 21.
Not much shade
This was on Saturday morning and we were there helping out for only a few hours. In that time what I noticed people asking for (that we didn’t have) were clothes for men (though clothes for women and children are also needed, there was very little for the older boys and men), and also sun tan cream for the children, soap and basic washing supplies, shampoo, body wash etc. All things that you might have if you are finishing up your holiday on Symi; the kinds of things often left behind in properties. The holiday and washing items I mean, though I do know some men are prone to leaving their trousers lying around after a holiday. Least said…
Neil the receptionist
And also on Saturday, I had two emails in giving support for the work of “Αλληλεγγύης Σύμης – Solidarity Symi” the charity set up specifically to deal with the crisis as it manifests on the island. Their Facebook page is here: https://www.facebook.com/solidaritysymi And you can get involved, if you want to, by donating to the fund here: http://www.everyclick.com/solidaritysymi/info (£4,435 raised by Saturday, that’s 63% of target).
Volunteers helping women and children find clothes
And, if you are on Symi and want to help out you can also offer to volunteer at the aid station, the old post office building by the police station. While we were there two visitors came in to see how they could help and signed up for a short shift on a future day, and another visitor dropped off some end of holiday items and clothes.
Essential supplies
If you wonder what you have to do, it’s not difficult. We helped with giving out water, answering questions, letting people come and check through the donated clothes, sorting out the donations and putting them out – once word got round that there were some toys there was a bit of a rush of under sevens calling in simply for something to play with to relieve the boredom – we also helped tidy up, cleaned the loo, and gave out what provisions were available. So, nothing strenuous or nasty and all very humbling. And everyone, even those who can’t speak English, are so thankful that we are doing something.
Refugees also help by cleaning up the surrounding area and translating for each other
For full information see that Facebook page and to arrange to volunteer contact Wendy Wilcox via Symi Visitor, or, if you’re on Symi call (+30) 695 730 2565, or call at the old post office.
And parked directly opposite is the other side of life…
Here’s a bit of fun for a Saturday morning that fits into the ‘how to get a delivery to Symi’ chapter of the next book – which I’m not planning as yet – and some unrelated photos to go with. A couple of weeks ago I ordered a birthday present for Neil. (It’s on the 8th of September so you’ve still got time.) The thing I wanted was found in England and so I did an online order to a company I’d never used before. And here we go…
Sea Dreams arriving at Symi
First of all the company accepted my card and payment was made, and then they contacted me to ask me to call them to run through some security checks as I was using a card that was not registered in the same country as my address. Unfortunately the number they had me to call was one of those 0898 things where you can so easily call up a sexy chat line by accident. So I am told. But no, it wasn’t, but it was similar and I was unable to access it as the country the phone number was registered in was not the same as the country I lived in. So…
Fishing nets in the harbour
I emailed them and explained that I couldn’t do that, but maybe they’d like to call me at their expense, and I gave them my phone number and waited for the phone to ring so I could answer with ‘Hi, this is Chuck and I wanna play (calls may be recorded and are charged at the premium rate of £4.67 per hour plus V.A.T. your investment can go up as well as down) what’s your name, sexy?’ But sadly they didn’t ring but emailed me back instead. So…
Walking up the main road
I emailed them again and explained that we don’t have an address as such, not many roads around here have street names (which is the same for two thirds of the world apparently) and I am known to the post office staff and most couriers, the port police, the national police (for all the right reasons) and can get at least one local papas to verify me, and here’s a photo of the house. I also offered to pay using my other card which is registered in Canada but that didn’t help. They were very impressed with the photo of the house and so believed me and said they would send the thing on to me, tout suite. So…
Old outhouses or animal sheds in need of repair
Another email came in and this had a tracking number and a site link so I could track the progress of the thing on its journey. A couple of days later I had a look and found out that the thing had left Brighton and was at “Gatwick -We have your parcel and it’s on its way to you.” And the next day: “Birmingham -We have your parcel and it’s on its way to our depot” where, later the same day: “Birmingham- Your parcel has left the United Kingdom and is on its way to Greece.” Wow, that’s good to know. I assumed it was flying to Athens but no, its first stop was: “Best (eindhoven)- The parcel is in transit on its journey to local delivery destination.” This was the same day, so it must have flown to Germany or else someone drove very fast. And then…
Traveling to Symi
Two days later is was: “Budapest -The parcel is in transit on its journey to local delivery destination.” Which is again ironic as that’s where we are going in December. But it gets spookier as the very next day it was at Bucharest, where we were a couple of years ago. I imagine that it’s got a hire car by now and is driving across Europe to enjoy the scenery. If so, it had a sleepover somewhere between Romania and Greece as it took two days to drive to Thessaloniki where it did some sightseeing before heading down to Athens the following day. And then…
Watching the sunset
Well, then it left its car with Budget and got on the Blue Star, possibly calling in at Symi but, the follow day arriving at: “Rodos – The parcel is in transit on its way to its final destination.” I’ve seen that film and it’s very scary. Luckily the thing arrived safely at the Rodos depot later that day and then got itself a lift: “Rodos – Your parcel is on the vehicle for delivery.” Woohoo! It’s nearly here. It’s going to need a holiday to get over that journey. But then, the final track of the list…
“Greek Islands – Unable to Deliver”
What? Which Greek island has it gone to now? Bloomin’ traveling ‘thing’ in a box… Ah wait. Ironically (number three) Neil found it at ACS and luckily didn’t open it or read the ‘From’ address too carefully. So, it’s now recovering in the wardrobe and is all in the same pieces it was when it left Brighton.
The parcel’s next holiday?
There you go, and here I go – have a good weekend.
It seems like it’s getting to that stage when a day in Rhodes takes a day to get over. But still, I had a good time and managed to get a couple of the things I went to get. There was a distinct lack of hire cars though, not one single place had one to rent for the day except one place that wanted €100.00 and as we were only there for seven hours, it seemed a bit steep.
A cruise ship in Rhodes
I noticed, when I got home and looked at my photos that I only took photos on the boat, and a couple when I first arrived. None of the hugely entertaining trip to Jumbo for birthday presents, or the Chinese for lunch; I did take one of a couple of people really enjoying their stay at the Plaza Hotel though:
What did you do on your holiday? ‘Well, I checked Facebook every two minutes in case there was a new video of cats being silly.’
And I assume you saw the one yesterday of the woman doing strange things with her legs. I think she was exercising, but why she had to do it in full view of people having their lunch is anyone’s guess. She must have needed the attention.
Now then, on the boat coming back I noticed these signs, one on either side of the ship and wondered what they meant – apart from the obvious connection to a darkly lit bar in the backstreets of Berlin. I wondered that, if you were to find this room, would you be able to hear Isaac Hayes playing? You know, the song that’s about a private dick and a cat that won’t cop out. (No, honestly.)
This way to the Shaft room.
Actually, I looked into what a ‘shaft room’ is on a ship and found some alarming information on various websites. The most startling was one called ‘Shafting a ship’ and I quote:
“… a single shaft ship is uncontrollable and needs to have a tug …” there was then some detail about twin screws and “Another serious problem with centerline shafts is vibration.” Well, yes of course. The serious problem we had on the boat that night was backfiring. Every now and then a huge plume of black smoke would belch from the port side funnel along with an accompaniment of pops and chugs and passengers would start to double check where the lifeboats were. We did arrive on Symi though, and I saw the boat come back in again the next day so it’s still running. Maybe it just needed a clean out on its thrusters or was suffering “main shaft water lubrication issues” or something.
Three sails in the sunset
Seriously though, Rhodes was busy. There were several large cruise ships in that day (Wednesday), hence the lack of hire cars and also lack of taxis. We finally got one by walking around to Mandraki and waiting at the unusually empty taxi rank there. The Blue Star Diagoras was also fully booked on its return trip – we were coming back later on the Panagia Skiadeni – but Irina at Plaza travel told us that there were no hire cars to be had and that the only island you could get a boat to, from Rhodes, was Symi; everything beyond was fully booked. A lot of that will be the refugees heading up to Athens; there were over 400 processed through Symi alone at the start of the week. And, I found out later, the police officers who have to do this task worked through the night, until 6.30 in the morning, so that the people could move on, on the Wednesday boat to Athens. Bear in mind that these police officers are working through their own time, and not being paid extra for the additional hours and without them doing the job Symi would be filling up with hundreds of refugees each week.
Just a reminder: these are not tourists waiting for the boat.
You can do your part by volunteering to help, if on Symi, or by donating if you want to contribute towards helping the refugees with clothing, food, water, shelter and facilities. The target is £7,000 and already over £3,000 has been raised. You can find more details here http://www.everyclick.com/solidaritysymi/info and you don’t have to register or login in, just put in your card details.
No blog today – late start. But, instead, a photo of strange behaviour seen at the Plaza Hotel. Normal service will be resumed tomorrow, meanwhile, relax and put your feet up.
