Caritas on Lesbos Struggling to cope with migrants surge

(Vatican Radio) A volunteer for Caritas, Leonard Meachim, says the reception facilities for migrants on the Greek island of Lesbos are facing severe strains due to a dramatic increase in the number of daily arrivals. Lesbos is now seeing more than 7,000 refugees and migrants, the vast majority from Syria, arriving on its shores every day from Turkey in a desperate bid to reach Europe before winter sets in. Meachim says there are not enough tents to provide shelter to the refugees and migrants and as a result many of them have to sleep out in the open which will become untenable with the arrival of colder autumnal weather and heavy rain. He was interviewed by Susy Hodges. 

Listen to the interview with Leonard Meachim, volunteer with Caritas Greece: 

Originally from Britain, Meachim is a school teacher who has lived in Lesbos for over 30 years. He says the transit camps for the refugees and migrants arriving on the island are “very over-crowded” and therefore many of the refugees are sleeping out in the fields surrounding one camp.  In addition to the lack of shelter, Meachim describes how there are not enough toilet facilities and some of the refugees and migrants are not getting enough to eat. He said those who are sleeping out in the open are increasingly cutting down trees or branches to burn the wood in an effort to keep warm at night or else they are killing farm animals so they can cook them to eat. 

Asked if the local authorities are managing to cope with this growing influx, Meachim concedes that they are having “some difficulty” and predicts the arrival of cold and rainy weather in the coming weeks will have a “very severe impact” on the plight of these refugees and migrants. “Warm clothing is going to be in very short supply,” he warns.

Along with other NGOs, Caritas is providing food, sleeping bags and mats and other essentials to the refugees. Meachim said almost all of the Syrians he spoke to were fleeing from the war and some of them had been “in very traumatic situations.”  The volunteer described the story of one young Syrian man who told him how he narrowly escaped death whilst out in the streets back in his homeland. The Syrian man heard the whistle of a bullet coming towards him and he quickly ducked down and the man standing behind him was shot in the head.