Dear Backers,

So it’s been six months since my last update, for which I apologise. At which time we had just started work on the foundations for a timber framed building to be used as a community centre at Skaramanagas refugee camp on the edge of Athens. Since then I have worked with other volunteers from around the world and from within the camp community to build the centre which is now (very nearly) finished. When I left three weeks ago, an Afghani volunteer electrician was finishing off installing the light switches, sockets and fittings and was about to connect the building up to the mains power! The building has three large rooms – one to be used as a computer room the other two as flexible spaces for classes, meetings and workshops as well as porch for outdoor activities. The building is already being used for mother-baby clothing exchanges, a pop-up library, music and dance activities, arts and crafts workshops and drama performances. As the construction approaches completion the task becomes to design an entertaining, useful and engaging program of activities for the centre which we hope to do in full collaboration with other NGOs and organisations for within and outside the camp, Drop In The Ocean volunteers and critically volunteers from the camp community.

It has been great to work in one camp for so many months allowing me to get to know some of the families and individuals living there very well. I have been deeply humbled by how generous so many people have been in volunteering their skilled labour for months at a time and I feel privileged to call so many of the people I worked with so closely my family. I have never known people to work so hard without ever asking for reward. Throughout the build at the many points when problems arose; when there was a technical issue with the construction that I had no answer to, when I felt too exhausted to continue, when personal issues where getting me down or when, at one point, the safety of the building was in jeopardy it was always camp residents that provided the solution and gave me the support and guidance I needed to continue. I have never known such resourceful, determined, strong, kind and caring people. I went to Skaramangas hoping to help rebuild community ties and social institutions that have been ripped apart by war, poverty and forced displacement but of course these people taught me more about community than I have every known before.

As with the last time I left Greece, I did so with a heavy heart. What I can do in four hours with a flash of my passport, tens of thousands of people across Europe are hoping beyond hope for. Every night across Europe, thousands of refugee children try to sleep in open-air detention centres, tents and squatted buildings or simply on the pavements of Athens, Thessaloniki, Belgrade, Napes, Rome, Paris, Berlin, Brussels and London. The cold spell that is currently sweeping Europe has been horrendous for these people, so many of who are still being denied the most basic human rights of shelter, water and food in this most wealthy of continents. The refugee crisis is not over. The numbers entering Europe are bigger than ever and show no sign of dropping and our governments are failing in their legal and moral duties of care to people seeking protection.

Despite all the suffering truly amazing things are being done by incredible people. Let me leave you with some pictures of what we, the community of Skaramangas refugee camp have built. Being part of this project is proudest thing I have ever done and I would like to thank everyone who has worked so hard to make it possible including all my backers. I love you all!

Please LIKE the Skaramangas Community Centre Facebook page for updates on whats going on!