The Flying Seagull Circus is back after two days off. They are amazing, working with these refugee kids. The noise level is intense but it’s all laughter and giggles and how can that be bad? Karen’s HUG and RUB clinic is very popular and sometimes I think it is the best we can do for these people. We need more massage therapists.
Some difficult cases today. Again, it is the inability to get a higher level of care and people have to wait months for a referral. Many dental abscesses came today. There is basically no dental care. A six month referral – if you can get the referral – from the one Greek doctor who apparently sees very few people for very few hours and not everyday. REALLY DIFFICULT.
The current situation for asylum hearings is shockingly long. Our Farsi translator who arrived here ten months ago will not have his asylum hearing until 2022. New arrivals are 5-6 years out. This means people are stuck here in desperate conditions, living in tents on a muddy rocky hillside with 24 toilets for 5-6 years. Some will be moved to the mainland but many will just be stuck. The mainland is not easy either and there are many many homeless refugees sleeping on the streets of Athens. I have not visited the camps on the northern border of Greece but I hear they are somewhat better, more organized but again over capacity.
