Our teams in Edirne and Istanbul are continuing their amazing work. For both teams that means distributing the basics such as food, baby bottles, basic medicine, but also power banks so people can charge their phones to stay in touch with their loved ones and also keep us updated on their situation.
On the border, things are getting increasingly worse every day. In the prevailing desperation, a rumour is spreading, stating that there is a law that forces the UN to help people who have been staying in a place like Pazarkule (the border crossing) by either enabling them to cross into the EU or giving out cash, so that people can return home with the means to survive and make a new start elsewhere (apparently referring to IOMs "voluntary" return program). Due to this rumour that we are currently trying to rectify, t people are determined to stay put until the end of next week.
Authorities at Pazarkule are telling people to stay, promising them things will get better at the end of the month - whatever that is supposed to mean, we don't know.
Some high ranking personnel visited the site yesterday together with photojournalists. The authorities in charge of the site showed their best behaviour during the visit, but things returned to normal as soon as the officials were gone, normal being the horrible treatment of the people in the camps.
Our border team has found a new way of distributing aid which works quite well; more and more people have to go to the hospital as everyone, but in particular the more vulnerable cases are suffering from the cold, hunger and a lack of basic needs. Our teams support people with food whilst they wait in the hospital. A young mother and her newborn baby were supposed to leave the hospital and return to the "camp", but instead we managed to find a hotel room for the family where they will be able to stay for at least a few days.
Meanwhile in Istanbul, our team joined forces with https://www.facebook.com/thecommonsenseinitiative/ . They managed to organize a room for storage and accommodation for the most severe of cases. People are able to rest there, eat and get information from the volunteers. They keep distributing supplies and are trying to get UNHCR to comply with their promises of paying for people's bus tickets to other Turkish cities. Taking everyone's temperature has also become the new norm. Still many do not know where to go and more and more people are supposed to arrive, as our partners in Edirne already know. With 100 new arrivals only today the situation is already difficult, and is looking to become increasingly severe.
People keep calling the number we distributed and ask for support; a pregnant woman, a Pakistani man living on the streets, a Syrian widow with 3 daughters, a family with 4 small children. Most of them are in dire need of accomodation as they have lost everything and due to the Corona crisis, finding a job is more difficult than it was before. Unfortunately we have to deny many cases, as our funding is already running low and we need everything we have to be able to at least provide food, water and medication...
Our teams in Edirne and Istanbul are continuing their amazing work. For both teams that means distributing the basics such as food, baby bottles, basic medicine, but also power banks so people can charge their phones to stay in touch with their loved ones and also keep us updated on their situation.
On the border, things are getting increasingly worse every day. In the prevailing desperation, a rumour is spreading, stating that there is a law that forces the UN to help people who have been staying in a place like Pazarkule (the border crossing) by either enabling them to cross into the EU or giving out cash, so that people can return home with the means to survive and make a new start elsewhere (apparently referring to IOMs "voluntary" return program). Due to this rumour that we are currently trying to rectify, t people are determined to stay put until the end of next week.
Authorities at Pazarkule are telling people to stay, promising them things will get better at the end of the month - whatever that is supposed to mean, we don't know.
Some high ranking personnel visited the site yesterday together with photojournalists. The authorities in charge of the site showed their best behaviour during the visit, but things returned to normal as soon as the officials were gone, normal being the horrible treatment of the people in the camps.
Our border team has found a new way of distributing aid which works quite well; more and more people have to go to the hospital as everyone, but in particular the more vulnerable cases are suffering from the cold, hunger and a lack of basic needs. Our teams support people with food whilst they wait in the hospital. A young mother and her newborn baby were supposed to leave the hospital and return to the "camp", but instead we managed to find a hotel room for the family where they will be able to stay for at least a few days.
Meanwhile in Istanbul, our team joined forces with https://www.facebook.com/thecommonsenseinitiative/ . They managed to organize a room for storage and accommodation for the most severe of cases. People are able to rest there, eat and get information from the volunteers. They keep distributing supplies and are trying to get UNHCR to comply with their promises of paying for people's bus tickets to other Turkish cities. Taking everyone's temperature has also become the new norm. Still many do not know where to go and more and more people are supposed to arrive, as our partners in Edirne already know. With 100 new arrivals only today the situation is already difficult, and is looking to become increasingly severe.
People keep calling the number we distributed and ask for support; a pregnant woman, a Pakistani man living on the streets, a Syrian widow with 3 daughters, a family with 4 small children. Most of them are in dire need of accomodation as they have lost everything and due to the Corona crisis, finding a job is more difficult than it was before. Unfortunately we have to deny many cases, as our funding is already running low and we need everything we have to be able to at least provide food, water and medication...
