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Amira, refugees:
"I've been living under these conditions for a year and three months now."
Refugee (anonymous)
"This is our everyday life."
Danilo Campailla, photographer:
»Who wants to camp all winter? The whole time."
But the refugees on Lesbos have no choice.
Heavy rain, storms and flooded tents have been part of everyday life in the makeshift refugee camp Kara Tepe since mid-October.
Almost 7,500 people currently live there, a third of whom are children.
Never again conditions like in Moria: with this aim in mind, the new transition camp Kara Tepe was built in September after the fire disaster.
The reality is different: there is a lack of electricity, food and hot water.
People sleep on scree.
Danilo Campailla, photographer:
“There is noise all night. People cannot sleep peacefully in the tents. When it's not raining, the coast is humid. The children retain this moisture. The tent only has electricity for two hours a day because there is only one generator. There are no shops, no parks, there is nothing. Due to the lockdown measures, camp residents are only allowed to leave the camp for four hours one day a week. «
For Amira this is a reality.
The 21-year-old Afghan has lived on Lesvos for almost a year and a half.
First in Moria, now in Kara Tepe.
Because the internet connection in the camp is too bad, Amira speaks to me in the apartment of a refugee worker.
For fear of the authorities, she wants to remain anonymous.
“A few toilets are not enough for thousands of people. It's not enough. There is no toilet paper and no water in the toilets. It's really bad. We are three families with 7 people in one tent. The tent has two layers and a tarpaulin over it. It's very difficult to stay warm, especially when it's windy, stormy and rainy. "
According to aid organizations, many of the refugees are traumatized by the circumstances in the camp - especially children and young people.
The most common symptoms include sleepwalking, panic attacks and bed wetting.
“Children are definitely [the circumstances
]
affected.
When she [her daughter
]
sleeps at night, she suddenly wakes up and says she sees fire.
Then she's scared.
It keeps the children very busy.
When I heard about the raped girl, it hurt me a lot.
That was the worst news.
I would like to report the situation to the people who live far away from here.
It was so hard for her mother and she was only 3 years old.
Since then, I have not been able to let my daughter out alone to play with her friends.
Her father or I always have to be with her. "
According to Doctors Without Borders, 49 children on Lesbos were treated with suicidal ideation or attempted suicide this year.
Hundreds of children and young people are on the waiting list in the city's children's clinic.
Thanasis Chirvatidis, child psychologist on Lesbos
“The worst cases of children we see are those who want to be isolated or express a desire to end their lives. They want to be in the tent all the time, they don't want to socialize and they actually want to die to stop the pain. You want to stop feeling that way. "
Many aid organizations and journalists fear that the refugee camp will be sealed off even more because of the corona pandemic.
For weeks there has hardly been a possibility to get into the camp.
"You can try to follow the procedure, but they will say, 'It is forbidden, go talk to Athens'.
Everything is forbidden on the island.
The main clause is: It is forbidden.
And nobody gives you an explanation. "
The Kara Tepe tent camp is only supposed to be provisional.
But a new camp on Lesbos has not been announced until September 2021.
Amira, refugee
“There are many people who have lived here under these conditions for several years. Some for two or three years. And yet they have to stay here. "
Danilo Campailla, photographer:
“The first thing that has to happen: People have to be taken out of the camp because it's inhumane. You can't stay there. And Europe has to act because Lesbos is part of Europe. »
The reality in Kara Tepe is sobering: The promise that after the fire disaster in Moria there will be no new slum camp was not kept.
And winter has only just begun.
