Refugees in Greece at the mercy of bungled decisions

[unhappycamper]

http://www.dw.com/en/refugees-in-greece-at-the-mercy-of-bungled-decisions/a-19138116

The Greek government appears to be at a loss as to how to handle more than 50,000 refugees stranded in the country following the EU-Turkey deal. Pavlos Zafiropoulos reports from Athens.

Refugees in Greece at the mercy of bungled decisions
Pavlos Zafiropoulos
27.03.2016

On the docks of Piraeus, standing a little distance away from a passenger terminal being used as a refugee camp, tears welled in the eyes of Andy Darby a 68-year-old British retiree. Darby left his home on Crete about a month ago to assist the thousands of refugees arriving in Athens. He is now one of the key organizers of the makeshift camp at Gate E2 in Piraeus.

With large numbers of refugees now living for extended periods of time in the port, just meeting their basic needs is becoming increasingly difficult. "We are stretched very thin for food," Darby said, despite trucks arriving daily with donations. He has felt obliged to take on yet another task: explaining to the refugees that there is no hope for them crossing the border with Macedonia. They are stuck in Greece for the foreseeable future.

"Personally I have deterred hundreds from going to Idomeni," Darby told DW, referring to the closed border crossing which continues to host over 12,000 migrants and refugees living in tents in muddy and squalid conditions. Despite the recent EU-Turkey deal to 'close' the so-called Balkan route, many refugees continue to hope against hope that the border will open again, through some miracle.

Convincing them otherwise has not been easy. Darby described how he would show refugee families videos and photos of the closed border crossing on his laptop to help them understand the situation. "We've had hard, very hard discussions with them. They cry, I cry. You tell them how it is and you kill their hope."