Thursday February 4th 2016, VluchtBus Benefit, Volkseten Vegazulu, 7pm.
VluchtBus is a solidarity bus that runs to several border areas to support refugees. They are currently out in Chios, Greece working with refugees to provide food and other supplies. They are also busy with an autonomous centre that has been squatted and are in the process of fixing it up. The refugee crisis at the moment means demand is very high and that their limited funds are running out quick. The local NGO’s and GO’s have supplies to hand out and to help refugees at the border, but due to the tense situation and their protocols, they are not willing to do it themselves. VluchtBus helped local private initiatives to hand out these supplies. Come on down to Joe’s Garage on Thursday 4th for some top notch dinner as every penny helps or if you can donate here are the banking details: Bank account name: Vluchtbus, account no: NL06 INGB 0007 1702 49 https://vluchtbusweb.noblogs.org
Vluchtbus update from 22/01/2016
On January 20th, two vluchtbussers have joined the other vluchtbussers on Chios, the team now consists of four people. The property that is squatted, is currently the base from which is working a collective of approximately 15 people, including Vluchtbus. This collective has taken it upon himself to serve breakfast every morning. Although the building is not yet ready to really open to go for refugees and there is still busy chores. Other cooking groups will provide the lunch and dinner. In addition, there is no organisation to distribute the food so it is crucial that there are groups of people to cook and distribute it around.
The refugee camps are divided on Chios-Village in the form of the registration camp, sleep away camp souda and overflowkampen souda… How many people there are varies greatly, depending on how many there are and how many arrived on the ferry to Athens. The day before yesterday, January 20th, there were 977 people there, 280 of which were saved from an uninhabited island in the neighborhood. That is full and the souda overflowkampen to the port and opposite the squat are now in use (a large tent with mats).
Frontex is everywhere present and that means there’s a lot of places where no pictures can be made. From the camps themselves, we still have no photos… One of the volunteers already got in big trouble. Also the arrival of refugees with boats can absolutely not be photographed. It seems that there is no eyewitnesses… so the only thing we can do is here and there, snap a picture and further tell what’s going on.
Yesterday morning and this morning, we cooked breakfast. We drove the bus to the different camps and distributed the food to approximately 800 people. There are a lot of families here and a lot of different people anyway, we have no idea where everyone comes from, but we have in any case with a number of Syrians from Damascus and talked to a number of people from Afghanistan. It seems that certain nationalities, who are not SIA (Syrian, Iraqi and Afghan).
The ferries are often on strike – and then, we can’t leave from here to Athens. Now there is also a strike, there are fewer ferries and the overflowkampen is so full. That means more warm breakfast to cook, more people to feed. We are also going to bring tea and warm milk, powdered milk and bottles, so that parents can feed their babies. There’s another group cooking lunch / soup and handing it out and there are others who also handing out tea, with whom we coordinate so we are where needed. It sounds bizarre but there is no food here not supplied by authorities or NGOs.
The money is going away quickly, a hot and nutritious breakfast for 800-1000 people costs approximately 150 euros including cups and spoons. We can still hold out a couple of days, but then… Distress is here high and every euro that we can collect goes directly to the food. So please donate.
Update from 16/01/2016
Since a week there’s an occupied house on Chios, where a group of independent volunteers work night and day to create a space where refugees can come to eat, where information is being spread and where people can come together and chill out. VluchtBus joined this group and is helping out right now to build a kitchen to cook in 24/7, to build a space for kids, a room to change babies, and hopefully a lot more.
We want to have a space on the island in which everybody is welcome, where nationality doesn’t matter at all. On the camps people are being segregated between SIA en non-SIA (Syrian, Iraqui and Afghan). We don’t make this distinction, we think everybody has got the right to flee and look for a save place. Nationality is just a construct, we fight for a world without borders.
Right now we re busy fixing up the house and hope to open next week. Independent volunteers are the only people around here who supply meals to refugees on the island. We need money to keep this project going so please donate.
Donating is possible on the following account: Vluchtbus
account no: NL06 INGB 0007 1702 49
Volkseten Vegazulu is a people’s kitchen, every monday, 7pm, vegan food for 4€ or donation. All benefits go for social & political struggles. No reservation.
We’re always looking for cooks. Any help is welcome in the kitchen. Experience not required. Enjoying it is a must. If you want to know which days are still available in the schedule, send an email to joe [at] squat [dot] net and book yourself the night. You can, of course, also participate by rolling up your sleeves and doing the dishes.
