Thursday February 18th 2016, Benefit for Aid Delivery Mission. Volkseten Vegazulu, 7pm. Concert with James Bar Bowen (UK), music from 9pm till 10pm!
Update from the Aid Delivery Mission, February 2nd 2016: Thousands of new arrivals
As the ferry strike between Athens and the Greek islands ended last Monday, thousands of refugees that had been stuck on the islands for days took their chances and started their journey up north. This meant and still means that the amount of refugees arriving here to the border at Idomeni has increased and is still increasing by thousands of people.
Gas Station: Yesterday we and many of the NGO’s were totally overwhelmed by the numbers of refugees at the gas station. It was estimated that there where over 6000 people at the station. They were stuck there for many hours (and many days at other places before – like the islands) Mainly because of a lack of information and frustration around 2000 refugees walked through the police line for a courageous 20 km walk towards the border carrying their children, babies and luggage. The police tried to stop them, but they started whistling and singing to call for everybody to walk through. It was really awesome to see a lot of the younger ones dancing and singing as they started their walk. All of this was happening whilst we were serving food.
The camp: The MSF camp with a capacity of 1500 people was totally overwhelmed with around 5000 people. MSF opened up a second camp previously used for storage even though they where not allowed by the authorities. It was really intense. Thousands of people sleeping in the cold outside, lots of them with children and babies and not enough blankets. And more and more arriving after walking for 20 km from the gas station. There where not enough people to help and we did what we could, distributing blankets, helping people carrying their belongings and babies, setting up tents, making baby food, finding parents of lost kids and serving food. There was even a call for help from a man who’s four months pregnant woman was about to give birth..
Delivering aid to an ever changing refugee crisis
The Mission: An ever changing and chaotic refugee crisis calls for a flexible approach, therefore we are combining an extensive experience of mobile kitchens and providing food, with our ability to reflect on what is needed, where and when.
Thousands of people are stuck around various borders in unsupported makeshift camps, so far the winter has been forgiving, but undoubtedly that will change.
We are based on voluntary work depending on donations, but we need help, especially financial support to cover transport costs and food supplies. http://aiddeliverymission.org/
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.
