Left Out in the Cold
First there was the request from Rome for 100. Then outside of Athens, 200. 500 from Lesvos. 150 from Paris. All for zero degree sleeping bags for the thousands of refugees and displaced people literally left out in the cold again this winter.
My mood swings are vast these days — from pride, to despair and back again. Pride — pride that we’ve been able to facilitate the purchase and distribution of hundreds of supplies to refugees through NeedsList this week. Sadness — deep sadness that items like sleeping bags are even needed. And despair that our response to the hundreds of thousands seeking refuge in Europe, fleeing from war, has been so inadequate that in fact, one of the the most effective ways that we as citizens can respond is to buy a damn sleeping bag.
When nation states fail
Omar Alshakal of Refugees 4 Refugees doesn’t need to imagine the worst this winter, he’s already seen it. “Last year I moved three children’s bodies from this camp. This year will be even worse…”
Two years ago the world stopped, stood up, and took action when faced with the photo of Aylan Kurdi, a little boy drowned off the coast of the island of Lesvos. And yet last week three children were found drowned on those very shores. But you won’t see their photos on headline news This news is hidden, too disgraceful to even whisper — because the truth is, we are failing.
We’re failing adults. We’re failing children. We’re failing families. And we’re failing our own standards to stand up for basic human rights.
When bandaids save lives.
Yesterday I was speaking with a new mentor in Boston, a Greek entrepreneur. He asked me, “But what will happen to these 60,000 refugees still in limbo in Greece? How is this situation going to get resolved?”
I wish I had an answer. I recognize that sleeping bags are just a bandaid in the gaping wound for the thousands in Lesvos. I wish I could confidently say, “Significant progress is being made to move refugees in winter accommodations, to move along the process of seeking asylum within Greece, to make sure that next year no child will be sleeping outside in November.”
But I can’t say that, I can’t make false promises.
What I can do, what we can all do, is to say #wewill.
#WeWill bear witness
#WeWill provide warmth
#WeWill ensure that sleeping bags are just the beginning
and #WeWill work together for longer term solutions.
We hope #youwill join us.
Please visit https://needslist.co/lesvos to give how you can.
A pair of socks. 1,000 coats. It’s all needed.
And if not us, then who?
