Migration stories
In 2015, over one million people made difficult and dangerous journeys fleeing violence or persecution at home and seeking a better life in Europe. For many, their first encounter on European soil is with volunteers or staff from the Red Cross.
Pulling people from the water in Lesvos
I am Dimitrios Katirtzis, team leader for the Hellenic Red Cross life guard rescue team here at Lesvos north coast. My six member team will stay here for a week. Then we will go home and another team will arrive.
Our task is to assist refugees arriving from Turkey with these black and grey rafts you have seen in news. Those plastic rafts are much different from the real rubber rafts used by navy or coast guard and that is why there has been so many tragic accidents. Raft pontoons are made of quite light plastic, which can easily break at the sea and at the shore.
Refugees have to cross a five to ten kilometres channel between Turkey and Lesvos. It is not easy because of sometimes very strong wind and sea current. Rafts have weak outboard engines and motors can be old and rusty too. This means that boats can stop at the sea, they can drift where ever along this 60 kilometres Lesvos coast.
When a raft with 60–70 people strands on the steep and stony shores of Lesvos, it is always chaos. People jump to the sea, they try to get out from the boat as quickly as possible and often they forget that there is small babies and children on board too. I have seen several times how children in this chaos fall to water.
Read more about Lesvos rescue teams
A long, perilous journey
I am Diana Abdul Karim and I came 18 months ago to Germany from Aleppo, the largest city of Syria. I was living in Aleppo with my parents. My father is Syrian and my mother comes from Bucharest, Romania. I have both Syrian and Romanian passport, so it was not a problem for me to come to Germany.
I was studying in Aleppo and I was also a volunteer for the Syrian Arab Red Crescent. We helped poor Aleppo people by distributing food and hygienic parcels. Before joining the Red Crescent volunteer team I did not understand how many poor people there were in Aleppo. Some 20 per cent had on decent and good life, 80 per cent was suffering. When the war started, things went soon bad and I left Aleppo with my mother for Germany.
Read more migrant and refugee stories
Dedicated to saving lives
I am Tadej Petric, 22 years old and first time working with the refugees! Actually, I didn’t know anything about this refugee crisis at the end of the summer. I have studied here in Slabonski Brod and got a diploma from a school which qualifies me to work with people who have some mental health problems.
I couldn’t find that kind of job, so I have spent summer in the Adriatic, in Korcula island working as a waiter in a restaurant. In the autumn when I came back home, Croatian Red Cross was looking for volunteers for the refugee transit centre. I knew Red Cross quite well because I have been a Red Cross youth volunteer for six years.
I contacted them and got the training and now I have been here. In the beginning I has a little bit nervous, because I did not have any experience with refugee problems, but the training was good and every day I have learned more. Several thousand people are every day passing true Croatia every day. Only few need some special assistance, but things might change. This government camp is now for 5000 people, but we have only few staying in the tents.
My mission for life is to work for people and help them. Red Cross has been, and will be in the future too, essential part on me and my life.
Read more about the work of Red Cross volunteers
