What to do when the system fails humanity
Second in a series of posts on the refugee crisis (first here) and the work being done by a new wave of Non-Governmental Organisations.
A few days ago, Theresa May announced that the UK would take only 150 more unaccompanied refugee children before closing the Dubs Scheme — an amendment that would have seen up to 3,000 brought to safety in the UK.
This will bring the total to 350.
And so far, 4,414 Syrian refugees have been resettled in Britain since the conflict there began. The Government is pledging to take 20,000 by 2020.
This against a backdrop of 4.8 million people who have fled the war in Syria.
People fleeing the bombing of their homes and the execution of their families.
And this is just in relation to this particular conflict. The broader picture is even more bleak.
It seems that the institutions that are supposed to serve humanity have lost the ability to act with compassion.
It’s hard to swallow when you consider that the conflicts are all caused directly, or are connected to, the self-serving political and economic interests of the institutions themselves.
Clearly if we wait for this to change, we’ll be standing by as millions more people are made homeless or lose their lives making the perilous journeys to safe, yet inhospitable ground.
And although activism is needed — we need to make sure our voices are heard — there will still be many people suffering while we fill in our petitions, post our Facebook updates and go on marches.
But there’s another option.
Just get on with it.
JFDI (Just Fucking Do It)
If we don’t like what’s happening, and we know what we can’t change, then work on changing what we can.
Refugee Support, founded by John Sloan and Paul Hutchings, are just one of the amazing examples of this ethos.
They met in the camps in Calais, both having travelled there independently, compelled to do something about the humanitarian crisis that was unfolding.
There they began organising volunteers, trying to make sure the haphazard and ad-hoc resources that were showing up were put to the best use.
The accounts are pretty harrowing — there’s one story of a family that arrived in Calais last February, having lost three children in the crossing from Greece.
It’s impossible to imagine what a bleak, cold and terrifying experience it must have been for them.
Having spotted them, the team put them up in a hotel for three nights while a caravan was organised. The caravan was ordered in to their warehouse and kitted out, before being delivered to the camp.
Nothing can ease such a horrific loss, but having someone show that they care, that will create even just a little sense of comfort and safety, is in itself something great.
A new home arranged and kitted out, interim shelter and basic support. Not from a Government agency or major charity, but from a group of everyday people just showing up.
Over a year later, John and Paul’s work has just continued, now in Greece.
Going the distance
It was standing at the gates of the Alexandreia camp in April 2016, as busloads of Syrian refugees arrived, that John insisted that the military let him in to help.
And good they did. Alongside the army and the major aid agencies, Refugee Support has been raising money, sourcing donations and building facilities that just wouldn’t otherwise exist.
And without them, the lives of these people displaced by war, having experienced death of loved ones, and made perilous journeys, would have a far bleaker and inhuman existence as they wait to see what will happen to them.
John, Paul and the volunteers of Refugee Support are not funded by any Government money. They are not part of any inter-governmental strategic response.
They are people who are getting off their arses and saying: ‘I’m not waiting.’
They are people who are compelled to do something, regardless of how the authorities respond.
Unparalleled ability to act
Even on the camp, Refugee Support continue to show how you need to be outside the bureaucracy to respond with maximum humanity.
As temperatures plummeted last year, there were real concerns that some of the more vulnerable residents might not survive. While they’ve been given Isoboxes (shelters instead of tents), there was no heating.
The major agencies and the army couldn’t respond fast enough — while the demand was real, the levels of red tape and complex processes to go through meant there was a significant danger of someone dying.
Being as they are — outside these systems, processes and without the same limitations on how they use their resources — Refugee Support could organise heaters and help to source the gas needed to run them (you can read the full story here)
It might sound a bizarre or perverse situation — where people are on the brink of freezing to death but massive aid agencies and government forces can’t do what two blokes that just showed up can.
But, once you accept this is how things are, and stop feeling quite so incensed by the whole thing (hard, I know), you realise how needed these subversive outfits are.
And without organisations like them, rooted in compassion, not stifled by rules, things might have been different.
John and Paul have given up any semblance of what you and I might call a ‘normal’ life, to do this work.
Having spent a little time with them, I don’t think they could do anything different.
To me, it shows not just that human beings are fundamentally good — and given the chance will act from the need to care, but also that anything is possible.
Not lone actors
John, Paul and Refugee Support are not an exception that proves an uncaring rule, either.
Over in Stockholm, as more and more unaccompanied young male refugees started showing up last year, three friends decided that they needed to show some support.
They had rented a house in the city, with the idea that it could be turned into a home for young people with learning disabilities. But seeing this urgent need and a lack of compassionate response from Government and media, they stepped up.
They subverted their project in order to create a safe home for these young men, traumatised by war and a dangerous journey, separated from their families, many who didn’t speak English or Swedish.
For the past year, Frederik Petterson and his mates — just four young Swedish men — have taken it in turns to live in the house, arrange support for the residents and liaise with local Government to make sure they’re getting what they need.
They’re currently looking to scale up, having secured some investment to buy a second house. Again, not initiated by a Government scheme, undirected by public policy, just a few people who said: “We can do better than this.”
Take the power back
For far too long, we’ve been giving away our power to systems and institutions.
We tell ourselves it’s someone else’s responsibility to sort things out — or that we just haven’t got the time to do anything more (because we’re just too busy doing a job we hate, to pay for things we don’t really need).
Many of us wouldn’t even consider doing what John, Paul, Frederik and his mates have done, but they have no superpowers.
They are just are normal people. No formal training or experience in crisis management or conflict resolution.
Yet they’re now being asked by the Greek and Swedish Governments to take on their third camp (in the case of Refugee Support) and explore extending to new cities (in the case of Fred and Sapling).
And these are just two examples of a bigger movement.
When I said I was volunteering to go and work for them at the camp, the most gratifying response I got was all the people saying that they also knew people who had done something similar.
Of course my inner hero-do-gooder was initially affronted not to receive a more admiring response, but I soon started to feel happy and relieved that this kind of thing is slowly being normalised.
While it’s very easy for us to look at the news and feed ourselves a diet of fear and anxiety from our social networks, it might seem that the world is a harsh and uncaring place.
And sadly, that seems to leave us less able to respond in a meaningful way. We sign petitions and rant at our already on-side friends, and this helps us dull the frustration a little. It makes us feel like we’ve done something.
But every single one of us is capable of something that’s not just more meaningful, but more fulfilling.
Whether it’s volunteering in Greece, or in a shelter at the end of your street, ‘being the change’ is not just more effective, it’s more rewarding.
And I’ve found that away from all the noise, that there is no shortage of people doing this. There is a huge network of individuals self-initiating incredible work that proves humanity’s basic drive to be connected and to care.
If you’d like to get involved, Refugee Support make it really straightforward. An interview, a three hour flight to Greece and coordination while you’re out there make the whole thing manageable for nearly anyone. Many people I was out there with were taking paid holiday from work. Find out more here
