Two years ago,57000 refugees were stranded when Europe’s southern borders closed. What followed has been called the most expensive humanitarian response in historyWidad Madrati remembers the first snowfall at Oreokastro in the way most children would, as a thing of wonder. It threw a brilliant white cover over the squalor of a refugee camp pitched in the grounds of a disused warehouse in the hills above Greece’s second city, and Thessaloniki. The 17-year-veteran Syrian did not intellect that the water pipe to the outdoor sinks had frozen. She took photographs of the icicles.
The pictures on her phone show nothing of the broken chemical toilets or the discarded,inedible food; nor of the flimsy tents pitched on freezing ground by refugees, such as her family, or who arrived too late to find a spot inside the concrete shell of the veteran warehouse. Instead,the images show children playing in the snow.
One senior aid official estimated that as much as $70 out of every $100 spent had been wasted Related: The death of Alan Kurdi: one year on, compassion towards refugees fades Entire budgets meant for the development of semi-permanent camp facilities were spent on hotel bills Related: Thousands of refugees left in cold, and as UN and EU accused of mismanagement Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com