A Random Day Showing up at the Shelters (read Refugee Camps)

A Random Day of Volunteering with the Refugees

I was called the other night by one of the leaders of ARDC (African Refugee Development Center) to take a 16 year old girl from Eritrea to the hospital in the morning. Her name is Terhas Solomon. She had been to the free clinic for refugees at the Physicians for Human Rights office in town and had been referred to the hospital for blood and other tests. I met her at the women and children’s shelter at 9:00 AM, caught a cab, and stumbled around until I found the right rooms in the enormous bustling hospital. All signs were in Hebrew. Her tests were done quickly and she was told to return on Wednesday morning to do an ultrasound and on Sunday to get the blood test results. After returning to the shelter, was later advised to make less dependent so that she could go back herself. She was fine just but had a nasty and possibly foreshadowing cough. I walked her the two blocks to the Central Bus Station and eventually found my way with her to the top (7th) floor where the number 28 bus that eventually passes the hospital leaves every 40 minutes. She speaks a little English and, I believe, will make it OK. She seems a brave girl at 16 and has already learned to make it here with no family. I wrote down everything for her and taught her to say Beit Cholim Ichilov (Ichilov Hospital) to the bus driver. She seemed game for the adventure and I think she’s got it.

So, after returning her to the shelter, I had some time. It was only about noon. I had met a cute woman at a commercial real estate convention that I had attended and had plans to meet her that evening with some of her friends at a popular night club. I ran into her walking near the shelters as I was looking for a place to grab a quick bite to eat before my next refugee volunteer meeting at 1:00. This is such a small town. She agreed to join me for lunch. The area is pretty seedy and we finally found a falafel restaurant. As I carried a bag full of books that I thought I could dig into at the hospital, I was hoping for a simple sandwich and not the ordeal that came through at lunch. Upon ordering and paying for the falafel, they give you a pita and it is up to you to fight the other patrons (who refuse to form anything resembling a line) to get to the falafel balls, vegetables, and everything else that you stuff in the pita. Forget sanitation as it is all exposed to the elements, sneezes, coughs, armpits, and insects. I had to manage carrying my book bag, the tray with drinks on it, and stuffing two pitas over the shoulders of the rest of the elbow-throwing patrons.

I returned to my meeting where I met the lovely full-time volunteer activist, Keren, and the new French young woman who lives in Ramallah, Celine. Celine had worked with NGO’s in Palestine and had some wonderful ideas of where to go from here. Remember, we had gone from 220 people in shelters when I left in November with all of the shelters full and no money, to nearly 700 people now and donations starting to flow in.

Everyone, on nice days, gathers in the Garden area that is between most of the shelters. That is where you learn about most of the crises of the day:

One shelter (the worst one) had all of the toilets, the shower and sinks completely clogged. Another (an underground city bomb shelter) had portable toilets outside that were overflowing to the point where the urine was streaming toward the opening of the shelter. There was also a tremendous amount of garbage outside the shelter that needed to go to a dumpster. I gathered reluctant residents of that shelter and commanded that they help me move the garbage. The problem is that, when they have no toilet paper, they use donated clothes that are too small to fit anyone. Someone has to pick these up and dispose of them. I discovered the used of these scattered clothes when I picked up a shirt barehanded. Plumbing and access to showers seems to be the chronic problem. We believe that some don’t know what you can and cannot put in a toilet.

We were told that there was a company that needed 10 men to unload heavy boxes from a container. There were over a hundred crowded around trying to get the work. While signing them up, a couple of Israeli men approached me and said that one of them wanted to donate money to the refugees. They said they want to give 5,000 shekels (@ $1,400) to the neediest in small amounts of about 50 to 100 shekels cash ($12 to $24). Coincidentally, all of the leaders in the country that are active for the refugees were there at that moment. It seemed that the men were eager to see the joy in the faces more than really helping them. The men were told that their means of delivering such a gift would do more harm than good and that the chaos that would result in handing out cash would have negative repercussions that would last for weeks. He left to purchase supplies that we told him were needed. I don’t know if he returned.

A couple of Eritrean recent arrivals told me that they had no change of clothes and no food all day. Though they had blankets, they had to sleep outside as there were no spaces within. During the day, when others are out, they can go inside and there is room to sleep. You hear many stories such as these. You can do little more than discretely give them some money for food or slide them a sandwich. You remember the sincerity in their eyes and the gratitude when they talk of the local mothers who prepare food and walk through the park giving out food in the mornings. These donations are sporadic and spontaneous.

A car of Rasta-haired hippies drove up and said they had 200 tickets for refugees to come to a reggae concert on Thursday night. They also had three buses to drive them. They just wanted to distribute flyers and promotional postcards. The Eritrean men sleeping outside said that they loved reggae but that they have to focus on a place to sleep and food first.

The women’s and children’s shelter is four flights of stairs from the ground. The ground floor is where there are currently two brothels. The stairwell is often frequented by junkies shooting and smoking heroine. Below ground in that building is one of the men’s shelters. I visited that shelter to see that it was wall to wall bunk beds donated by the municipality. There was virtually no walking space. What captured my attention was the spinning light on the ceiling shooting red beams everywhere that seemed to be left over from what must have been a night club, perhaps frequented by the tenants on the ground floor. A refugee pointed out the junkies in the stairwell that small children had to walk past. They felt they had no power to do anything. I told the junkies to leave and even took a photo of them. Yet, I did not force them out although I certainly wanted to do so. I am told that there will be a lock on the door of the shelter and the brothels will be closed.

While exiting the shelter, I ran into Yohannes from Ethiopia, head of the ARDC who introduced me to Yossi Kuchic and his wife. Kuchic was Chief of Staff under the Ehud Barak administration and was on his way to visit some shelters. He mentioned that one of his ideas was to have a refugee demonstration at the Prime Minister’s home in order to get federal help in the treatment of the refugees. He has become active in raising funds to help them.

I decided to walk home at 7:30 PM. It’s about a 40 minute walk. I was hungry and thought I’d stop by a vegan place that Keren had showed me. I called her to see if she wanted to join me. She didn’t answer and 10 seconds later, I came upon her, Celine and national leader, Elisheva, having a strategy meeting at the restaurant. I sat next to them and just listened to some of their strategic planning. These are the full-time activists that think on a big level. Celine mentioned pressuring France, the former colonizer or the Ivory Coast, to accept some of the refugees. Elisheva is being brought to the USA in March to speak in New York and Washington on the refugee situation in Israel. She asked me to see if I could find her other places to speak while she is there.

So ends the day of really just showing up with the refugees. These are touching people and, in the words of Shlomit, the volunteer who sources and delivers food seven days a week, “They are a vulnerable population”. They have been through a lot and are worthy of protection.

Randy