Living like a refugee
Summerland’s Lesley Vaisanen spent 2 weeks this summer working in a camp in Greece
Summerland resident Lesley Vaisanen encountered the realities of life in a long-term refugee camp upon her return to Greece this summer.
Vaisanen spent two weeks in July working in a camp near Athens.
She came home with a better understanding of the lasting effects of trauma, the difficulties and dangers faced by those wanting to help and advice for volunteers and sponsoring organizations.
In early 2016, Vaisanen left her home to spend six weeks helping the refugees arriving by boat on the Greek Island of Lesbos.
During that time, she sent several dispatches to The Herald telling of her experiences.
“Both times in Greece I volunteered with the same small group, I am You, which assists a larger NGO, the Danish Refugee Council,” Vaisanen said.
This July, her husband, Peter, joined her for the second week.
“There were about 500 residents in our camp, primarily Afghanis and Pakistanis. Nearby, there was a camp with Syrians and Iraqis. People were segregated according to language and culture,” Vaisanen said.
She and Peter, along with a half dozen other volunteers led activities for children during weekday afternoons. The children attended school in the morning. Under the age of 10, boys and girls were in the same afternoon activities group. From 10 to 13, they were in separate groups, with the boys playing soccer and flying kites and the girls usually inside doing arts and crafts.
“I saw immediately that there were a handful of really keen kids and a group of disruptive kids, who would come in and tear up things,” Vaisanen said.
On occasion, Vaisanen, a small trim woman, said she “had to be a bit of bouncer to shield the keen kids.”
She explained that the mindset of many of the children appeared to be “I don’t have much, so I have to take it.”
“On the other hand there were some amazingly sweet kids,” Vaisanen said.
She fondly remembers, Medina, an Afghan girl of 11, who spoke English exceptionally well.
Medina explained that she had learned English on Lesbos and when she learned that Vaisanen had been there also, an immediate bond was formed.
“She would seek me out every day and snuggle. It broke my heart when I left,” Vaisanen said.
When the girls learned that Vaisanen has a daughter their age, they started making crafts for her and writing letters to her.
The Vaisanens have five children — four sons ages 19 to 26 and Emma, 13.
In general, Vaisanen found that camp life benefits the girls, while the boys face a conflict of culture and values, especially regarding what it means to be male.
Girls have the same educational opportunities as the boys and they are free to participate in activities such as flying kites that they could never do in their home countries.
The literacy rate for females in Afghanistan is 17 per cent, according to Vaisanen.
“The boys would come after me physically. They had been taught so differently about the roles of men and women in their culture and were so outwardly aggressive,” Vaisanen said.
A few girls could also be aggressive, but Vaisanen found them easier to handle.
A tall man in good shape, Peter experienced less aggression than his wife, but did have rocks thrown in his face after intervening in a bloody fight over a kite.
“The father of one of the participants arrived and beat his son in front of everyone. It’s full-on aggression or nothing,” Vaisanen said.
“These kids come from desperately poor countries where most people are not educated, they have experienced decades of war and they have different values and views of females,” Vaisanen said.
In contrast, both the boys and girls in the Syrian and Iraqi camp were better behaved and worked well among themselves and with volunteers.
Before the current civil war, Syria had a literacy rate of 80 per cent, and, until recently, had not experienced generations of extensive trauma.
“If things aren’t done carefully, the refugees suffer and volunteers can be put into emotional and physical danger,” Vaisanen said.
She recommends that anyone considering volunteer work with refugees learn about PTSD and know how to react.
“It’s not about blaming people personally. It’s what happens when basic needs aren’t met, sometimes for generations. Leave your ego and cultural biases at home,” Vaisanen said.
Her recommendations for organizations begin with recruiting mature volunteers, preferably professionals with relevant backgrounds.
“They are more likely to be able to handle difficult situations than young, idealistic men and women,” she said.
She also thinks it is important to teach volunteers about violence prevention, how to de-escalate situations and manage stress, to provide mental health support for the volunteers and to establish a code of conduct.
“I want to return as a nurse to work with women and children in a United Nations refugee camp. The UN does everything it can to keep you safe,” Vaisanen said.
Earlier this month, she started a two-year program to become a licensed practical nurse and plans to learn basic Arabic.