The first step when intervening in an emergency is to understand the needs of the people involved. When our team arrived in Lesbos, a few days after the fire that destroyed the Moria camp, it was immediately clear that the most urgent needs to be met were those of single women, often single mothers, who in addition to the precarious living conditions have to face the daily risk of suffering violence.
Picture by Silas Zindel
In the new Mavrovouni camp, which today houses most of the people left on the street after the fire, separate areas have been defined for families, single men and single women. In practice, however, the tents that house single women are often very close to those of men, sometimes even mixed. This greatly increases the risk of violence for these women, especially since there is no lighting in the camp at night. To this it must be added that, even after months, no showers have been built and the only way to wash is to fill buckets of water and find an isolated place where you can wash, exposing yourself to further dangers.
“The women told us they never want to leave their tents alone – says Clotilde Scolamiero, Protection Officer of INTERSOS in Lesbos – In the camp you can often see small groups of women heading for the few and run-down toilets. For Farida, whose mother – and tentmate – was transferred to Athens last Saturday, this means she will no longer be able to leave her tent. The tents – which can accommodate up to 12 single women – are not, however, a protected place. During the night, it often happens that they are targeted by thieves”.
To mitigate the difficulties that these women face, from the very beginning the INTERSOS team started distribution of kits not only designed for female needs, but assembled directly following the directions of women in the camp. The strategy we have adopted for this intervention, in fact, is to directly involve the women we help, talking to them tent by tent, listening to their needs and their stories. In our team there are several cultural mediators (covering all the languages spoken in the field), a psychologist and a Protection Officer.
“Tent-by-tent distributions – continues Clotilde Scolamiero – allow us to create a relationship of trust with the women we support. In the days following each distribution, our team goes to each tent, to dialogue in a protected environment, and to bring out any vulnerabilities, signs of violence or need for psychological support. Starting from the stories of these women, we have outlined the protection component, which aims to offer psychological support to the most vulnerable women who have survived violence in their country of origin or while traveling”.
To date we have assisted more than 1000 women, distributing kits containing personal hygiene and personal care items, such as sanitary pads, cotton underwear, wet wipes, but also useful objects to prevent aggression, such as whistles and head torches, as well as information leaflets on the prevention of COVID-19 in contexts with low hygiene standards and on the prevention of human trafficking. We have also distributed waterproof boots to single women, and in the next few days the distribution will cover all 1,700 women present in the camp, who – in addition to waterproof boots – will be provided with a kit of women’s underwear.