This morning was a bit of a morning off as two of the charity team members were coming down to join us for our first six month AGM meeting of our trustees and members of Refugees START.

It was a really great meeting as 4 of the 7 person charity team were in the same room while the other two were online on Skype.  Not bad for a team spread over UK, Greece and New Zealand with a 12 hour span of time difference between us.

After it we went to find one of the refugees camps which are army bases. These camps are much much cleaner and have better facilities but have less entertainment and less legal support currently.

We were welcomed into one of the plastic shelters (just about the size of a large UK garden) that has two double beds inside. We were greeted very warmly by the family and friends residing there with coffee and smiles. We even got to meet the newest little person at just 40 days old and cute as anything.

The little boy drew on the walls their national flag amongst their toys and this was a beautiful focal point to remember hope amongst the stories of war, terror, bombs and deaths amongst their friends. Fathers left behind due to being too elderly, a lorry drivers beloved truck bombed and so many beautiful homes and streets utterly destroyed and laying in rubble.

These humans were warm, kind and gracious in sharing their space and stories with us.

In exploring the camp and learning their systems we are figuring out how best to support them. Overwhelming the answer is always .. we need shoes, socks, undies and that we are bored. Having seen their conditions in several camps in the last few days the common feeling is stultifying boredom and a draining of hope of a good future.

The other unifying symbol of all refugee camps is washing hanging out to dry. We will soon be hanging our own washing out to dry as well. It’s a universal need.