I will never forget

Volunteer Helga Rubenstein (Alexandra) in Macedonia writes:
I will never forget

I will never forget the sight of 4000-5000 wet people I saw the cold night I visited the camp on the Greek side of the border line.

I will never forget the old man loosing his breath, distressed from the stun grenades and the running, laying in my lap, while a doctor refugee was trying to help him.

I will never forget the child with the blue-green eyes who got separated from all of his family in the rush and stayed on the train tracks persistently until we took his hand and led him to the razor wire to find his mother and father and two brothers, and take them in.

I will never forget the police officer who asked me to help another child that lost his family.

I will never forget the desperate cries of the people in the first row behind the razor-wire, calling out our names, pleading as we pass by to help them get inside the country and finish the nightmare they are in.

A true hero

Refugee Said about volunteer Alexandra in Macedonia:

I met Alexandra in the first half an hour I arrived on Saturday. She helped me during my stay in Gevgelija and is a true hero. She was helping people non stop and gave so much love to the kids. God bless you Alexandra!

Alexandra:

Desperate to get in the country

Back on the north border. My “trip” to the south is over.

What I saw the last few days in Gevgelija, the camp in Idomeni, Hara hotel and especially at the Macedonian-Greek borderline, will remain in my memory for ever.

Seems like all the desperation in the world has planted itself among these people. Desperate to get in the country, begging and crying from behing the razor wire, pushing their children in front of them so we and the special police force can see the conditions they are in(living for days in the fields and the dirt, wet from the rain and dehydrated from the sun) and in an act of mercy and humanity will take them across the razor wire. Others desperate to get reunited with the members of their families who managed to break trough earlier.
Desperate to finish the processing and continue their way

Their cry of hapiness

So many families got separated then, in the clash with the police, while running trough the open fields and on the train tracks, as far as they could from the stun grenades and the war-zone scene that was evolving. Their cry of happiness and gratitude once we find their family members behind the razor wire and take them out, on Macedonian territory. To safety. And for a split of a second, the desperation is over. Until they get to the train station, and see the line for getting the papers. Standing on the sun for hours, one line for men, other line for women and families.

Desperate to finish the processing and continue their way.

Many fights happen on those lines, not because one is violent, but because one can only endure so much.
The train boarding drama

The train boarding drama

Than the train boarding drama. It’s always a mystery when the train will come, and how many trains there will be that day. And how much people it can take.

And hundreds to a thousand (and more) are waiting to board.

Once they see the train appear, they rush and push in desperate attempt to be the ones who manage to board first. The police reacts to create order, and ask us to help try take out families to board first. The most vulnerable categories of people. But how do you pick them out, when most of them are families, with lots of children of different age, pregnant women, old people.. and all of them are equally desperate to get over yet another obstacle of the many they encountered and will encounter on their way. And all of them are begging to be picked out to be the next to board. My words that they will all get there eventually are not heard. Because they want to get there now. And once they do, it’s long and crammed train ride to Tabanovce, often more than 6 hours for less than 200km.

I will never forget

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