Don't Forget What Really Matters

(Refugees’ camp at Koutsochero in Larissa Greece)

Greece wanted to fulfill its obligation concerning its visit to the refugee camp at Koutsochero village in Greece on May 14^th 2018 which had been cancelled due to major internal problems that occurred those days and decides now to replan the visit for October 22^nd 2018.

Since we wanted to involve all the countries in the particular action, we asked them to send us one or two questions while Greece undertook the obligation to get the interview and record it.

Questions are posed by the countries that cooperate in the programme (Spain- Poland- Latvia- Italy).

Answers are written by the students of the Greek school.

QUESTIONS

Spain

1. How many pupils are there in your school?

2. What subjects do you study and what ones you like best?

3. Do you celebrate any festivity in the camp?

Poland

1. What are things they miss the most, when they are far from home and what they like the most here in Greece

2. Our students would like to know, what are favourite children’s games, they could learn us.

Latvia

1. Our students would like to know what is their favourite food?

2. How do they feel living in the camp?

Italy

1. Our students would like to know if you have a dream. If yes, what is the dream of refugee children?

2. what is your parents' dream?

3. when you think about your future, what do you see?

ANSWERS

Spain

1. The children who live at the camp are 300. The 200 of them are 6 years old and above and they attend school lessons at the school in the town of Larissa. Each school has 10 refugees while children of the age 4-6 go to the kindergarden that is situated inside the camp. There are Greek teachers inside the camp. There is also an afternoon school where children do various activities which are organized by organizations that had given their educational programs to the Greek ministry of education and upon its approval they proceed with the implementation of the programs.

2. Mainly children learn Greek, maths and English. They prefer English while they have a great difficulty in Greek writing.

3. Children who live at the camp are from Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Congo, and Libanon and they are all muslims. So they pray on Friday’s and they also exercise their religious duties on the same day.

Poland

1. The refugees answered on the question ‘What do they miss from their countries” that they do not miss anything because they are on war. They say that here in Greece they feel safe and they like the weather.

2. They prefer to play team games and they play on the area inside the camp. They are fond in making dolls out of rags, kites out of wood,bags and ropes and paper hats. They also like playing warfare with stones.

Latvia

1. Their favourite food is pita bread filled with onions,tomatoes and beans. This is also the food they take for school lunch.

2. Children feel nice and safe at the camp. They can play enjoying freedom. This , however, applies only to the boys of the camp since girls are very restricted in their movements due to their cultular, family and of course religious reasons.

Italy

1. Their biggest dream is the reunification with their relatives. Most of the families at the camp are single-parented. They also want to continue school and follow the life of their Greek classmates.

2. Their parents’ dream is to live in a new safe country with their kids. They also hope that one day they will be able to live in a city in a normal house.

3. I see a calm and normal life.