Refugees in Greece: “I’m Tired of Living in Fear”

Siham, 30 years old, is from Halab, Syria. She was in the refugee camp of Idomeni, Greece on Wednesday morning when Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) staff collected this testimony by phone.

The police came early in the morning and took a lot of people away. Very few people are left in the camp now. My children are scared and I don’t know what to do. The people who have gone to the new official camps don’t like it there. I don’t know if I should go or cross the border illegally. But my husband, who is in Holland, doesn’t want us to go illegally.

There is very little food available here at the moment. People are worried if they don’t go to the new official camps and instead remain in Idomeni that they will not be given food. No one in my area has been evacuated yet. I still haven’t been told when I will be moved from here. Yesterday I found out from other people still in Idomeni camp that people along the railway were being taken away. And this morning other people that live closer to me were told that they would be removed too.

I feel extremely confused. We used to feel hopeful in this camp. We were hoping the border would reopen at some point but things changed yesterday. Last night my children were crying from hunger. Very little food is available to us here. I am alone with my three children here. We got separated from their father and my nine years old son seven months ago. They are both in Holland now. We had found some stability here. I don’t know what will be our fate now. It is so frustrating. I want to know what will happen to us. It’s not normal and it is tense.

We are worried. We don’t know where we will be taken. We are told we will find out when we get off the bus at the new camp. We were told some time ago that we would be moved at some point but not by force. I am tired of being here and I’m tired of living in fear. My husband says that my son in Holland is very upset and he misses me a lot. I just want my family to be reunited—please help us.

Read More: Involuntary Eviction from Idomeni Creates Further Hardships for Refugees