May 2019 | Reception crisis in Northern Greece: three years of emergency solutions We have to bring our child to Kilkis hospital when he is sick. My girlfriend had the operation and for her it was very hard to go to the remote toilets and then it is always dirty. We get both the Cash-Card, but we cannot survive from it because we have many expenses since the child was born. We pay our medicines ourselves, transport costs to the hospital and the Asylum Service, the child needs pampers and clothes… There is no social assistance here. Our baby stays without anything.” Romeo S.* (41)lxxviii from Congo DRC, Nea Kavala camp He stays with his girlfriend Noella S.* (31). They have a newborn daughter now. Each of the parents has a serious vulnerability. 2.5.3. KOUTSOCHERO Koutsochero camp is situated 20km away from the city of Larissa. The camp was created in the former Efthimiopoulou military base and opened in 20 March 2016. Its reported original lxxix capacity was for 1.300 and it had 300 tents. It was closed on 28 June 2016, following protests by residents who then got transferred to lxxx Kipselochori site. lxxxi Five months later, on 23 November 2016 , Koutsochero reopened its gates. Since April 2018, the numbers of residents have been increasing steadily. In summer 2018, another 70 lxxxii prefabs were placed in the camp in order to host around 500 new arrivals. In September lxxxiii 2018, the camp hosted over 1.423 individuals lxxxiv and its official capacity was 1.681 . Koutsochero is one of the largest but also most remote refugee camps in mainland Greece. As of September 2018, it hosted a high percentage of lxxxv men (53%). The camp is situated in a valley between two hills. The barren countryside scenery is marked by the futuristic white prefabs set up in rows. There is the “old camp” with one-room prefabs and the “new camp” with two-room prefabs. In the latter, two families share one prefab. On the front, there is a police checkpoint and a bus station next to a parking area before one reaches the highway. Crossing to the other side, one has to walk between 15 and 20 minutes through the fields to reach the nearby village Mandra, which has one supermarket and a kiosk. https://rsaegean.org/en/reception-crisis-in-northern-greece-three-years-of-emergency-solutions 15