May 2019 | Reception crisis in Northern Greece: three years of emergency solutions Baha said: “In Diavata they told us to go to Vaghiochori camp on our own. For two nights, we slept on the floor of a stone building in Diavata. There were fights in the food lines and the toilets. Our children suffered from vomiting as a result of bad food and developed skin allergies. We couldn’t get the Cash-card and had no money. We spent almost our last money to go to Vaghiochori. In Vaghiochori, we stayed for three weeks in a tent. Our son got sick there. He had a microbic skin infection all over his body and was transferred to the hospital. We felt we were in the end of the world. I was very scared because of the psychology of my husband and my children’s health. The bus to Thessaloniki was running once a day. One day they told us we should go to Filippiada camp on our own. We were two families, but they gave us money just for two tickets. We have been in Filippiada for some days now. We share one container with another family. We have big problems with the doctors here. There is no Farsi interpreter – just one for Arabic. When I try to tell them our problems, they just laugh��� My children still have a skin infection. I went four times to ask for medical assistance and I never got medicines… . We feel abandoned and unsafe here. We get sick but also there are fights even with knives. We escaped from violence. My husband was tortured in Iran. He had already six operations in his eyes. He needs very specific eye drops. The doctor said we have to buy them ourselves. We don’t know even which eye drops he has to take. In Iran, the doctors had first told him he needed eye prosthesis, but then his condition improved... . Now his eye is getting worse again. … When my son had to be transferred to hospital for his infection, the ambulance took him to Arta. There was no dermatologist that day. We were then told we had to go back on our own and find our way to Ioannina hospital. … We are spending nearly all our money for medicines and transport to the hospitals. What will happen if one of us has an emergency case? ...” Eventually the family’s asylum interview was scheduled for October 2019. In a phone call in early 2019, Baha said: “… We have a huge problem that we don’t have enough money… . We have not bought any new clothes since we arrived. I feel ashamed for my children. At the end of the month, we always stay hungry for a week. With 400 Euros we cannot manage our lives. ... I am the one in the family who has to be strong and take care of all the others. But I suffer also and sometimes I ask myself how long will I be able to cope and not break down? My daughter, my son my husband… all are sick. I fear for (their health problems) and the distance to (the hospital). We applied for a house a month ago. We asked them to send us to a big city where my husband can find appropriate care. But we have nothing in our hand to prove he is a victim of torture.” Since the family arrived in Greece, Amir has not been referred to any specialised organisation for the rehabilitation and certification of torture victims. He was told at an early point, that there are only such services in Athens, but the family at that time was new in Greece and was scared to go to the capital as they had nowhere to stay and no assistance. https://rsaegean.org/en/reception-crisis-in-northern-greece-three-years-of-emergency-solutions 28