Settlements

Today we, Nondas, Francois, Mike and Eva went with Niang from the Red Cross to the settlements of the immigrants in Rocquetas. We helped Niang to give the immigrants food packages lasting for 72 hours, but we also went to see some of the settlements. The Red Cross is looking after them for example if they have trouble with their employers or if they need medical care. They live between the greenhouses which are built from plastic by themselves.  The living conitions are very basic: They do not have running water and mainly no electricity. Because of the heat and the lack of work they sleep all day, but  they only get the food if they get up. Niang is not only delivering food bu shows that the Red Cross cares about them and keeps an eye on them. It was amazing how close he is to those. They welcomed him as a friend and he knew who they were and where they live. If they had a problem they come up to him. As he explained who we were they were very inviting and showed their houses and invited us for tea. They told us that Ramadan is coming up, but they do not have money to buy food for that holiday. The only reason that we did not have a long conversation with them was because they mainly speak arabic. Before we left they invited us to come back any time.

Operación Paso del Estrecho, Full Steam Ahead

30th July 2010. 9:00 AM.

Our little team, Camila and Isabel from Spain; Mirana from France, and Alice from Australia, left the Campsite and travelled to Almeria Port for our first day work with the children at the Red Cross Kindergarten.

It was really hot. Families were waiting in the cars prior taking the boat that will take them back home to Africa for summer holidays. Most of them have saved money during the year and will spend all the free days they have with their relatives.  Crossing Europe from Belgium, Germany, France, UK, Italy or even further away, can be a huge and tiring effort for small children and for the entire family.

It took a little while since Gabriel, a Red Cross volunteer from Sierra Leona,  opened the Kindergarten doors until the arrival of the first bunch of children. After four hours of mixed languages, the center was left in a colorful mess of toys, drawings and teddybears.

14:00 PM, It was the time for Gabriel to close the Kindergarten with a team of smiling exhausted girls  after him.

¡Hola a todo el mundo!

Hello everybody! This is our official blog for the CISV IPP in Almeria, Spain, where we will be posting our experiences, projects, thoughts and feelings. We are a group of 26 people from all over the world, with delegations and staff from: Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Great Britain, Germany, Lebanon, Portugal and Spain.

The project we are participating in is called "Pateras", which is the name of the little boats in which illegal immigrants arrive to Almeria from Africa. Our job is to help the Spanish Red Cross with their work, providing assistance for the immigrants in many different ways.

The Cruz Roja helps the immigrants in many ways, providing them:

• medical care
• humanitarian aid
• food and shelter
• new clothes
• courses: spanish, computer literacy
• information about the Spanish law
• legal assistance if needed
• psychological support and counseling
• hygiene basics.

 We are divided in three groups to help the Cruz Roja with their programs for now:

• The OPE (Operacion Paso del Estrecho), meaning crossing the strait of Gibraltar, location: port of Almeria --> here we will be working in the nursery at the port, where African settlers in Europe come to travel back legally to their home country (most of them on vacation). Our role is doing activities with the young people, diverting them from the long wait for the ferry.
• The Warehouse --> helping to store the deliveries of food and other supplies immigrants may need.
• The Asentamientos (settlements)--> Later on, we will be spending time in the immigrant settlements, distributing food, water, clothes and friendship of course.

Also, we have another responsibility with the Red Cross,

• Pateras: hen they reach the coast of Spain, the immigrants have  often been without food or water for days at a time, and they require medical and humanitarian attention. The Red Cross have an emergency team, and we could be called at any time to assist the Cruz Roja.

In addition, we have an educational component to our project. We are giving presentations about immigration and travel in our own countries, in order to help each other understand the problems that immigrants and the governments of the countries involved face. This in turn will improve our understanding of the immigrants we will be working with here in Spain.

We will also be spending time together as a group, learning from one another and growing as individuals. And of course having a lot of fun! :)

So far we have been here for 5 days and have been training for 4 days with the Red Cross in a variety of areas, from the basic principles of the organisation to the specific skills and knowledge needed in our projects. Today is the first day of practical work and the real start of our IPP journal.

¡Hasta luego!