ΣΥΛΛΟΓΗ ΕΙΔΩΝ ΠΡΩΤΗΣ ΑΝΑΓΚΗΣ ΓΙΑ ΜΕΤΑΝΑΣΤΕΣ

Εχτές κάποιοι/ες που εμάς εβρεθήκαμε πόξω που την υπηρεσία αλλοδαπών τζιαι μετανάστευσης (ΥΑΜ), όπου μένουν προσωρινά αρκετές δεκάδες μετανάστες/τριες που περιμένουν να ενταχθούν σε κάποια δομή. Δημοσιεύκουμε όσα μας είπαν οι ίδιοι/ες σε μια προσπάθεια να ακουστεί η φωνή τους προς τα έξω. Ενάντια στο κράτος της ατομικής ευθύνης τζιαι του συστημικού ρατσισμού, οι αγώνες των μεταναστριών για στέγη, φροντίδα τζιαι ελευθερία εν τζιαι δικοί μας αγώνες. Επίσης, σήμερα στο Καϋμάκκιν θα συλλέγονται είδη πρώτης ανάγκης για τούτα τα άτομα: Συλλογή ειδών πρώτης ανάγκης για μετανάστες/Collection of essential items for migrants

Yesterday, some of us found ourselves outside the immigration police offices, where dozens of migrants are living temporarily while they’re waiting to be taken to a government centre. In an effort to make their voices heard, we are publishing unedited transcripts of what they told us. Faced with a state that promotes individualistic responsibility and systemic racism, the migrants’ struggles for shelter, care and freedom are our struggles too. Today at Kaymakkin, there will be a collection of essential items for
the migrants: Συλλογή ειδών πρώτης ανάγκης για μετανάστες/Collection of essential items for migrants

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Transcripts:
1. “Hello everyone to whom it may concern, we have been here for the past how many days, sleeping outside, we only get food from people which we don’t really know. Nobody to talk to, nowhere to go to, please we really need help. It’s really difficult for us here. Please, it’s very very cold at night. We have nowhere to sleep, we have to sleep on the bare floor. Please, to whom it may concern, we really need help. We’re dying from cold. We don’t have anywhere to go, please help us, we really need help here, please.”

2. “Especially to the government of Cyprus, we thank you all for keeping us in your country, but presently we are passing through a hard situation. Some of us come from African countries where it’s very hot, and coming here in the current situation and conditions we don’t find it so easy. Nowhere to sleep, nobody to talk to, people […] us here, we don’t have friends here. We don’t know where to sleep, no shelter, no food. These people that on their own just give us food can’t [actually] help. We need government help, just help us, that’s all. We’ve been here some days now, some have been here from last Sunday. Fortunately, they came to pick some people to take to camp [Pournara]. Some of us that are still here don’t know how we will do it tonight, the conditions are especially unpleasant today. Leaving my country for this place, I think this is a better place for me to live. [With] all I’m saying I don’t know, I don’t know… Thank you very much.”

3. “So, as for a space to stay, there is no place to stay. Our number one priority is shelter. We’re finding it very difficult, we sleep on the ground. As of last night, we are sleeping outside near the garage [underground garage of the building of the immigration office]. They locked the garage, they wouldn’t let us sleep inside. At 5 AM, one man came and said we should get out. This is the door of the immigration office ,but it’s always closed [to us]. Sometimes the door opens but before we go, they close it back. They won’t even explain to us , they don’t tell us when the boss is coming. As of last week – we’ve been here last week Monday – they assured us that the boss is coming Monday this week. Some of us went to look for internet, some of us went to buy food, and around 06:00 – 07:00, they came and they took some people away [to Pournara]. They took [some people], but according to them they said they took 70 people. There is no way they took 70 […]. Now some of us have been here for two weeks, they don’t really care about us, they don’t ask us how we’re living. And now it seems like it’s gonna rain, and when it rains it will be very difficult for us because we’re cold, there is no place to go. We don’t know anybody here.”
“How many people did they take?”
“I don’t think even twenty. No more than twenty.”
“And what happened with the incident? That you said they pushed you?”
“This morning we were sleeping outside, just outside there, and the man came and said we should get out. That was like before 5 AM. So we had to go outside, and we were just roaming about, until now. We’re still roaming about.“

4. “Hello, I’m ———- from Sierra Leone. We’ve been here for the past, let me say, two weeks now. Actually, this past [week] only, on Friday, they told us that the camp is full but they let us wait until Monday actually. So, we decided on Sunday, some of us, although as our numbers increase, every day our numbers increase, some of us go outside to find food and some […] to send information to our families. But luckily the boss came, but we don’t know the actual amount that carries [if that matters or not?]. No one is here to respond to us, and most of these people, when they come in the morning most of them will just go in, they will lock the door, close the door. They will not attend to anyone, we don’t know why this is happening. This is an immigration office, we stay here for a very long time. No one attends to us, no place to – most important thing is shelter. But we don’t have shelter. They say the camp is full, but they could arrange some other things, it’s difficult but we can manage there. We have no shelter, and look, the weather is already changing, we expect rain. And shelter is the most important thing, you understand? And if they can take us to camp, we will be very happy with that. Every day we hear that, “the camp is full, the camp is full”. The immigration is not attending to us, what is the problem now? No food, no shelter.”
“And not even communication, they don’t even talk to you to tell what is going on. At least they should be communicating, try and help you in any way.”
“They only say that the camp is full, that is the only language you hear. I don’t understand why, I don’t really understand what is going on.”

5. “They tell us “Go back to your country”, that’s what they’re saying. “Go back to your country.””
“Some of us here are very frustrated. We came here, we need help, there […].
“We need international protection, but there is no protection. I come from Cameroon, it’s not easy there. That is the reason we are leaving Cameroon, because of the war there that is going on. They’re killing our brothers, it’s not easy.”