At an hour when most families in Israel were sitting down for their Rosh Hashanah dinners, three volunteers were welcoming the new year by saving a group of refugees after their boat sank near the Greek coast.
The night of Sept. 13, about 200 yards from the coast of the island of Lesbos, an engine exploded on a rubber boat carrying 50 refugees from Syria, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. The boat began to sink. Women, children and babies fell into the water.
Luckily, three volunteers from the IsraAID humanitarian organization were waiting on the beach — Naama Gorodischer, a project manager in the organization, Dr. Tali Shaltiel, and the group’s social worker Orli Unger. They had come to help refugees who reached the coast, but when they saw the ship sinking, they immediately found themselves in the middle of a rescue mission with another group of volunteers.
“We heard screaming. The refugees became hysterical,” Gorodischer said. “We immediately jumped into the water and swam toward them with flotation devices. We grabbed the children and swam back. Others grabbed whatever they could from the boat and swam to shore. There was a lot of panic, people were terrified.”
Thanks to the quick reaction of the volunteers, all the refugees were safe. Gorodischer said they were lucky, but said a “humanitarian disaster” is taking place off the coast of Greece. “Turkish smugglers take $1,500 per head, place them on ru bber dinghies and tell them to ‘work it out.’
“The Turkish police stop the refugees on their way, often beating them, and sometimes even shooting at the boats. Some of the refugees make the trip five times,” she said. “There are 30 to 40 boats a day and they are packed with pregnant women, children and infants. Last week we met a women with a baby who was born by C-section just two weeks ago,” she said.
Greece has become the main gateway to Europe for the refugees, primarily due to the relatively harsh treatment afforded them by the Turks. “The Greek coast guard is doing good work by helping the migrant ships, while getting tips from volunteers on the coast with binoculars,” Gorodischer said.
“When the refugees arrive they start clapping, before they even understand what a long and difficult journey awaits them before they reach their destinations — Germany, Sweden and Holland,” Gorodischer said. “They come here from Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and even Somalia. These are poor families who fled the horrors of war and are trekking for hundreds of kilometers just to find shelter. They are tired, scared and hungry.”
The IsraAID teams help the refugees with food, water, blankets and maps with information about the path they are expected to take. In addition to Greece, there is another IsraAID team on the Hungary-Serbian border crossing, which was closed Sept. 15 due to the refugee flows. They are calling on more Israelis to join them. “We urgently need volunteers, mainly Arabic speakers, because there is a serious language barrier here,” Gorodischer said. The organization also has handed out baby carriers donated by Israeli families.