Case Notes From a Camp

Encounters in Moria refugee camp: Part 1

There are some things that you expect before going to do relief or development work. You can brush up on infectious diseases and vaccination campaigns. You know that the setting will be low-resource; that there will be a culture gap between you and your patients; that you will often have to work through a translator. You read up on the politics and culture of the place you will be or where potential patients might be coming from. There are things you expect but cannot truly prepare for before being on site. Often, for example, there is a warning during the application that such areas can be dangerous for those working there, and you try to wrap your head around the possibility of being assaulted, caught in a riot, or kidnapped. Then there are other things you don’t know to expect and are taken off guard by. For me those things were patient histories of rape and torture in particular. I have now worked in Moria refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesvos four times, for up to three months at a time. I am a nurse but also acted as a translator as necessary. I had not done any relief work before going to Moria, and my experience of working there can be seen in terms of these three different situations: things I expected and was ready for, those I expected but was in no way prepared for, and those I had no inkling of.

Moria’s perimeter fence. Image courtesy of Audrey Chien