Norwegian artist, songwriter, and producer Gaute Ormåsen chose to travel to Greece with A Drop in the Ocean to contribute as a voluntary fieldworker, to experience the situation with his own eyes. The children made the biggest impact on Gaute, and after he became a parent himself, his compassion for refugees has grown immensely. Read more about Gaute’s experience as a voluntary fieldworker with A Drop in the Ocean here.
The situation in Moria Camp for unaccompanied minors
Isn’t it time that we wake up?
Last week, A Drop in the Ocean started working inside the “safe zone” in Moria Camp on Lesvos. The safe zone is a fenced in area inside Moria where 72 unaccompanied children live. Behind bars. They are all orphaned, the youngest being only 1,5 years. This weekend (August 2019) we were notified that one of the boys had been killed inside the so-called “safe zone.” Two other boys were injured, one of them critical. We feared that something like this could happen. When all the other volunteer organizations leave Moria in the evening, so does the majority of police officers working in the camp. Only a handful of police officers, guards and other government staff remain. Monica Skilbrei, one of our field workers on Lesvos describes the last couple of days in camp, and how they experienced being notified about the horrific event happening this weekend.
Fieldwork as Practical Training for the Nursing Programme
It is not easy to set aside time during your studies or work to travel as a fieldworker. Anne Stray Hamre and Celine Thomas Nicolaisen found a solution to this problem, by getting their fieldwork in Lesvos approved as part of the practical training as part of a module in their nursing programme. Excellent planning and approval from their place of study, they travelled to Lesvov in the autumn of 2018. Their stay resulted in a paper, which they called “How to create moments of normality for children in a refugee camp?”. Simultaneously, the students were given valuable and informative experiences, which they will cherish for the rest of their lives. Read more about their experiences and how they combined their fieldwork with their studies, down below.
With A Desire to Follow the Pathway of the Refugees
– A Solidarity March from Norway to Moria (Greece)
On 12 August 2019, during «Arendalsuka», Arne Martin will commence his solidarity march through Europe, all the way to Lesvos (Moria). The aim of the march is to highlight the situation of refugees, who are still met by closed borders and inhumane living conditions along the outskirts of Europe. Below, Arne Martin states how he came up with the idea, shares some experiences from when he volunteered in the field, and gives some reflections regarding the current state of the refugee crisis.
Internship Programme
A Drop in the Ocean are pleased to announce our 2019 internship programme, with a variety of roles across all of our sites, available for people who are currently completing or have recently completed a relevant academic qualification. We are creating a platform for someone looking to develop their current skills or to begin a humanitarian career, providing broad foundational knowledge and practical experience in an international NGO environment.