London: Ahead of Pope visit, a detention centre for asylum seekers in Greece is being urgently spruced up as thousands of people remain trapped inside, waiting to find out if they will be sent back to Turkey.
According to the Independent, workers were dispatched to whitewash the wall surrounding Moria, a former refugee camp on the island of Lesbos, while others painted fences, cleared litter and moved stray tents.
The last-minute efforts on Friday came ahead of Pope Francis’ arrival today with a delegation of Catholic and Orthodox leaders.Sacha Myers, who is working inside Moria with Save the Children, told The Independent that the now “very white” wall was not a priority for the families living inside Moria.
“We hope the improvements continue but they don’t change the fact that we have still got thousands of people locked inside this detention centre with no idea how long they were be here,” she said.
“The camp was built to hold 2,000 people and now there are 2,900. Families are living on top of each other, there is absolutely no privacy. Ms Myers, a communications and media manager for the charity, said she had met Iraqi and Syrian mothers whose babies were ill with diarrhoea and fever amid declining hygiene. “They really want him to help them and understand their issues.”
