Doing The Laundry

We were supposed to join Henry at the lighthouse to continue with cleaning the beach. However, due to the very strong wind and the raging sea, we decided to head to the “Dirty Girls” (parental advisory when Googling That!!).

Dirty Girls, is a non profit initiative by Alison Terry-Evans on Lesvos. Other than the volunteers, Dirty Girls on Lesvos employs 12 locals. The wet and dirty clothes of the refugees are collected from around 20 points, including camps, washed and dried then folded for redistribution to the refugees. They don’t only wash the clothes of the refugees, but they do as well wash the blankets of UNHCR for re use.

We arrived to the laundry area, in what looked like a warehouse. Inside, huge washing machines are running to wash the clothes. There was a pile of clothes around which a group was sorting the clothes and chatting. We were greeted by Alison. A charming free spirit, confident lady who is always wearing a smile. She is the huggable type.

We wore some gloves and jumped to work. Clothes are unloaded from the plastic bags brought in, they are then checked if they are in good condition; not torn, zippers are working and so on. Certain items, such as jackets are separated for delicate wash. They are then dried, press ironed and folded.

It is amazing how open and friendly the people are there, it was very easy to talk to everyone and make friends. No prejudice .

After around 3 to 4 hours of work, we managed to sort all the clothes. These are going to be distributed back to the displaced camps to provide them with clean dry clothes, to help them continue their journey.

We then headed to the Hope Centre in Eftalou. The Hope Centre is an initiative by Philippa and Eric Kempson. It is a renovated hotel which purpose is to accommodate the refugees coming from the sea, so they can find a safe place to rest in before they continue their journey. Our journey was mainly explorative, to have a quick look at the place. We didn’t have the chance to talk to Eric, as the reception hall was packed with students from the UK. Having a longer visit to the place is definitly on the agenda.