Syrian Refugees: A Humane Thing.

Dutch volunteer Darcia explains why she's helping refugee families landing on shores of Lesvos, Greece

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Ms. Fleur has travelled from the Netherlands to this Greek island near the coast of Turkey as a volunteer to help mothers and their children. The founder and CEO of The Urban Baby Wearer, she came here with the intent of giving away (and instructing mothers on how to use) specialized baby carriers in which the mothers wear their babies against their bodies. But the huge demand for basic services means Fleur spends her days doing everything from walking into the sea and carrying babies off the incoming rafts to fetching water and blankets.

“Yesterday I had a baby of five days old in my hands,” she says. “It came in a life jacket. Somebody handed me a life jacket and I was like, ‘Why am I getting a life jacket?’ And I looked inside, and inside was a five-day-old baby.”

GIVE AWAY = DONAR
BABY CARRIER = MOCHILA PORTA-BEBÉS
INCOMING = ENTRANTE
RAFTS = BALSAS
FETCH = IR A BUSCAR
BLANKET = MANTA
LIFE JACKET = CHALECO SALVAVIDAS

Wait and see

On this day, more than 40 boats arrive on the island. Each raft carries roughly 50 people, each who paid a smuggler approximately US$1,300 to make the short but sometimes dangerous trip from Turkey to Greece.

“I’m a mom, so what inspired me is to see other moms in need,” she says. “Because if I’m fleeing a war, with a child, I hope there is another mom saying, ‘OK, let me help you.’”

ROUGHLY = APROXIMADAMENTE
SMUGGLER = CONTRABANDISTA, TRAFICANTE
IN NEED = EN NECESIDAD
FLEE = HUIR

(...)

“I don’t see myself as doing something special,” Fleur says. She’s been here only four days and will be leaving soon. “I think we’re just doing a humane thing. That’s why I’m coming back. It feels like it’s not done.”