I’ve just come back from my sixth trip to Lesvos where I spent three weeks offering acupuncture at the Earth Medicine container clinics inside the Mavrovouni refugee camp.
The camp looked pretty much the same as usual with its heat,
strong winds blowing dust around, and the blinding effect of the sun reflected
on the bright white ground. We are not allowed to take pictures of the actual
camp but I would have loved to take one of the disabled toilets that have
several steps at their entrance instead of a ramp. I had the impression that
there were more tents where new arrivals are accommodated and also more containers
where people who have been there longer are moved to. Containers usually host
an average of 10 people each.
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| Me, Judith Curnew and Fabiola Velasquez |
From the second week onwards, I was the only volunteer
offering treatments. I was very busy and the heat was intense. I had the use of
three beds so I did my best to accommodate new-comers who were in acute pain as
well as those who already had appointments. I treated 10-13 people each day.
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| Last day's diary |
On my last week the weather got hotter and windier. I had many appointments each day and tried to finish off the treatment process with as many people as I could as well as doing some one-off treatments for some people with acute pain (a pic of the last day's schedule gives an idea of what it was like!!). I treated up to 15 people each day.
The dozens of people I treated came mostly from Afghanistan
and Syria and there were also some from Iran, Kurdistan (Syrian), Tajikistan,
Yemen, Ghana, and Sierra Leone. The men ranged from 12 to 65 years old, with
several teenagers who were experiencing pain. The women’s ages ranged between
22 and 60. Most people had severe pain in different parts of their bodies
caused by injuries and chronic damage resulting from war, violence and their
difficult journeys through several countries. The younger women were often very
thin, pale, and some of them had excessive menstrual bleeding which was
successfully treated with acupuncture and moxa. Many of the people I saw also
had nightmares, heightened stress levels and a very poor appetite and digestion
- which in the system of Chinese Medicine I practise would all be directly
linked to traumatic experiences and physical strain.
Many of the young men in their 20s from Syria and Afghanistan had severe physical and psychological trauma, extreme levels of pain, very thin bodies and a kind of despair that it's very difficult to witness in such young people. Their stories contained loss, a lot of violence both in their home country and during their journeys– especially in Turkey-, torture, the responsibility of coming here as the only person who may be able to help their families afford food back home, and dreams of having their own job, their own home, their own family that seem totally unlikely from the refugee camp. Most of us will have a young man of this age in our lives: a son, grandson, brother, nephew, student… Just imagine them having to risk their lives in order to not get killed, help their family, or have a future only to get stuck without being able to do any of the things they dreamed of, in a continent where they are demonised for being male, young, and for practising their religion, and where compassion for them is in short supply. While treating the back pain in these young men, I noticed that every time I used the lighter to light the moxa, the clicking sound made all of them jump out of their skin. This didn’t happen with any of the women. This made me wonder…
By the end of my stay, almost everyone I treated reported
great improvements in their physical condition, their sleep, and their mental
health. Some of them are now receiving further treatment in the form of
physical therapy which is made possible by the decreased pain levels.
There were no translators some of the time so I had to make do with a translating app that proved extremely useful especially for Arabic language as the app translates and speaks out what you need to say. In contrast, Persian and Kurdish – both of which were very common- have no sound on the apps so I tried hard to read the phonetic writing when the person I was talking to couldn’t read. This caused a variety of reactions, laughter when I got it completely wrong and amazement when I got it right and people thought I knew what I was saying. There are always moments like this of softness and laughter despite the heaviness of the situation and I have never found any victim or poor me mentality in the camp. On the contrary, people show so much strength, resilience, and a lot of hope despite everything they have been through.
A FEW PICS OF THE TREATMENTS I GAVE
As in previous trips, moxibustion featured in most treatments as it is often the most effective way to treat severe pain in people who are depleted
SOME STORIES
I feel that part of my work in Lesvos consists of putting a
human face to the word “refugee”. I do this by sharing stories about some of
the people I meet there to give a reference of a real person next time we are
tempted to give our opinion about “them”. Here are some of the stories I heard
and experienced in this trip:
I treated a Syrian lady in her 50s with pain all over her
body. She had the sweetest smile and at the end of each treatment filled me
with hugs and blessings because her pain seemed so much better. In one of our
last sessions, she asked me if her emotions could affect her body and cause
pain. When I said that I think that is possible, she told me she used to have
five children and now she only has one left and that she felt that this was
making her body worse. I didn't dare ask her how that happened to her children,
I just hugged her and we both shed a few tears.
I met a family from Afghanistan who arrived in Lesvos in
March 2025, composed of a husband and wife in their thirties with their
children (four, I think) and the wife's father. I treated the husband and wife,
her father and two of their children, all of whom had some form of physical
pain and a lot of weakness in their bodies. On their way here, their boat was
pushed back by the border patrol and they capsized. Eighteen people drowned in
front of their eyes, including the wife's mum. They are still in total shock
and their bodies full of grief. Unfortunately, pushbacks are a common practice
here even though they are illegal and are often reported by human rights
organisations.
Something I noticed this time that wasn't so evident to me
in previous trips was that many of the men from Afghanistan had been victims of
torture and of violent attacks by the Taliban. One of these men, a man in his
30s, was tortured and brutally beaten and this triggered a stroke that affected
the left side of his body, his mental acuity and his speech. Another man in his
60s, saw his brother getting killed and when he tried to recover his body was
brutally beaten and thrown into a large fire, he was left with scars and damage
to his body that affects the mobility of his hands. Another man in his 20s, was
tortured and as a result experiences excruciating body pains from the lower
back down to his feet. His emotional trauma is evident by his demeanour and
nervousness about being touched. These three men, and many others have had a
lot of pain relief from our treatments and found in our treatment rooms a place
where they could feel safe, respected, and looked after. Most of the men I have
met here, were also beaten up and shot at by the police and armed forces in
Iran and Turkey. When we see men who have come a long way to try to reach
safety, we have no idea what they may have experienced before arriving here.
A VISIT TO THE MEMORIAL TO HUMANITY
During my first trip to Lesvos in the summer of 2021, I was
shown a burial ground where people deceased at sea and in the refugee camps of
the island had been buried since 2015. It was a place that stirred your soul
because you could see the mounds of earth of varying sizes, some of them tiny, many
with no names or dates, covered in overgrown grass, containing the bodies of
people whose only crime had been to dream of a better future. You could imagine
that somewhere in the world, somebody was probably waiting for their news, and
praying for their safety. Some of the people who had been buried there actually
had family on the island who had not been told about the site of their burial.
I made a video of this at the time which you can see here
Last year, Earth Medicine transformed this place into a
memorial site and gave a dignified burial to all those who had been buried
there without any dignity or respect. Many of the bodies could not be
identified as the authorities had no records but many others now have the name
and a place where any loved ones can go and pay their respects. This is also a
place for all of us to remember that, under our watch, thousands upon thousands
of lives have been senselessly lost while seeking safety.
Grave of three children who drowned on the same day
Similar to previous trips, there were many contrasting
experiences and emotions. Most of the people I treated benefited a lot and many
became pain free. Seeing faces change from the frown of pain to a relaxed
smile, sometimes immediately after the first treatment, felt wonderful and filled
my heart with joy. I received so much gratitude, love, blessings, wishes for a
blessed life for me and my family. This sounds like words but they weren’t just
words, they mean the world coming from people who have lived through so much
but are still able to be grateful, appreciative and, above all, to trust
someone they have never met before. This work if not only about giving
treatments and relieving pain but about reconnecting our hearts with each
other. At the same time, I feel the sadness of the ongoing situation of
displacement that people here and in so many other countries in the world have
to experience. The unstable political climate is creating increasing
uncertainty for people here and in many countries in the Middle East and Asia.
War will only bring more death and displacement and the consequences will be
felt in Lesvos and in the whole of Europe.
As always, deep gratitude to all those who contributed to make this trip happen. Without your help, I couldn’t do this work.
If you would like to contribute to the wonderful work the
organisation does throughout the year you can do so here.
With love, gratitude, and hope,
Sandra
