Bitter Sweet: Diavata Camp

Diavata camp was a small and quite beautiful camp. There were 1000 people in 200 caravans there. After I arrived in Diavata, I stayed there for seven months. I saw my brother for the first time in two years when I was there. It was the best moment of my life. Once again my whole family met. I also met my aunt in Greece. I had not seen her in three years. It was a very beautiful moment. My aunt is an English translator in Greece and she encouraged me to study English. Now I can speak English. I met a lot of people there who were great. I met one friend in Greece. Her name is Fatima and she is from Afghanistan. She is the first friend I made in Greece and is now my best friend. In the camp, I met Maurizio and Raissa who worked in the camp. I also met many volunteers. They were great and made me smile a lot. My English teachers were Fay and Kate. They were wonderful. They taught me a lot of things. I made a lot of Yazidi friends there in the camp and we played volleyball together. It was very beautiful. We would celebrate together often. I went to school in Thessaloniki with Greek students. My life in Diavata was so nice and quiet.

The camp was so crowded, some people had to sleep in the parks.

When we were reunited with my aunt.

When I went to school in Thessaloniki.

One day, one thousand new refugees arrived in Diavata camp. The camp was full. We didn’t have any empty space. The park, the school, the building and the street were full of people. They were in tents. There was fighting and the camp was full of problems. The camp became dangerous. The beautiful and quiet camp changed to become full of problems and fighting. The situation in the camp was very bad. Again, we had to leave and slept in the street. We didnt have any place to go.

Me.

We slept on the streets again.