Today my fourth day starts, so strictly this is quite a late first impression. Either way I wanted to gather some first feelings about what is going on.

What strikes me most is slowly understanding that the situation has changed to what it is now just during the past weeks. There has been a dramatic change and I don´t think this is a worst case just now.

I have seen the situation on the island change over the years; camps being closed from one day to another. However never comparable to what is now.

One camp, KARATAPEI, has just opened up approximately 5 weeks ago, right next to Lidl. The exact Lidl we used to buy some food at. You wouldn´t recognize the place.

I will write about KARATAPEI in the next days. Describing this place is hard and it cannot be done by quickly commenting on it.

On the other hand it is the same beautiful island that it always was. The wind is just the same.

And then you see crowds of people, adults, pregnant women, men with babies in their arms, small children, youngsters wandering over the island, their faces sunburnt and tired.

I am sure that if you didn´t want to see it, if you really wanted to be a careless tourist you could still be one. The worst thing happening to the island (and whole greece as it is now) would be if no one wanted to spend their holidays on lesvos no more. I therefore dearly encourage everyone to come and spend their holidays here. Even if you will see things you have no intention in seeing. It is life. And it is what the world has changed into. We shouldn´t hide from it, should we?

Am meisten schockiert mich, dass sich die Situation gerade erst in den letzten Wochen derart zugespitzt hat. Ich bin immernoch dabei das zu begreifen.

Jahr um Jahr hat sich alles auf der Insel verändert. Manchmal gab es plötzlich von einem Tag auf den anderen ein Camp nicht mehr, weil die Gelder fehlten.

Aber die Situation jetzt ist eine andere.

Eines der Camps, KARATAPEI, wurder erst vor ungefähr 5 Wochen eröffnet. Direkt neben dem Lidl, in dem wir immer etwas zu essen gekauft haben. Ich habe es nicht wiedererkannt als ich da war.

Über KARATAPEI werde ich in den nächsten Tagen berichten. Diesen Ort zu beschreiben fällt mir nicht leicht und braucht mehr als nur eine Erwähnung.