The following is taken from various people's diary entries during a project organised by a peace/international understanding organisation at a reception centre for asylum seekers. Our group consisted of people from Poland, Spain, (East) Germany, USA, Norway,... while the asylum seekers came from places like Azerbaijan, Georgia, Zaire, Algeria,... None of our group had worked with refugees before, or knew that much about their situations
july 9
When I first arrived here, there was only one other person here. She'd met already the inhabitants of the centre, including the "quiet sweet boys" from Albania. Besides one old lady from Kurdistan there are no women at the centre. After warming up the food in the microwave we ate and then had a guided tour of everything. The centre is almost empty because it is closing. So we have to travel to the other side of Belgium tomorrow to another centre for asylum seekers. Tonight we had free drinks and talked with the refugees... during the night we had free tropical heat and lots of mosquitos...
july 10
Today started at 7.30. After breakfast we had to take our luggage and move to the other centre. Although Belgium is a small country, the journey took us 5 hours, so when we got here we were completely exhausted. Our one and only dream: to take a shower! After dinner we spent some time thinking of activities for the refugees' children
july 11
Our first project in the morning was to move the swings from behind the centre to the playground in front. After digging to remove the swings we discovered that the cement blocks underground were much too big and heavy so we chainsawed the poles at ground level. We then gathered several people from centre to move the huge swings. We then had a meeting to plan for the evening's events which we're calling 'Introduction Evening'. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves - we played games and music, and explained our presence here. Some of the other activities planned for the week include: washing and painting the swings and jungle gym, basketball, folk dancing and an evening of music
july 12
When the alarm went off this morning we could hardly get up... we were all so tired. Today we washed and scrubbed (sandpaper) the swings and the climbing frame. And we decided what colours we want to paint them: red, blue, green and yellow. After dinner we played with the refugee children - first in the playroom, then we went swimming. In the evening we learned some traditional folk dances. Very interesting - but sometimes the feet just don't want to listen...
july 13
Our group seems to have become less quiet - I'd say we've got a proper group now. Today's weather was much too hot for working but of course we did nevertheless. Probably because we were looking forward to painting the swings and the climbing frame with our beautiful colourful paints. Some of us were a bit disappointed that we had to paint them twice with white. So you couldn't see much progression today, but tomorrow evening it will look very nice, I hope. In the evening we played basketball with some young refugees.
july 14
To tell the truth, the first night here I was cursing the idea of coming here but now I'm glad I did - especially because of the people. This morning we got up at 7 o'clock, sleeping all the time we were eating breakfast: tonnes of bread, ham and jam; streams of milk, coffee and tea. Afterwards we were painting and cleaning the jungle gym (with white paint, then sandpaper, then white paint, then sandpaper, then coloured paint, then sandpaper, then... etc). The effects can now be seen and already today I have noticed the progress of our muscles. What will they be like on our last day? This evening we had the dance show. Later we watched Michael Jackson's dance by the teenage girl from Yugoslavia. One of the Albanian refugees went into a trance - he was dancing all the dances, all the time, and always in the same rhythm. The main part of our programme tomorrow will be the music evening - so we must start practicing today.
july 15
Today we had a free day - and we wanted to go to 'civilization' again. Some of us went to Antwerp to see churches and museums, and to do some shopping. The other group went to Hasselt... by car! You see, there is a man from Iran who is also a volunteer (but who lives here) and he is doing a lot of work for the centre. And he drove us to Hasselt. Very kind! In Hasselt we wanted to go to the fashion museum but it was closed, so we just walked around the centre and went to a cafe. In the evening we had a musical evening. We sang some songs, the refugees sang some songs, and a woman from Cuba tried to teach us salsa... but it was very difficult
july 16
Today was another day off and we went on what felt like a 1000km bike ride but in reality it was 'only' about 50km. We arrived in Bokrijk after about 2 hours arduous toil and gratefully got off our bikes. Bokrijk is an open-air museum and we wandered around looking at the authentic old houses. We rode back trying to escape the approaching raincloud and thunderstorm
july 17
Today it rained... so we didn't do any work outside. Instead we decided what activities we'd do this week - treasure hunt, singing and a party to end our stay here. After dinner (a very hot ratatouille) we spent the afternoon learning about the situation of refugees and the centre
july 18
Today many refugees came to help us - we were digging holes and painting. It was really hard work. The holes were so deep that Australia seemed to get closer and closer each minute. In the evening we went to the 'women's meeting'. Women who live here come from Georgia, Albania and Russia. They sew, make rugs, talk, drink coffee, meet each other, etc
july 19
We spent quite a lot of today painting the climbing-frame and the swings. We have just about finished. Unfortunately the littlest child here managed to get quite a lot of blue paint on him and even ate some! It is very difficult to keep an eye on the children constantly when you are trying to work. In the afternoon we organised what was supposed to be a treasure hunt, but was in reality just a little competition where they had to do things like throw a ball through a hoop and draw pictures
july 20
At last we have finished our goal: we have finished painting the swings and climbing frame!
july 21
Tonight is our last night here. I am a bit sad that I have to leave now, some of the people I really liked. We enjoyed our spare time - it took us some time to get to the beach. Swimming was big fun. The group split because there were some who wanted to enjoy the sun and others who live always with the fear of getting sunburnt. Everybody was looking forward to spending the last night dancing. It's a pity that most people prefer watching.It's strange that I don't feel like going home or going to another place. But my bags are packed...
For further information see UNHCR or the refugee council