The trauma of stranded refugees

"I cannot answer how I feel when after four months of waiting, the only solution they can offer is to give you a bigger tent, when they forget your name and call you by the number of your tent." Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres, MSF) program director Apostolos Veizis received this message from a refugee living at the camp in Vasilika, Thessaloniki last July.The message was signed 2B5.

Since then, little has changed. In some mainland camps tents have been replaced with container-type structures - such as at Malakasa two weeks ago - while small groups of vulnerable populations have been transferred to hotels until the cold winter weather subsides. The majority of refugees on the mainland, however, remain gripped by the inertia of everyday life and uncertainty about their future. The conditions either cause or exacerbate certain anxiety disorders, depression and...