Meet Noah: One of our technical coordinators on Lesvos

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Every visiting volunteer can make a significant contribution towards our mission.

Since we first started operating on the Greek islands over five years ago, we were lucky to work with many who travelled from all over the world, aiming to help alleviate the challenging conditions every human on the move is living through.

Meet Noah, a 22 year old Scottish ‘Mover’ from Edinburgh. Noah's first volunteering initiative goes back to 2017, in the Solomon Islands, where he volunteered as a high school teacher, helping the community’s children learn English and more about agriculture.

Alongside this he also helped to coach the school’s sports teams; In his free time Noah is a very keen surfer and snowboarder!

Two years later in November 2019, Noah arrived on Lesvos. He first volunteered with fellow organisation Lighthouse Relief for five months. During that time, he worked as an emergency responder on the north shore of Lesvos, assisting people on the move when they arrived on Greek shores by boat from Turkey. Spotting and locating people as they arrived and then distributing food, water and clothes were the main tasks he operated on. He also worked alongside medical personnel on the ground to help provide emergency care to the community. 

A few months later, as he was sharing with a friend the positive impact that volunteering has had on his life, he got further encouraged to join a new mission, also on Lesvos; This time with Movement On The Ground! Though the Covid-19 restrictions and lockdowns have had a major impact on the volunteers' visits to the ground, Noah didn't give up and was even more determined to help. Today Noah is one of our technical coordinators on Lesvos. We are very fortunate to have him as part of our MOTG family, so we decided to catch-up with him to learn more about his journey and share with you his inspiring story.

MOTG: How did you find out about Movement On The Ground and why did you decide to become a volunteer?

NOAH: I found out about MOTG through a friend, I wanted to help out as I always think “what if it was me in this situation?” Which it could easily have been because, as with many of us, it’s only down to luck that I was born in a safe country where it was fit for me to grow up and enjoy my life. 

MOTG: What attracted you to the cause?

NOAH: I get motivated by seeing what the work carried out by MOTG can provide to people living in camps. It can give you a new family or group of friends, it can give you empowerment in a place where you can feel quite helpless at times, it can give you goals and purpose, things to get up for in the morning, it can give you new skills for life and it can give you a chance to go down a new path and totally change as a person.

 

MOTG: What are your activities and what do they involve?

NOAH: At MOTG I work with a team of camp residents who are highly skilled mechanics, electricians, carpenters, welders and other technical professionals. We upkeep and run all the generators that provide power to the different  zones of the camp. As well as working on many different constructional and infrastructure projects around the camp. We have recently laid a new electrical network in the single men area. Providing each person living with much more safety and security when using a power source. 

 

MOTG: What motivates you to stay involved? 

NOAH: While there are still people on the move living in camps I think the kind of work that MOTG carries out is vital in helping to improve and dignify their lives. In my opinion, the opportunities that MOTG offers people living in the camps, through its community volunteering programs are some of the most important assistance we can provide. 

MOTG: What contribution or achievement are you most proud of?

NOAH: The proudest moment to me was rehousing around 200 people from the poor conditions of the outskirts of Moria camp into safer and more dignified shelters in Movement On The Ground’s Olive Groves. 

 

MOTG: Do you have a message to share?

NOAH: Working with MOTG in situations like these allows you to see and understand people’s lives that go unnoticed back home. It makes you grateful for where you were born and the fact that you can still go home. You meet some of the most incredible people who can teach you so much. You learn new languages, cultures and skills, eat new food and listen to new music, laugh a lot and maybe cry a bit as well. But during all of this, you subconsciously give people a little bit of something that can hopefully help them through the rougher times of living in refugee camps.

You too can join our mission via this link. Do you have a little bit of extra time on your hands? We always welcome the help of visiting volunteers for our projects on Lesvos, Chios and Samos. 

Due to the Covid-19 situation we've been having smaller visiting volunteer teams in our locations, however, to maintain these we now are accepting new applications.

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