As the refugee drama unfolds before the eyes of the global community, Queenslander Helen Zahos has chosen to offer her services on the front-line of the crisis; the island of Lesvos.

With more than 150,000 refugees having reached Greek shores since January, Lesvos has seen the second biggest influx after Kos, and Ms Zahos has joined forces with Medicines du Monde, one of the non-government organisations providing humanitarian aid on the island.

“They report that the situation is dire, people are living in squalor; there are sanitation issues and hygiene issues. There are more people than what the medical team can cope with and people have become desperate especially for food,” Ms Zahos told Neos Kosmos.

With these issues in mind, she decided to launch an appeal to raise funds for medical supplies and travel expenses to make her humanitarian trip to Greece feasible.

During the first two weeks of the campaign, donations exceeded her target of $5000.

“I think the reason why I had such a good response is that people have followed me on Facebook whilst I went to the Philippines after Typhoon Hyan on a disaster deployment, the Nepal earthquake this year … and to Thessaloniki last year on a volunteer trip … so they know the work that I’ve done …” Zahos explains.

A registered nurse and paramedic for 18 years, her caring work at home has included helping in local flood disasters and receiving victims of the Bali bombings.

Last year in Thessaloniki, Zahos was a volunteer for Medicines du Monde ‘polyclinic’ – a project which provides medical services to communities that cannot easily access healthcare; people made more vulnerable by Greece’s economic crisis.

“I saw many local Greek people affected by strict austerity measures that couldn’t afford basic medication as they were on the pension,” she says.

“I saw many children needing immunisations that parents could not afford to purchase. There were immigrants from Africa, Albania and Georgia who had lived in Greece for many years, and they also required medical treatment.”

Zahos, who flew to Greece last weekend, is planning to spend two months in Lesvos and predicts the stream of refugees will continue well into the winter months.

“This is also when people are subject to illness, particularly if they have not been immunised,” says Zahos.

“Our beloved Greece is experiencing hard times. We as Greeks are resilient and we are accommodating and welcoming.

“We have seen this in the influx of the refugees into Greece. Local people, who are suffering themselves, are giving the shirt off their own backs to help them; they need our support.”

You can support Helen in her work in Lesvos by making a donation at www.mycause.com.au/page/108538/volunteering-for-humanitarian-crisis-in-g…