Would Coming Face To Face With The Stark Reality Of A Refugee Crisis Make Your Holiday "awkward"?

[sandyRoe]

http://www.msn.com/en-gb/travel/news/migrants-in-kos-photos-show-real-tragedy-after-british-tourists-complain-of-awkward-holidays/ar-BBkof8f

Should tourists avoid the Greek Islands for the time being?

[mikey4444]

I fell really, really sorry for these poor (but wealthy) British tourists, whose holidays have been spoilt by these ghastly refugees !.......How awful and inconvenient it must have been for them !

Ruddy foreigners !

[Zacs-Master]

Crikey, there are more trap doors in that question than a West End stage.

[ummmm]

Yes it would make me feel awkward.

I don't feel I should have to apologise for my wealth (I'm not rich) but it really pains me to see people suffering. In my life I've been rich and poor and I know the desperation of poverty, how you feel when you're not able to feed the children.

My OH only allows me a small amount of cash (getting lost money) because I'd give it all away if he didn't.

[Prudie]

Mikey lots and lots of people go on foreign holidays, they are not rich but work hard and save and plan for them, 50% are probably also Labour voters. An irrelevant sweeping generalisation. And yes I would feel awkward.

[mikey4444]

I have just listened to a report on the Today Program about this, and it seems that this is a problem caused by the newspapers, rather than being a real problem. The BBC interviewed a few British tourists, and they said that there wasn't much trouble on the spot and didn't realise that there was a problem at all, until they read the papers !

Refugees have been fleeing North Africa for ages now, and perhaps British tourists shouldn't be so surprised when they find themselves in the thick of it.

[mikey4444]

Ummm...I like what you have said...some compassion is needed here me thinks.

[mikey4444]

Prudie...my first post was meant to be highly ironic, but perhaps that wasn't as clear as it could have been.

[naomi24]

I feel sorry for the people of Kos.

[Svejk]

It was crystal clear.

[Peaspeculiars]

Difficult one. Yes you go on holiday to relax and forget your cares, but when the reality of other peoples situations is right there in front of you it would be difficult not to feel guilty for having the privileges that they obviously don't have at that given time.
But what do can you do? I certainly wouldn't complain about the holiday, but it would be a wake up call to realise how lucky we are.

As quoted from nurse in the article ''.. it’s awkward. I’m not going to sit in a restaurant with people watching you.” - Why? Just because they are refugees? People are just people, it's the guilt that makes you feel uncomfortable surely, not the people watching you eat. They're not there for you, they are there because they are trying to escape a desperate situation.
I honestly don't know what the answer is.

[naomi24]

//it's the guilt that makes you feel uncomfortable surely//

I can understand they feel uncomfortable with people watching them eat, but I don't imagine the incoming refugees haven't been fed, so why should the holidaymakers feel guilty?

[Hopkirk]

There have been African migrants in the Canary Islands for years.
Not a new problem.

[Sqad]

\\\\\Should tourists avoid the Greek Islands for the time being?\\\

No, I don't think so.

Providing the Greeks rounded them up and set up internment camps, well away from the beaches, yacht marinas, hotels and restaurants, that would be perfectly satisfactory and would not put me off.

[Peaspeculiars]

Naomi, nothing to do with the food or being fed, just the knowledge that the tourist can go back to a warm bed, hop on a plane to a safe country and the refugees can't.
That's probably why the tourist was feeling uncomfortable whilst at the restaurant.
But I don't know, I've not been in that situation so am just guessing here, not stating fact.

[snags]

Sqad: have you seen the movie District 9?

[Sqad]

snags...no.

Give me a clue.

[lady-janine]

sqad on his normal caring form as usual.

[sandyRoe]

I can't pick a best answer here. I'm torn between Naomi's at 8:39 and Sqad's at 9:06.
The ready flow of the milk of human kindness never ceases to amaze me.

[whiskeryron]

I would feel very awkward,I would feel I wanted to bring one of the families into the restaurant to give them a meal but of course that would not be practical because there are so many unfortunates now in those regions. As naomi says I feel sorry for the people of Kos, its not their fault that these things have been thrust upon them. I don't know what the answer is to this modern problem & I am not unfeeling but suddenly throughout the world there are millions of misplaced people causing havoc in areas that were places of charm & tranquillity.

[Svejk]

being 'kind' has caused the problem.