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Exclusive report: A musicologist strikes a human note among Syrian refugees

Our good friend Dr Stephen Roe, former head of music manuscripts at Sotheby’s in London, was taking a family break on the Greek island of Samos when he found himself in the thick of human desperation, obliged as a decent human being to help others in need. Here are some excerpts from the diary he has been keeping this past week. Impossible not to be moved by the disaster.

stephen roe refugees
August 30

Driving towards Vathi, the capital of Samos today, we passed 30 or so refugees, men, women, young children, but probably mostly young men. They were miles from anywhere. It was 7am. Probably just arrived. Then we took boat to Turkey and saw scores of life-vests on the shores, and further up the beach. I hope they were only abandoned after the poor people thought they needed them no longer. They were in remote bays, with sole access from the sea. What is to be done?

Excerpt  from Norman Lebrecht’s article in Slipped Disc- See more at: http://slippedisc.com/2015/09/exclusive-report-a-musicologist-strikes-a-human-note-among-syrian-refugees/#sthash.erjC32kf.dpuf