A SCOTS aid worker has made an impassioned plea from Turkey for help for refugee families who are living in makeshift homes just yards from tourist centres.

April Humble, 29, of Lilliesleaf in the Scottish Borders, first travelled to the island of Kos in Greece to help those in the migrant gateway to the Mediterranean and has now moved to Bodrum in Turkey where it became apparent refugees were struggling to make the next step of their journey in the home of asylum.

Currently working with an environmentalist group based in Berlin, Germany, Ms Humble has joined a group of aid workers compelled to help in the crisis because of the lack of action from the heads of most European states.

Ms Humble appealed to people to donate but also to try to better understand the fate facing the people who are fleeing war and oppression.

She said she was tending to a family from Pakistan with an 11-week-old baby living just yards from the tourist centres in Turkey.

One group is living in an underground car park below the streets of Bodrum.

She said: "What people can do in the short-term is read up on the situation.

"Views that they express, to their friends, online, justify political actions by the governments which are resulting in the situations described here.

"Read about Syria, Eritrea, Afghanistan. Read about Iraq and Iran. Read about the history of migration and why people migrate, and read about statics of where people migrate too.

"Then people might understand better why people leave, why the move, that not everyone is coming to Europe, and that in the scheme of things, it is not that many coming here.

"Then when you are fully informed, you can express you views that accumulatively have such a huge impact on people's lives. And please ask others to do the same, to educate themselves before speaking about such big problems."

She said there was a need to change governments' thinking and also for communities to work together to fill the gap being left by politicians.

She added: "When you are on holiday in Greece, Turkey, make eye contact with these people who are trapped there, speak to them, let them be acknowledged and feel human again.

"It must be the worst thing ever to flee everything you have every known and then be totally ignored and neglected in the places you seek refuge, to be treated unworthy and less than human.

"Also seek out local people and charities, and give what you. But give wisely - buckets of baby clothes aren’t always needed, but good food to make sure mothers can breast feed and winter jackets are.

"So make sure you give what is needed, and sometimes that is just money to the right people.

"The problem is huge, but item and recognition of people’s worth makes a difference."

Ms Humble works with The Earth League, an alliance of high-level climate change experts looking to influence global action on the environment, also writes on border security and migration.

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