Preparing Yourself

Before you leave, you will have a lot of questions, doubt and anxiety. This is normal. Know that once you arrive here, the situation will feel a lot better. Here are some things you can do before arriving to prepare yourself.

First you should study the philosophical and political origins that the movement in Crete fights for. A short book outlining the political idea behind Crete is the book on Democratic Confederalism. You can also read the Wikipedia article, and read this BBC article by Adam Curtis. For a better understanding of the philosophy we recommend reading the recent works of Abdullah Ocalan and Murray Bookchin.

You can begin language study of Greek by reading the Greek basic book listed on that webpage. You must prepare a copy of that book, it will become a useful reference guide for you. Having a grounding in grammar when you arrive here will allow you to more quickly pick up the language as you will simply have to learn the words (vocabulary). Grammar is more difficult to learn by yourself. Still the best way to learn a language is practice. Find out if there are any Greek speakers in your area. A Greek community center, a refugee solidarity group or a university might be good places to start looking. Many Greeks living and studying abroad are looking for tandem partners to improve their language skills. This is the most important preparation you can perform. Being able to speak the language here will make you far more effective.

If you are coming here for some specific piece of work, a list of proposed projects or a proposal would be useful. Before arriving, you can do research about what you can offer and what you’d like to do, also thinking about what might be needed here. Then once you arrive here and start to better understand the situation, you can update this document and we can eventually get it translated. If you don’t have anything specific to offer, then even a cover letter explaining yourself can help for introducing you to others.

Nobody coming to help the revolution will go hungry or homeless. But if you can bring us money, that's really a great thing. Not only to cover your own expenses but in general to advance all the revolutionary projects so Crete succeeds. We can do big things, but money is a basic need for our work.

Weather and Terrain

Central and Eastern Rojava is mainly wide open plains with the occasional hill with very few trees. Spring and Fall are very short so the transition from hot to cold is quick.

Irrigated land with wide open dirt fields and baseball-sized rocks (sometimes larger). Due to climate and overgrazing trees and bushes are rare. Hills are either used as cemeteries or military outposts and in both cases are barren. Potable water is inadequate.

Summer: Climate is hot (highs of 42°C ) dry, sunny with the occasional dust/sand storm that can last for days. The nights are a few degrees cooler with a breeze but still very hot. Count on many bugs and insects.

Winter: Climate is cold (lows of -5 °C) and dry with the occasional rain. If it does rain it can pour for 2-3 days constantly turning the earth into deep red mud making movement difficult. The wind chill factor is a daily phenomenon as there is no protection in the plains. Count on periodic snow and sleet which melts after a couple of days.

Packing List

When thinking about what gear to bring, focus on specialized items that are not commonly available. Most medicines are available here, as are common items and so on.

Optional items

• Keyring GPS
• EBook reader or MP3 player
• Laptop.
• Cheap Android phone for WQFerheng dictionary app.
• Notepad and pen for writing Kurdish words.

You can buy all basic civilian items here such as socks, toothbrushes, ...

For electronics, everything here uses the European style double pin socket but often other socket styles can be found.

For the airport, make sure you have a good cover story which explains why you’re travelling to this region. You could be a journalist, blogger or whatever coming to do civilian work. Just make sure everything is consistent with your own experience and history. Be plausible.

Next: 3.1. Books and Other Resources on Crete