A BLAENAU Ffestiniog woman has spoken about her “truly heart breaking but greatly inspiring” voluntary work with Syrian refugees.

Michelle Jones, 33, recently spent a week on Lesvos, a tiny Greek island inundated with refugees fleeing their war-torn country.

Michelle, who helped feed, clothe and entertain the travel weary Syrians after their arduous journey, felt an “unbearable sadness” at the devastation she saw on the island.

The mother of one returned to the UK reluctantly on Friday, 13 November.

“Being back home is really quite strange,” the Associate Recreational Trails Consultant told the Cambrian News.

“I feel like I’ve lived in a separate reality for the last week in Lesvos, and although I’m very happy to see my family and friends, I have this burning guilt and need to be back there helping.

“I’ve met so many amazing people, volunteers and refugees alike and I know, if I didn’t have any responsibilities, I actually wouldn’t have come home.

“Volunteers are living their whole lives around helping refugees, who are making amazingly dangerous journeys to protect their families from even greater danger.

“It’s true that nobody puts their children in a boat unless the water is safer than the land – and we all know how dangerous the water can be. It’s a truly heartbreaking situation.”

Highlighting the extent of the crisis, approximately 60 to 70 per cent of all refugees who arrive in the Mediterranean arrive in Greece.

Of these, roughly 75 per cent of all refugees who arrive in the country pass through Lesvos.

Explaining her first-hand experience of the refugee’s struggle, an emotional Michelle continued: “When they arrive in Lesvos, the refugees are, mostly, relieved to have arrived safely.

“There is an air of happiness, tinged with uncertainty. It’s with a heavy heart that we, the volunteers, know what they still have to face on their onward journey.

“These people we helped off the boats, clothed, fed, kept safe in the compound – their futures are so unclear, so muddied by uncaring, brutal authorities, right wing activists.

“I have no idea if they will survive the whole journey.

“It’s an unbearable sadness to feel; too horrifying for words.”

Michelle is currently establishing a new appeal to raise funds for a second volunteering trip to the island in January.

For more information or to donate, visit the North Wales Refugee Support website www.nowars.co.uk