A Saturday: Clothes Sorting and Rain

Yesterday was a long day, so this morning I took my time about going outdoors. It was a grey, drizzly day, but aside from a few large drops, pleasant enough to walk in.

I walked to Tempelhof Airfield with pasta, lentils, etc., to donate to the transports to Ukraine. Along the way I checked in where donations had been gathered for shipping to Turkey after the earthquake there. Aside from a rain-soaked, handwritten paper sign 'No more donations today' and the old printed poster listing everything needed for earthquake survivors, from bottled water to power banks, there was no sign of activity.

But the grounds of the former Tempelhof Airport have changed since the last time I was there. The parking lot where a Spendenbrücke Ukraine van used to stand, is now filled with white containers that are temporary homes for refugees — I counted 13 containers along one side.

Young men and women, and children, were streaming toward the hangar with a large sports gym. Quieter in March 2022, it was alive today with families, hollers, and the squeak of shoe soles on a floor; and personnel were standing by in fluorescent safety vests.

After dropping off the food donations in the wire bin outside, I registered myself as a volunteer per app and found a blue Ikea bag full of unsorted clothes.

The floor space has now split up between donations intended for Ukraine — clothing that is no longer being requested on their website, but also Christmas decorations, muffin tins, and other random items — and cardboard boxes intended for Syria and Turkey. But there was no one else there except for one woman who was pleased to see me, but also warned me that the place would close at 5 p.m.

So I sorted the clothes destined for Ukraine, but was also curious about the littler cardboard boxes that seemed to be individual supply kits for earthquake survivors. As there was no one there to tell me how to handle those, I left them alone.

1 or 2 clothing items would have needed another wash, I plucked off a few hairs and specks of fuzz, and I had to throw out three items: a hoodie that had a wrist cuff worn through to the inner layer, Adidas shorts where half the logo had faded off, and a fleecy white jacket that had black staining on a cuff and on a zipper seam that I couldn't get off even with the help of hand sanitizer.

The way home was not so great, as the rain drenched my skirt, my purse, and my socks.

But since then I've been relaxing, and all's well that ends well.

P.S.: In the interests of fairness after a recent blog post, I should state that sending material donations to Turkey has been heavily disputed. So it's possible more Germans showed their solidarity by giving money to large charities that are at work in the region.