kgalindo

About Kaitlin Galindo

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So far Kaitlin Galindo has created 3 entries.

On Borders

The following post was written by Gap Year Fellow Kaitlin Galindo.

My head pops out of a 1920s Greco-Turkish War military bunker atop a cliff side on the Greek island of Lesbos. It’s 35 degrees and the wind off the waves of the Aegean in front of me chills to the bone. Armed with a thermal imaging scope I scan the water. The mountains of Turkey tower just above the horizon. I see a coast guard ship, a freighter, a ferry, but not what I’m looking for. No dinghies tonight. Not yet.

Dinghies are the small plastic inflatable rafts with motors haphazardly secured to them that carry 30-50 crammed people across freezing water in the dead of night.

It is about as safe as it sounds.

Part of my work here is to spot dinghies that have made it into Greek waters. I make sure they are not capsizing and notify the rescue […]

By |January 2nd, 2018|Gappers in the Field|
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Arrival

The following post was written by Gap Year Fellow Kaitlin Galindo.

I am precariously perched on weathered orange shingles of the roof of an abandoned hotel. The final thin finger of the Aegean Sea in front of me, wrapping around my island and securing it to Europe, just barely. I look past this channel into the southern mountains of Turkey. I see a tower, a hotel, a mosque. At night you can even watch car lights dash over hills. It’s right there. Only 5 miles of sea dividing Europe from Asia.

It’s the morning after my first night in Scala Symineas on the island of Lesbos, Greece, and I am surprised by the calmness of the day in this idyllic Greek beach town after witnessing the chaos of night.

To be honest, I am not a great solo traveler. It stresses me out; airport food is the worst, and I don’t […]

By |November 29th, 2017|Gappers in the Field|
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Unfinished Work

The following post was written by Bridge Year Fellow Kaitlin Galindo.

I spent my last full day in Chapel Hill laying on the old wooden floors of the Campus Y, my hands caked with layers of black paint. Banners bearing “Black Lives Matter,” “Remove Silent Sam,” and “Violence, Racism, and Hate do not belong on our campuses” sprawled before me. Those banners were hung that evening. They were torn down on the orders of administration within the hour. I knew this would happen. It had already happened twice that day. My labors were fated to be removed, so why was I painting?

I was painting because I want this campus and community that has become my home to be safe. I was painting because in a world of seemingly unsolvable systemic racism, intolerance, and bigotry, making some banners was the action I could take that day. I was painting because the […]

By |September 1st, 2017|Pre-departure|
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