One of the Glasgow Girls refugee campaigners has told how she witnessed the “horrific” scenes in Greece as families flee war in Syria.

Amal Azzudin, who campaigned with friends from Drumchapel to stop deportations and dawn raids, visited refugees and aid volunteers in Athens and Lesbos.

With her colleague Margaret Woods she watched boat loads of refugees make the crossing from Turkey and the destitution and poverty they are enduring as they search for safety in Europe.

Ms Azzudin was in Greece for a week last month and she broke down in tears as she recounted the trip to MSPs in the Scottish Parliament.

She told of a mother thinking her baby had died and of children desperate for food and water.

She was a teenager at school when her friends’ campaign hit the headlines and has lived with her family’s trauma after fleeing the war in Somalia.

But she said: “Nothing could prepare us for what we saw in Lesbos.

“Going to Greece opened my eyes to how horrific the situation is. We visited camps with 750 people in a refugee camp in Athens. Lots of children and families from Afghanistan and Syria. We saw families living in the squares with no support.”

She told of watching and helping people off the boats on the beach at Lesbos but could not continue speaking after recalling the moment a mother feared her child didn’t survive the ordeal.

She said: “We saw three boats arrive. One mother gave me her five year old so she could look for her other children. She thought one was dead because she wasn’t moving.”

Earlier she told how families were dependent on the generosity of others for their survival on the streets of Athens.

She said: “People are bringing water and food. All the wee kids were running to them. Refugees had to pay 2 Euros to use public toilet.”

In Lesbos where thousands are living having crossed the Mediterranean from Turkey she spoke of the scene.

She added: “We visited a British family who have been supporting people for 8 months Eric took us round the coastline.

“All we could see was lifejackets. People are being charged Euro100 for a lifejacket. Euro1200 people are charged to make that journey. We could see turkey from where we stood. There are 400,000 people waiting to make that journey.

With cash and supplies from the Glasgow Campaign to Welcome Refugees the pair were greeted like saviours by refugees as they helped pay for and served basic food.

Ms Woods told how the people are desperate for help but are living day to day on the donations of volunteers with little or no assistance form the big aid charities.

She said they took £2000 in donations to help the aid effort in Greece, but could only spend half of it in food.

She said: “Half of the money we took was used to bury people who died on the boats. One woman’s task was to try to reunite bodies with families. Some of the boats are rickety old fishing boats.

People will come as long as it is remotely possible and people will die on these boats.”

She told how they fed children with simple snacks but they couldn’t get enough.

Ms Woods said: “Giving out honey and jam and Nutella sandwiches and water and juice. It costs £100 a day. We had £2000 and they thought we were heaven sent.”

After the cash used to help bury the dead they only had enough ash for one day’s supplies.

However she warned that far right extremist were threatening people with knives and guns in a bid to cut off aid to refugees.

Ms Woods warned the situation will worsen over the winter and the shelter they have is not enough.

She urged governments and international aid agencies to act quickly.

Ms Woods said: “We saw people sleeping in the squares. The problem has multiplied. Tents and sleeping bags will be no good in the winter. People will die from exposure and lack of food.

“There are hundreds of unaccompanied minors. Children as young as ten.

With the war in Syria continuing the campaigners fear more will be forced out and more will lose their lives as they desperately try to reach Europe.

She said: “Thankfully no-one died in front of us. It is one of the most distressingly appalling thing I have seen in my life. It is inexcusable.

“Forty people died on the day we were there including one family and one child

“The Med is becoming a grave.”