REFUGEE ROUTES: LESVOS, GREECE 2018 

In 2018, I volunteered with A Drop in the Ocean, a non-profit aid organization patrolling Lesvos' Southeast coast to rescue refugees crossing from Turkey to Europe.  During my time as a volunteer, there were several landings, and I witnessed first hand the situation refugees face once interred in camps such as Moria.  

Our patrols were overnight from 11pm-7am.  During the day I traveled the island with my camera.  Here in this gallery are some of the images I made during my time in Lesvos. As with my Italy photos of refugee routes, I refused to point the camera at people. I did not want to jeopardize the asylum applications of an individual and I do not want to be a purveyor of other people’s suffering. I would tell their stories through images of the landscape and couple these with text.

There are an estimated 8000 refugees on tiny Lesvos.  As many as 6000 live in the squalid Moria camp a few miles outside the capital of Mytilini.  Since borders with other European countries have closed, and caps placed on refugees entering countries like Hungary, Serbia, Germany and England, a bottleneck has occurred in Greece, a country whose economic struggles are a drag on the resources it can provide refugees settling there.

While awaiting asylum, refugees, mostly from war torn Syria, are trapped on the island. Moria, the largest camp is severely overpopulated. Refugees already traumatized by war and a dangerous ocean crossing are subjected to unsanitary conditions, sexual assault, and inadequate food and shelter. Furthermore, there isn’t ample legal and psychological care being provided. Particularly at risk are the hundreds of unaccompanied minors.

I volunteered at a community center during the day. Dozens of minors were brought here daily. They were fed, and were offered language lessons, music classes, a break from the dismal life they experience in Moria. It was not unusual to meet kids who cut themselves or had withdrawn into silence and would not speak.

One 15 year old Afghani boy told me he walked for twelve days to get a bus to Turkey. He made the ocean crossing in an inflatable raft with 40 other people. From Turkey to Lesvos took 4 hours. During the crossing, a child fell overboard and drowned. He was the captain of the boat. That is, he was the one the smugglers showed how to operate the outboard motor and steer the boat toward the lights on the far coast. He has been in Moria for a year. He hasn’t forgotten the child who fell into the water. He also feels guilty that he hasn’t reached Europe yet. He has to find work to send money to his family.

I also talked to a young Syrian woman who studied English Literature in Damascus. She wanted to go to London and continue her studies. She’s been in Moria for 2 1/2 years with her younger sister and her mother. “I write love poems,” she tells me. “I don’t write about the camp. I only write about love. It is how I survive.”