February 8, 2019
Image from this Guardian article. It is a great read if you are curious about this camp.
www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jan/09/oxfam-criticises-eu-inhumane-lesbos-refugee-camp-moria
www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jan/09/oxfam-criticises-eu-inhumane-lesbos-refugee-camp-moria
A camp here called Moria is the first arrival site for basically all refugees entering the island. Currently there are just shy of 5,000 people in the camp, which has expanded out of it’s borders into surrounding olive groves due to the high number of people it houses.
Moria is divided into sections. Section A is HELP’s biggest project- tending to unaccompanied male minors that are mostly Afghani asylum seekers.
The Soviet-Afghan war began officially in 1979, but as a proxy war during the Cold War, it was fought as a civil war funded by “foreign” entities.
Refugees have been exiting Afghanistan ever since then.
Because it has been occurring for almost four decades now, they are not considered an especially vulnerable population in the way that Syrians are. This results in the boys spending months to years in “starter” refugee camps while more vulnerable populations are granted asylum first.
The Soviet-Afghan war began officially in 1979, but as a proxy war during the Cold War, it was fought as a civil war funded by “foreign” entities.
Refugees have been exiting Afghanistan ever since then.
Because it has been occurring for almost four decades now, they are not considered an especially vulnerable population in the way that Syrians are. This results in the boys spending months to years in “starter” refugee camps while more vulnerable populations are granted asylum first.
I spent my first day with these boys teaching English, learning how to write my name in Farsi, and showing off some Bollywood dance moves to the tune of their Persian music. The resilience of these boys and their thirst to educate and better themselves is like nothing I’ve seen before.