Sayed’s photos of Muhtasham and Mutahar showing off their temporary tattoos.
I am back in Athens, Greece. I have returned to write, to find ways to be useful in the refugee community and to spend time with my Afghan family. So far, I am doing pretty well with one thing on my list. Sayed and Nahid and their children have enriched my life immeasurably, and they are making the most of the dramatic changes in their lives since they left Afghanistan. Continue reading
This is the story of Sayed and his family, refugees from Afghanistan who arrived in Greece in February 2016. I met Sayed while I was working in Greece as one of thousands of volunteers supporting refugees from the Middle East and Asia. Sayed’s story suggests some of the hardships and risks millions of people are taking to escape war and persecution. Sayed encouraged me to write this so others will understand a little about what people will endure to find safety and freedom.
Photo taken by Shahrukh Rind, yesterday at Moria Camp, Lesvos
Martin Luther King said “The Arc of the Moral Universe is long but moves toward justice,” expressing the kind of hope that keeps us fighting for our children and something bigger than ourselves. The international agreement between Europe and Turkey that treats more than 3 million lives as a commodity is not moral, as unfolding events here in Greece have already made clear.
At Athens’ port Piraeus, refugees after getting off the ferry from Lesvos.
Refugees arriving in Athens on the ferry may be hungry and may not have opportunities — or in some cases money — to buy food before their departure on the buses that await them at the terminal. Projekt Soup-Port is there with sustenance when the ferries come in.
Graffiti in the parking light at the Mytilene ferry dock on Lesvos.
I left Lesvos the way the refugees leave — by overnight ferry to the Port of Piraeus in Athens. The ferry ride is the refugees’ second sea voyage in a few days. But different.
The Erechteion at the Acropolis
Eleutheromania is Greek for “an intense desire for freedom.” The concept of freedom is a very big topic for a very long list of very big names. Continue reading
Camino Milagro 