This morning I walked up the street three blocks to see the damage at a squat called Notara 26. Last night it was set on fire with 120 people inside, among them, a large number of children. When I arrived, residents and volunteers were throwing burned debris out of second story windows and hauling buckets of ashes to dumpsters. The bottom two floors are gutted. Continue reading
refugees
Skaramangas
Skaramangas is a harbor west of central Athens named after a wealthy English family. It is also a refugee camp at the harbor west of central Athens named after a wealthy English family. Since April, Skaramangas Camp is what must pass for home for about 3,000 people from Syria, Afghanistan, and Iraq. It is considered to be one of the good camps.
Love and Anarchy in Exarchia
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
Internal Conflict and Cat Memes
Chinese symbol for internal conflict
So well, I have a very small problem. I no longer know whether I have a travel blog or a blog about the world I am seeing. Since I began my serious traveling in August 2014, I have been writing mostly chirpy stories. Travel makes me happy. Although I have seen hardship, I guess I saw it through my own optimistic lens. Continue reading
My Special Birthday Guest, Pope Francis
My hero, Pope Francis, came to Lesvos on my birthday. He was not visiting me personally, as you might guess, but his visit felt personal. He came because so many victims of war, oppression and persecution are not getting the benefit of global leadership that treats them according to Christian values. Or Jewish values. Or Muslim values. Or Hindu, Buddhist, Sufi, Shinto, B’hai, Crips and Bloods values.
Reaping What We Sow
Wall at Moria, Lesvos
It is very hard to comprehend what has happened on the Island of Lesvos in a very short time. For more than a year, Lesvos was a place of kindness and generosity to half a million refugees. Local residents and international volunteers scrounged up resources with almost no help from government or large NGOs. Food, sanitation and shelter were inadequate but compassion and mutual understanding were in abundant supply.
The Retransformation of Lesvos
I returned to Lesvos today after a week at the Port of Piraeus in Athens. Lesvos has changed. Continue reading
The Arc of the Moral Universe
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 the unfolding events here in Greece have already made clear.
