Refugee Crisis in Greece

Exhibited at Aperture Foundation, 2017 | Published in New Zealand Women’s Weekly | Featured in a theater production and fundraiser with honored guest, Holocaust survivor, Eva Schloss at Jersey City Theater Center

Since the Greek-Macedonian border closed in March 2016, around 50,000 refugees from Syria and the Middle East were stranded in Greece. Conditions in camps are deplorable. Many are forced to wait in isolation, with limited access to aid, under the threat of deportation to Turkey as outlined by the EU-Turkey deal. Piraeus port in Athens held thousands before being cleared for tourism. Ritsona camp, 80 km away, houses around 600 people—many of them children. It was set up in a former military base with tents and minimal infrastructure. Residents include Syrians, Afghans, Iraqis, Palestinians, and a small Yazidi family. Om Issa, a mother of five from Aleppo, fled Syria in 2015. Her husband disappeared during their journey. She crossed the Aegean Sea by raft, only to be trapped in Greece. “We had everything before the war. Now we are here. Every day I wake up and see my kids here, I feel like I have failed them.” Women like Om Issa face particular hardship: lack of medicine, safety, schooling, and support. Some raise children alone while waiting endlessly for family reunification. Still, hope for freedom helps them endure it all.