In 2015, 856,000 people passed through the Greek islands, and in 2017 and 2018 only just under 30 thousand (according to UNHCR). But 2019 brought already a growth – over 60,000 newcomers. Today, boats coming to Greek beaches are back again, and practice shows that you can get stuck in Lesbos for a good few years. Nikos and Katerina run a small restaurant on the island, where every refugee can feel at home and eat a meal for free.
01.01.2022
This Christmas was not happy for everyone. For some, it was even tragic. Every day people are drowning in the Mediterranean. In this regard, the Christmas period was particularly calamitous this year.
We just celebrated the birth of Jesus, who himself experienced what it was like to be rejected and a refugee, at a time when countries (including our own) are shutting themselves off from people in a similar situation to his. We celebrate Christmas yet are unable to find a place for them here, albeit in hotels that have been standing empty for a year.
Christmas Day saw the recovery of the bodies of 28 people who were victims of drowning in the Mediterranean Sea. Among the dead, who drowned about 90 km outside Tripoli, was a small child. On the other hand, a boat with 88 Syrian and Palestinian refugees sank near the Greek island of Paros. Fishermen rushed to their aid and managed to rescue the survivors. Sixteen people died (12 men, three women and a baby), 63 were rescued and nine people are still missing.
It was the deadliest week in the Aegean Sea in years. 3 sunken boats in 3 days on the outskirts of Greece, a total of 31 dead and at least 45 missing.
More than six years have passed since the photograph of the dead two-year-old boy Alan Kurdi shocked the world. Today we have received further such horrifying images. Similar tragedies happen every day, but they no longer shock the public. The worst thing we can do is to get used to such tragedies. Let us not be indifferent!
If only you can extend a helping hand today to those who still cannot find a home for themselves in a safe place, visit GoodWorks 24/7 and donate a hot meal for a refugee on the Greek island of Lesbos. Let’s show them that we are not indifferent!
27.08.2023
The unpaved road stretches for kilometres and winds down the mountainous slopes. It cuts through bone-dry pine forests. From here to Mitylena, the island’s capital, it is more than 40 kilometres. To any sign of civilisation – more than 10. Out of sight, out of mind of all outsiders, a gigantic new refugee camp is […]
14.08.2023
Onur was a baker in Kurdistan. He is not afraid of any job. Stately, broad-shouldered, hands like vices. They have strength and feel. He arrived in Lesbos eight years ago. Abdul got off the boat on a Greek beach a year later. In Syria, he was a mechanic. He has fixed up his decrepit old […]
09.08.2023
“No disease will touch them. They are wild trees. They have already survived more than one pest.” When Nikos talks about olives, he grabs the listener’s full attention. You fall into a tunnel where there are you, Nikos and the olives. We talk like this for several hours. I don’t know how many. Nobody is […]
