More than 60 million people are currently fleeing conflict or persecution around the world.
Due to their race, religion or nationality, these people's homes are no longer safe places to live and their governments no longer provide them with protecti...
Cultural mediator Myriam has been working for MSF / Doctors Without Borders on Lesbos, where people who have made the crossing to Greece from Turkey are forced to live in crowded camps. She explains how offering healthcare allows people living in extremely tough circumstances to once again 'feel human'...
After surviving war, violence and the dangerous crossing from Turkey, many refugees and migrants find themselves trapped on the Greek islands. On Lesbos, where I am working as a cultural mediator with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), most people are sent to an EU-funded camp called Moria.
An agreement between Europe and Turkey forbids people from moving to the mainland until Greek authorities have processed their papers and decided on their asylum application.
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Even in the cold winter months, families must live in tents or containers in Moria camp.
Photo: MSF.
The camp houses over 5,500 people and is severely overcrowded, having been built to accommodate just 2,000. The few "lucky ones" live in containers - imagine an adapted shipping container - while most live in flimsy, non-insulated tents, designed for sunny weather.
One of the first things you notice when walking around Moria is the number of families with young children: playing with the abundance of rubbish that's lying around, dodging around the very tight spaces in between each tent, clinging on to their mothers as they struggle up the very steep hills around the camp.
Children absolutely everywhere – desperate to play.
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Children at Moria pose for a photo after being vaccinated by MSF.
Photo: Julia Kourafa / MSF
More and more people arrive in Lesbos every day and are sent to register at Moria. Forty percent of new arrivals are children and 23% are women.
As the winter months were rolling in, children were more vulnerable to catching illnesses and infections due to the combination of worsening weather and bad living conditions. In advance, MSF established a specialised clinic for children.
