Leros refugee camp
×On Borrowed Land
The label of ‘refugee’ is a thief. It robs them of the dignity they once owned and reduces them to migratory statistics. What they are running from and what they are running to become subjects of lazy chatter. But the refugees I met on the Greek islands of Leros and Kos weren’t poster kids of despair. They were ordinary human beings who found themselves on the wrong side of war and misfortune. But their tribulations have also made them more human. They do their best to preserve their daily habits, rituals, and sanity. Finding joy in little things to make a fresh start every day. They’ve seen death closely - their own and of their loved ones. Now all they have left is hope. But not the kind of hope peddled in self-help books or the one constructed from naive optimism. Like Ibrahim, a Syrian immigrant, said, it’s hope that can only be born from the darkest corner. And there’s no bomb potent enough to destroy it.
Leros refugee camp
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Leros refugee camp
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Leros refugee camp
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Leros refugee camp
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Leros refugee camp
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Fresh arrivals at the Leros refugee camp
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Leros refugee camp
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Leros refugee camp
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Leros refugee camp
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Leros refugee camp.
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Leros refugee camp
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Freshly arrived immigrants at Leros
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Leros refugee camp
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Facepainting organised by volunteers at the Leros refugee camp.
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Leros refugee camp. Food being served to the freshly arrived immigrants.
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Leros refugee camp
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Leros refugee camp
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Afghan refugee at Leros refugee camp. For Pakistani and Afghani immigrants, the riskiest part of their journey isn't crossing the sea, but crossing Iran. They must cross high mountains, in sub zero temperatures, where the terrain is littered with dead bodies - victims of military snipers. If caught by the police, they are beaten up, their documents destroyed and they are deported back to the border. Then there are local dacoits who kidnap them for ransom. Some of those who can't pay have had their kidneys removed before allowed to continue.
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Leros refugee camp
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Leros refugee camp.
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Leros refugee camp
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Afghan brothers at the Leros refugee camp
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Syrian woman at the Christmas Nativity installation in Leros
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Leros refugee camp
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Leros refugee camp
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Leros refugee camp. Man pointing at world map. Most immigrants don't have a plan of where to head after exiting Greece. Many don't think beyond Germany and Sweden.
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Moroccan refugee stashing his remaining money in his underwear, after purchasing the ferry ticket from Leros to Athens.
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Leros refugee camp. An afghan refugee reveals the scars left by police dogs that were set upon him by the Bulgarian police, as he tried to enter Europe. After being bullied, beaten and humiliated on three separate occasions, and losing his brother in the ensuing chaos, he decided to take the sea route into Greece.
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Leros refugee camp
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Refugees freshly arrived from the Farmakonisi military island to the port of Leros.
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Fresh arrivals at the Leros refugee camp
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Bonfire at the Leros refugee camp.
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Puppet theatre at the Leros refugee camp
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Leros refugee camp. Mobile phone are often stripped down and left to dry after getting wet in the boat journey between Turkey and Greece.
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Leros refugee camp
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Fresh arrivals at the Leros refugee camp
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Shoes hung to dry at the Leros refugee camp
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Kos refugee camp.
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Leros refugee camp
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At the Poseidon storage building in Lerso where incoming aid items are sorted and labelled before being handed over to immigrants.
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Shoes and clothes being dried by the bonfire at the Leros refugee camp
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Leros refugee camp
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Leros refugee camp
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Leros refugee camp
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Leros refugee camp
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Leros refugee camp
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Leros refugee camp
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Refugees leave to board the ferry to Athens, from Leros.
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Immigrants head to the Victoria Square, Athens, from where they attempt their uncertain onward journey to Northern Europe.
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Immigrant taking selfie moments before reaching the port of Piraues, close to Athens.
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