I left Syria when I was 17 years old because of the war. Said goodbye to my family and the tears in my eyes but it is hard in life that you have no other choice. I left my family and I do not know whether I will see them again or not. I went to Turkey and I felt that It’s only a dream and I will wake up one day I faced the hardships of life and I am very young but I had no choice. I used to work from morning to evening with a little money to make living but again I had no choice . I decided to go to Europe and I was afraid of drowning but again I had no other choice . When I arrived in Greece I had no house or money and again I had no other choice . I lived in the street for 6 months and then in a deserted school for 6 months and when I knew that I couldn’t leave this country and go to my destination, I decided to stay and work to make my dream come true. And also, I had no another choice. […]
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Photo: Gert Jan Kole Imagine: You are an 18-year-old Syrian refugee from a family of 5 children , your father can barely see because of a genetic defect and as a family you got stuck in the heart of Athens, where the UNHCR policies will evict your entire family from a home you have known for over a year and you, your parents and siblings will be homeless, within 2 weeks.. Then, you would probably, most likely go crazy, lose hope in humanity or simply become terribly angry. Not Zahra, who has come to the Netherlands and has traveled through Germany to find means and ideas on how to solve the issue above. After two weeks up north, she will have to face the music again and help out with her family in Athens. She has seen a totally different climate and culture and had never flown a plane before. All on her own she will be pivotal in deciding along with her family where they will move to. This decision will influence their entire lives to come. They are without any future study, work, medical prospects in Greece, so there are only a few options avoiding poverty […]
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It's still happening, but it's not big news anymore. Refugees are still flooding into Europe - especially to Greece. Nearly 13000 arrived on the islands in 2019! Here in Ireland we don't talk about them much anymore.
It's now 4 years since the image of of a little boy swept up on a Turkish beach motivated me to sling my rucksack on my back and head off to the island of Lesvos to do what I could to help the thousands of precious men, women and children who had miraculously made it safely across the Aegean Sea in flimsy, over-crowded boats. A life- changing experience for me!
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This is the personal story of Amir, brother of Arash from ‘Our House’ in Athens – who were escaping tyranny in Iran, together. Amir wound up in prison on Lesbos island, Greece.
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The government and the City of Athens are reportedly drafting an ambitious plan to revamp the district of Exarchia, which has long been considered a haven for self-styled anarchists and drug dealers.
The far-reaching plan to spruce up the area so that it is transformed into a model neighborhood, includes cleaning and painting walls, evacuating illegally occupied buildings, consolidating sidewalks and pruning trees.
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