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PORTRAITS OF REFUGEES AS THEY PASS VIA GREECE ON THEIR WAY TO NORTHERN EUROPE

21 images Created 1 Jan 2016

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  • Askhari family who just landed in Mytilene island are from Kunduz city in Afghanistan. They are travelling together with their two children, the husband’s brother and the wife’s brother. They left Afghanistan because after the leader of the city died, killing started by the Taliban and there was chaos. They traveled for 4 months via Iran and Turkey before they crossed to Greece. Their final destination is Norway because they think they can live there without much worry. <br />
Refugees arriving on beaches near Molyvos village in Lesvos island. Thousands of them come from Turkey, crossing the sea border on inflatable dinghy boats, on a dangerous trip that has claimed many lives. Local people or NGOs expect them and help them in some places but after their arrival, most of them have to walk to the nearest village where they can hope for a places on busses that can take them to the city of Mytilene where they can register and eventually board on a ferry to Athens. Many decide to walk the distance as the busses aren’t enough to accommodate the large number of people that arrive daily.
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  • Brothers Riza (21 on the right) and Aftab (19 on the left) Wahdat are from Pol-e-Khomri city in Bahlan province of Afghanistan. They were still at school when they started their journey 3 months ago. They left because of the war between the Taliban and the Daish. They travelled via Pakistan, Iran and Turkey before arriving at Mytilene island. They said that they had to walk all this way and survive on biscuits because Afghani people don’t have money. <br />
Refugees arriving on beaches near Molyvos village in Lesvos island. Thousands of them come from Turkey, crossing the sea border on inflatable dinghy boats, on a dangerous trip that has claimed many lives. Local people or NGOs expect them and help them in some places but after their arrival, most of them have to walk to the nearest village where they can hope for a places on busses that can take them to the city of Mytilene where they can register and eventually board on a ferry to Athens. Many decide to walk the distance as the busses aren’t enough to accommodate the large number of people that arrive daily.
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  • Tarik Aljadoue (34) and his wife Samar Jamal (27) at the space that NGO Aggalia has organised as a temporary stop for refugees in Kaloni village, as they are on their way to Mytilene city. A local person drove them there the night before. The couple is from Alepo in Syria where Tarik was working as an IT engineer for a French owned oil company until they closed down their business there in 2011. Since 2011 he moved to Kafarhamra north of Alepo, as his house in Alepo was in a dangerous area. He got married to Samar one year ago and they were waiting to see what will happen to their country. 6 months ago internet was cut so it was difficult to learn any news of what was really happening. Local TV was only broadcasting propaganda from different armies. On Friday one week ago, they decided to find a safe country to have their children and leave Syria where they saw no work and no future as they could not see the end of this war. They want to try to reach Germany or any other European country where they can find work. <br />
Their trip started from Alepo to Tartus by bus, then on an other bus to a port from where they boarded a ship for one and a half day to Toshojo port (Tasucu port?) in Turkey near Mersin. From there they took a bus for 13 hours to Izmir but before they arrive they heard that there were police checks in Izmir and as soon as they arrived, they boarded an other bus for 9 hour to Istanbul. There they stayed for two days until the smugglers told them that they could start their trip to Greece. They payed 1250 USD each and after two days, at 8 am, they met the smugglers at a metro station, they boarded a bus with 60 people and no AC and they traveled to a location near Izmir. The trip lasted for 7 hours and it was unbearably hot. When they got off the bus somewhere near the sea, they were told to switch off their mobile phones and walk for one hour until they reached the sea. There there were three dinghy boats with engines and 33 to 40 people would board on each
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  • Alsheikh family around the little food they could get during the food distribution. They come from Aleppo in Syria where the father worked as a gynaecologist until his hospital was bombed by the government forces after it was occupied by the Islamic State army. There are more than 10 groups plus the government forces fighting in Aleppo. They worried about their children’s future so they decided to leave their country where IS is forcing children to leaned how to fight. His life was also in danger if IS could find out that he was a doctor there. Already his wife’s brother who is travelling with them (in the back), had been injured by a bullet. The route they followed was: from Aleppo to Azaz by car, then  they walked for 21km to the border with Turkey, after crossing they walked for 10 more km until the first village Kilis, then they went to Urfa by a small bus they rented, then traveled for 36 hours by local bus to Izmir where they met the smugglers who arranged for them to go to Greece. They brought them 70km north of Izmir where they crossed by boat to Mytilene island. That was three days ago and they have been in the camp for 2 days while they are waiting for their registration papers so that they can continue their trip. They thought that they would find better conditions in Greece so they where quite disappointed. Their final destination is Germany. <br />
Refugee camp Kara Tepe near Mytilene city. It hosts Syrian refugees who are waiting for their registration papers that will allow them to stay in Greece for some time till they can move to an other European country.
    039-LESVOS-KARA_TEPE-5289.jpg
  • Alsheikh family around the little food they could get during the food distribution. They come from Aleppo in Syria where the father worked as a gynaecologist until his hospital was bombed by the government forces after it was occupied by the Islamic State army. There are more than 10 groups plus the government forces fighting in Aleppo. They worried about their children’s future so they decided to leave their country where IS is forcing children to leaned how to fight. His life was also in danger if IS could find out that he was a doctor there. Already his wife’s brother who is travelling with them (in the back), had been injured by a bullet. The route they followed was: from Aleppo to Azaz by car, then  they walked for 21km to the border with Turkey, after crossing they walked for 10 more km until the first village Kilis, then they went to Urfa by a small bus they rented, then traveled for 36 hours by local bus to Izmir where they met the smugglers who arranged for them to go to Greece. They brought them 70km north of Izmir where they crossed by boat to Mytilene island. That was three days ago and they have been in the camp for 2 days while they are waiting for their registration papers so that they can continue their trip. They thought that they would find better conditions in Greece so they where quite disappointed. Their final destination is Germany. <br />
Refugee camp Kara Tepe near Mytilene city. It hosts Syrian refugees who are waiting for their registration papers that will allow them to stay in Greece for some time till they can move to an other European country.
    040-LESVOS-KARA_TEPE-5298.jpg
  • Esmael (husband) and Saheb Zade (wife) Bashira with their children, inside the car that picked them up after they were walking many hours trying to reach Mytilene city. <br />
They are from Kabul in Afghanistan where the husband had a street stall selling clothes. After an explosion near their home killed her nephew who was a policeman, they got scared and decided to leave the country. They want to go to Switzerland.
    045-LESVOS-MYTILENE-6003.jpg
  • Esmael (husband) and Saheb Zade (wife) Bashira with their children and Saheb Zade’s brother, in Mytilene city. <br />
They are from Kabul in Afghanistan where the husband had a street stall selling clothes. After an explosion near their home killed her nephew who was a policeman, they got scared and decided to leave the country. They want to go to Switzerland.
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  • Saheb Zade Bashira with one of her their children in front of the tent where she is staying. <br />
They are from Kabul in Afghanistan where her husband had a street stall selling clothes. After an explosion near their home killed her nephew who was a policeman, they got scared and decided to leave the country. They want to go to Switzerland. <br />
Moria refugee camp is a bit further out of Mytilene city and it is divided in two sections. The inner part is well organised with buildings and police guarding it, and the outer part where mainly Afghan refugees live in tents and is purely guarded with chaotic situations, mainly during food distribution, frequently occur.
    047-LESVOS-MORIA-7116.jpg
  • Rahmatullah (24, on the left) is travelling together with his middle brother Aziz (21, on the right). He is fluent in English as he used to work as a translator for the American army. He left Afghanistan once and lived in the US for two years until he was asked to leave the country because of a fight he had had with a US solder in Afghanistan. He said that what happened was that he stopped the US solder when he entered a house and tried to rape a young Afghani mother. He had to return to Afghanistan. He stayed there for two years but he often received threats because Afghanis saw him as someone who had collaborated with the “infidel”. Six months ago they attacked and injured his younger brother with a hand-grenade, mistaking him for Rahmatullah. He and his brother Aziz left Afghanistan 45 days ago and crossed to Greece via Turkey. Their final destination is Denmark where they already have members of their family living there. <br />
Moria refugee camp is a bit further out of Mytilene city and it is divided in two sections. The inner part is well organised with buildings and police guarding it, and the outer part where mainly Afghan refugees live in tents and is purely guarded with chaotic situations, mainly during food distribution, frequently occur.
    050-LESVOS-MORIA-7113.jpg
  • Rahmat Qorbani (24) is from Kabul in Afghanistan. He studied photography at the art university of Kabul and he was working as a photographer for Afghani newspapers. His family is educated and his father is a teacher. The little money he was making with his work and the war with the Taliban who recently killed his cousin, scared him and made him decide to leave the country in search for a better future. He came to Greece via Iran and Turkey and his final destination is Ireland as he heard that it is easier for refugees to be accepted there. <br />
Moria refugee camp is a bit further out of Mytilene city and it is divided in two sections. The inner part is well organised with buildings and police guarding it, and the outer part where mainly Afghan refugees live in tents and is purely guarded with chaotic situations, mainly during food distribution, frequently occur.
    051-LESVOS-MORIA-7130.jpg
  • Soraya Nashbandi (57) is from Kabul city of Afghanistan. She is travelling together with her two sons and her younger daughter. Her husband was killed 10 years ago but they never found out how. There used to be many explosions in Kabul in those days. Her oldest son (24) is a computer engineer and had a computer shop with 24 servers. Her youngest son (22) was studying to become a veterinarian. The family also had two cloths shops. The older brother decided to leave everything behind and take the family out of the country 9 months ago, when a powerful man in his 50s started pressuring the family to give him their older daughter (26) to become his 5th wife. The girl was engaged to an Afghan man who had immigrated to Norway and the family was trying to avoid the pressure of the older man. That man then threatened to take the younger daughter (17). They were afraid of what will happen to the daughters, as that man was influential and also had his own army. When they decided to leave, the hide for 4 days at an aunty’s house until they could make passports with fake names, then they boarded a flight to Tehran in Iran where they met with a smuggler who helped them go to Turkey in 12 days where they had to walk through the border. The went to Sivas city and there the daughter’s fiancee came to meet them, they got married and he waited for 50 days till she could get her visa to Norway before they left together. While in Turkey, Soraya started having health problems and at a hospital they found that she had blood cancer. She went through treatment and that was the reason they stayed in Turkey for so long. While in Turkey, they heard that the powerful man who wanted to marry her daughter was actually a trader, providing women to wealthy men. When the treatment finished and they only had to do regular check-ups, they decided to continue their trip. They went to Istanbul to meet the smugglers who could bring them to Greece and from there they where brought  to Izmir. They tri
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  • Oddi (24) is from Darra city in Syria. He is traveling together with his wife who is pregnant, his mother and one more member of his family. His house was destroyed in the war. He and his family will be travelling to Germany where his two brothers live. He used to study to become a car mechanic and he wants to continue his studies in Germany. <br />
Refugees at the camp called PIKPA outside Mytilene city, that is one of the best organised. It is run but a group of volunteers under the name “The Village of Everyone Together”. People there are both from Syria and Afghanistan.
    067-LESVOS-PIKPA-6305.jpg
  • Fade is from Nabk city in Syria. He is travelling together with his sister, his wife and their two children. He used to work as an engineer for mobile phone antennas and they were wealthy with 3 houses and two cars. He saw a lot of injustice in his city with people who complained being arrested and 1/3 of the city flattened during 4 years of war. Together with many volunteers, he used to cook and offer food to about 15000 people in his city. Eventually he decided to leave Syria with his family. He brought with him as much money as he could but most of the money in his account was blocked by the Syrian government. They traveled for about 3,5 years via Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey till one and a half month ago when they arrived in Mytilene island. They occupy a small house at the camp which he organised almost as a permanent residence by creating a watering system and by planting vegetables and fruit. He believes that it is important to create a place where the “brother” who will move in after he and his family leaves can also live comfortably. He is one of the very few people who are considering to stay in Greece because he likes the people. He believes that a person with skills can survive anywhere. He will try to do this in Crete island where he has friends. He hopes to return to Syria after the war ends. <br />
Refugees at the camp called PIKPA outside Mytilene city, that is one of the best organised. It is run but a group of volunteers under the name “The Village of Everyone Together”. People there are both from Syria and Afghanistan.
    068-LESVOS-PIKPA-6376.jpg
  • Faris (24 centre) with his wife Nour (18,5 right) and his brother Mohamed (12) are from Aleppo in Syria. He married his wife just before they left Syria where he was a Telecommunications engineer and she had just finished a medical high school. They were travelling together with their parents who decided to stay in Turkey because they didn’t want to do the difficult trip to Europe. His father had a bus company that closed down during the war. He and his wife want to go to Norway because he heard that this country is the best when it comes to Human Rights. He thinks that is more important than money. He wants to continue his studies there and get a Phd. She wants to study Architecture.<br />
The port of Mytilene where many refugees stay while they apply for a permit to stay in Greece or while they are waiting to board the ferry to Athens.
    083-LESVOS-MITILENE_PORT-6717.jpg
  • Zahra (17) (blue scarf) with her family. They used to live in Kabul where her father was a Shia priest who the Taliban didn’t like and she was going to high school with high interest in mathematics that she would like to study. Her mother was a seamstress and she also has two brothers of which we can see the younger. They all left Kabul in order to protect her as they were informed by a letter that a week later she would be taken by the Taliban. One of her neighbourhood friends had already been taken by the Taliban and nobody knew what happened to her, an other one of her friends had been killed in a suicide bombing and she was very scared. She is hoping that the family can reach a country where they can sleep without fear and where she will not create any more bad memories.<br />
Victoria square in Athens is one of the main gathering places for refugees. They stay there until they can find a way to travel to Thessaloniki and to the northern border of Greece where they can cross on foot on their way to northern European countries.
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  • Abbashi family from Herat, Afghanistan at Victoria square while they are waiting to find a way to travel to a northern european country, preferably Germany. 5 years ago the husband and the wife (standing) got injured in a suicide bombing. The husband spent 2 years in bed until he could recover and since then they tried to save money to bring the family out of the country. They now have no money and are waiting for some help to be able to continue their trip.<br />
Victoria square in Athens is one of the main gathering places for refugees. They stay there until they can find a way to travel to Thessaloniki and to the northern border of Greece where they can cross on foot on their way to northern European countries.
    096-ATHENS-8452.jpg
  • The Zedan family came from Edlib in Syria. The father used to work as an electrician and the mother as a french language teacher. They travel with their children that are 5, 6 and 8 years old. They have been travelling for a month and they crossed to Greece from Turkey on a dinghy that landed at Samos island. <br />
Refugees often arrive to Thessaloniki by train and then they go to the intercity bus station to board on the bus to Eidomeni border where they can cross to the Republic of Macedonia on foot.
    100-THESSALONIKI-2062.jpg
  • Muhammad (14, on the left) and Muhammad (18, on the right) are refugees from Syria. They met in Izmir and decided to continue travelling together. They both left their families behind because there wasn’t enough money for everyone to travel. The youngest one comes from Aleppo and his family has a small mini market. His parents are originally from Palestine and they went to Syria as refugees. Muhammad is now a second generation refugee, this time from Syria to Europe. He has been travelling for a month before he reached Thessaloniki. The older Muhammad is from Edlib and his family has a real estate business. He has been travelling for one month and twenty days. <br />
They both keep in touch with their families via social media apps and email. <br />
They arrived to Thessaloniki in the night and they spent the night sleeping at the bus station so that in the morning they could board the bus to Eidomeni border.<br />
Refugees often arrive to Thessaloniki by train and then they go to the intercity bus station to board on the bus to Eidomeni border where they can cross to the Republic of Macedonia on foot.
    101-THESSALONIKI-2027.jpg
  • Ahmed (20) is from Herat in Afghanistan. He used to study law but he stopped after two of his uncles were killed and his father became worried about his safety and his future and asked him to leave the country and study abroad. He has been travelling for 20 days. He crossed to Greece via Rhodes island and he hopes to be able to reach Germany and continue with his studies there. He was about to board the bus to Eidomeni border.<br />
Refugees often arrive to Thessaloniki by train and then they go to the intercity bus station to board on the bus to Eidomeni border where they can cross to the Republic of Macedonia on foot.
    103-THESSALONIKI-5224.jpg
  • Mustapha Ahmed Jalal (21) with his wife (21) and their three children are from Talll Al Abyad city in Syria. They left from there 4 years ago and tried to make a life in Turkey where it was difficult to find jobs. They eventually decided to come to Europe and stay anywhere where they can be accepted. <br />
Refugees arrive at Eidomeni border by bus and some times on foot. There they can cross to the republic of Macedonia on foot.
    115-EIDOMENI-2283.jpg
  • The Yakobi family came from Ghazni city in Afghanistan. The father is a tailor and had a shop selling fabrics but they decided to leave because life there was dangerous. Explosions were happening almost every day and they were also worried about their children’s safety and whether they could go to school. They have been travelling for a month. They left Afghanistan by crossing to Iran where they were hit by the police at the border. They crossed to Greece via Mytilene island and they want to go to Germany. <br />
Refugees arrive at Eidomeni border by bus and some times on foot. There they can cross to the republic of Macedonia on foot.
    116-EIDOMENI-2353.jpg
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