This summer I participated in a study abroad trip where we went to Greece and Italy to report on the refugee crisis. In Catania, Sicily, they had a celebration for World Refugee Day that happened earlier in the week. One of the most memorable and overwhelming moments was when three…
The thumbtack is my face.(You can even see my I love Free Software shirt!)
It's over. Tonight was our last night on the trip, and we head back to Athens tomorrow. I think I learned a lot more about myself than the skills and knowledge I picked up. I spent some time reflecting by talking to people in person, so I'm not going to…
We visited the Kara Tepe and Moria refugee camps over the past two days. The director of Kara Tepe really spoke to me when he started talking about dignity, freedom, and other human rights. I ended up re-reading the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and some of the background behind…
Today was mostly a stay-at-the-hotel-and-work day, so this is another reflection. For a while now I've felt lost in where I want to go in the future. I have about a year and a little bit more of school, but after that I've been pretty unsure. I don't think I…
There are four stories today. The knife We were going to the lifejacket graveyard. It's a dump that has boats and lifejackets from refugees that made it here. But each lifejacket is a good thing - it represents a refugee that successfully completed the journey, and no longer have a…
Unless you're already familiar with Lesvos/Moria, I would recommend you read the Human Rights Watch report, and this New York Times story. Lesvos is the name of the island, and Moria is one of the main refugee camps on the island. Moria is a former prison that was turned into…
Today was uh...boring? Our group was done with our work ahead of time, so we technically had "free time", except we didn't have anything to do/see, so we just got even more ahead on our work and took naps/watched TV. Then we got to the boat! At this point was…
Sunset from the Acropolis of Athens We had to go on a "photo safari" - two photos of ancient Athens, two of modern Athens, and one that was a hybrid. We went to the old Polytechnic university buildings that were the site of an uprising in 1973. It was incredible…
But like really. It's not actually supposed have a high chance of raining in Athens...and yet it rained. We had a tourist day planned, visiting the islands of Hydra, Poros, and Aegina. Hydra was nice, it was lightly raining, but we went into the ocean to swim. The beach was…
We hit the ground running in Athens, and the first morning, went to interview refugees in Victoria Square. Since we only spoke English, we looked for people roughly our age, assuming that the younger generation would speak English. It's a small square, but we found 3 young men from Afghanistan.…
OK, we're not exactly at the midpoint yet, but this is a better time than never to start a reflection. In total I think I've interviewed (in depth) with around 10 refugees/migrants, and about 5 people who work in support of them. One topic that constantly comes up (partly because…
Today was effectively our last day in Italy. Tomorrow we're flying to Athens, and will spend the rest of our time in Greece. We went to see the Valley of the Temples, which, surprise surprise, is not actually a valley! It's on a mountain ridge, which actually makes for better…
Today closes the first week of our trip, and all I want now is a break. I don't really feel physically tired, mostly just emotionally drained. I'm also running out of Skittles. We spent most of today just working on existing source material that we had. I finished up a…
In Boy Scouts, we were always taught to Be Prepared. And I thought I had prepared for everything (first aid kit, flashlights, emergency food, etc.) before heading on this trip – that is, until I met Joshua. Joshua is a 17 year old refugee from Sierra Leone. By his own…