When Ahmet arrived in Europe, the first image he had of the continent was that of a refugee camp. This is what, still two years later, he still sees when he wakes up. He arrived on the Greek island of Lesbos in 2016 after risking his life at sea and is still there.
Many refugees carry a long journey to the European continent. Ahmet's case is not different. He is of Egyptian origin and left for Libya when he had nothing left: "I do not have a family". There he lived for 15 years until the war broke out. He fought in it, but soon decided to try to cross the Mediterranean. "I tried it through Tunisia, but I could not."
He took a plane ticket from Cairo to Istanbul, the epicenter of all refugee arrivals by air and with a visa. The last step was to go into the sea and end up in Lesbos. Two years later, it is still in the same tent as the Olive Grove, an annex to Moria that replaces the lack of space for crowded facilities that currently house thousands of people in precarious conditions.
The "patch" of Olive Grove is, they say, denigrating, insecure and lacks necessary infrastructure such as running water and electricity. Ahmet lives with other refugees who are in the same situation as him, they have arrived alone. Their unmarried status making this path without family makes them the last collective to receive asylum or even a response about their status.
"I would rather have died in the war than to have come here," Ahmet says. The long wait translates into despair. It is another of the thousands of refugees trapped in the Hellenic country after the agreement signed by the European Union with Turkey in March 2016with the aim of curbing the arrival of thousands of people to the continent.
"Initially, the Government built the Moria camp for 750 people," recalls Theodoros Alexellis, head of Acnur in Lesbos. Later, and before the arrival of thousands of people, it was said that the space could accommodate a maximum of between 2,000 and 3,000 people. Today, UNHCR and Greece can not agree on the number of people there. The Government says that there are 8,000 people, while the UN lowers the figure to 6,000. All estimates exceed the maximum capacity.
"This is inhuman"
Eric is from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. "Here they treat us like animals and the food is very bad," he complains. Their complaints are not only expressed by the refugees. The organizations that work in the field also denounce the poor quality of the food. "Many times they are the main cause of malnutrition, especially in children," says Luca Fontana, coordinator of Doctors Without Borders in the Moria camp. Conditions like these are leading the camp, according to the NGO, "to the point of no return."
Social organizations have been denouncing it for months. "This is inhuman," says Fontana. "These people have to fight to see a doctor, to go to the bathroom, to have food." They spend almost two years waiting and struggling, without having information about what will become of them in the future and afraid of being deported. With the fear of getting up one morning and being told with a paper that you do not even understand that you should go back to Turkey, knowing what this presupposes, it is normal that all this is very stressful, "he says.
A shower for every 50 people, a bathroom for 100 and endless queues to eat. 20 refugees live in the improvised containers, which translates into two square meters per inhabitant. Faced with this situation, he asks himself: "Could you live like this for two years?"
At the MSF clinic in Moria they offer primary care for minors and pre- and post-natal care for women. In addition, there is also a specialized medical service in case of violations. "Sexual abuse is relatively common in Moria or in the countries of origin," denounces Fontana. The simple act of going to the bathroom at night exposes women to sexual assault.
The attention becomes increasingly difficult due to an increase in arrivals that, he says, exceeds its resources. In total, according to UNHCR, almost 7,000 people have arrived on the island this year. "Now we have an average of 60 children a day, in March they were between 25 and 30," says Carola Buscemi, an MSF pediatrician in Moria.
The worst thing, he says, is not saturation, but visits that can not be done. In recent weeks, as the organization admits, they have had to stop serving an average of 15 children a day. During weekends, accessing health care is almost impossible here. They are responsible for meeting this need, but they barely get it.
"We are getting used to having a bad time"
While the number of refugees, the desperation and the tension increase, the transfer of people to Athens is very limited. "Last month they did not transfer or 800 and more than 2,000 arrived," says the coordinator of MSF. Acnur attributes it to the difficulty in finding accommodation for so many people in mainland Greece.
A citizen of the island summarizes in a few words what many think: "The worst thing of all is that we are getting used to having the refugees having a bad time in fields and a few kilometers from our homes, but we do not care".
The controversial agreement between the EU and Turkey has had the effect of reducing the flow of refugees, but has collapsed the Greek islands. Luca Fontana can not avoid outrage when he refers to the document: "This is what the EU's migration policy is doing," he says, pointing to a group of children.
"We are trapping these people in an inhumane field and taking their future from their hands, this can not be the solution, we must take alternative measures and these people do not pay the bill." He retires to continue his work. A few days before, more than 900 people had arrived on the islands. More than 400 managed to reach Lesbos. Many will end up in Moria.