Maani Truu reports from Athens, Greece
A 10-minute drive from the tourist-packed areas of Monastiraki and Plaka, at the base of the Acropolis in Athens, is a non-descript gateway nestled between rows of industrial properties.
Behind the metal fence, amongst the surrounding concrete and trucks, sounds of laughter and chatter can be heard as groups of young children ride roller skates and bikes around brightly painted shipping containers. Go a bit further and you find a kindergarten class, arts and crafts workshops, hip hop dancing and a thriving garden project labelled ‘Green Street’.
Eleonas Refugee Camp - one of the very few camps located in the heart of a capital city - is home to approximately 1,700 refugees.
Almost five years after the European refugee crisis rocked the coastal nation, approximately 60,000 asylum seekers are now spread across Greece, according to the Greek Council for Refugees.
The 'green street' project was started after a 15-year-old living in this section decided to start garden beds outside the shipping containers. Source: Maani Truu/SBS News
The aftermath of the crisis - which at its height saw up to 5,000 asylum seekers reach Greek shores each day in 2015 - can still be seen on the Greek islands between the mainland and Turkey, where overcrowding, crime and poor health are rampant.
But in Camp Eleonas, the work of a group of dedicated volunteers, and the site’s proximity to the city, has allowed some asylum seekers to build a work life, community and routine while they wait to hopefully continue their journey into Europe.
“Here I am surrounded by a big family, an international family, I am not a stranger,” Syrian refugee Mohammed, told SBS News this week ahead of World Refugee Day on 20 June.
“I have ways to help them [fellow refugees in the camp] and they have ways to help me … you feel that you are not alone here,” the 47-year-old, who uses a wheelchair, said.
The camp was the first to be opened on the Greek mainland in 2015, with the bulk of its residents from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Mohammed, who was a teacher in Syria, worked in an Athens call centre while his asylum claim was processed. Source: Maani Truu/SBS News
Mohammed, who fled his homeland for Greece via Turkey three years ago, is now well-known in the camp after using his skills developed as a teacher in Syria to help fellow refugees learn to speak English.
He is also one of the few in the camp who have been able to find employment in Athens, working at an international call centre while his asylum claim was processed.
“In Syria, I taught English and maths and I came here and saw that most people wanted to learn English,” he said over a cup of Syrian coffee.
“For me, I just feel that it’s my nature to be a teacher … I have this problem with my wife, she’s always saying: ‘Mohammed I am not your student, I am your wife!’.
“It’s not about doing something extra, it’s normal for me to teach.”
Mohammed said he is now hoping to bring his wife and two daughters, who are still in Syria, to Athens using a reunification process available to people granted refugee status and their immediate family.
But not everyone is able to find work.
While it’s legal for people applying for asylum in Greece to work using a temporary ID card, volunteers within the camp said it can be extremely difficult for refugees to find jobs due to language and cultural barriers and the lack of employment opportunities.
“Greece is really struggling economically, Greek people can’t find jobs,” Simone Plassard, a coordinator of Project Elea, an independent volunteer group that works within the government-run camp, told SBS News.
“You add to that language barriers, psychological difficulties, families situations in terms of there are a lot of single parents with small children, you add all of those dynamics and you have a situation where people can’t find jobs.
“When people are here they want to contribute, they want to work, they want to support themselves and their families and there is a huge pride associated with that.”
Masoud, a 31-year-old from Afghanistan, has been at Eleonas Refugee Camp since 2016. He is still in the process of applying for asylum.
A tailor by trade, he has been able to find work in Athens with the help of Project Elea but said his dream is to continue his studies in religion, and travel.
“I didn’t come here for work, I came here to be safe because Afghanistan is not safe,” he said. His family are still in Afghanistan.
“Together [the Greek government and refugees] we can fix it, when we work together to find a solution.”
A life inside and outside the camp
Ms Plassard, 30, told SBS News the fact the camp is located in the capital city makes a huge difference to the ability of refugees to integrate into their new society.
“The fact that people here can go to the shops, can go for a coffee, can do all of these little things that, first of all, make people feel human but they are also not hidden away, they are not forgotten about,” she said.
“Integration is something that is talked about by politicians and media frequently … but if people are physically living away from the people they are supposed to be integrating with, what do you expect?
“Putting someone in an offshore camp is detrimental to everyone.”
Most of the other refugee camps currently operating Greece are located in remote areas or isolated on offshore islands.
Simone Plassard, one of the Project Elea coordinators in the group's headquarters: a shipping container identical to those used to house the refugees. Source: Maani Truu/SBS News
A 2016 deal between Turkey and the European Union, aimed at stemming the flow of refugees into mainland Europe, has meant Greece now acts as a holding pen for refugees who have been barred from leaving.
The pact substantially reduced migrant flows and cut down on the number of drownings, but it also stranded thousands on Greek islands.
In January, The Guardian reported about 15,000 men, women and children were stranded in Lesbos, Chios, Kos, Samos and Leros in overcrowded camps. Since the deal, only particularly vulnerable refugees have been able to travel to the mainland and Camp Eleonas on the referral of the UN Refugee Agency.
“We need to be in the city, to know the people, to know the culture, to know the language … because when we are inside the camp for a long time we think we are in the same place as our home country,” Masoud said.
“When we go out we feel we are outside our home country and we need to do something.”
Andreas Ashikalis, founder and coordinator of Project Elea, in front of the group's headquarters. Source: Maani Truu/SBS News
Project Elea, which comprises three coordinators and about 30 volunteers, run their operation from a small headquarters within the camp. Their offices are located within a shipping container identical to those that house the refugees.
Asylum seekers of all ages come in and out of the office throughout the day; some need to use the printer and others just want to chat.
As a storm rolled into camp, one man who was previously a soldier in Afghanistan and suffered post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a result came inside to drown out the thunder with music.
At 1.30pm each day, the team meets at the camp to assign volunteers to a packed schedule of classes and workshops. On Tuesday, the offerings included a sewing class, football workshops with a team from Barcelona, ‘little school’ (a kindergarten class for children under five) and a kids theatre group.
In the theatre group, the children are part way through a month-long project to develop a performance recreating scenes they’ve observed in Omonoia Square - a central meeting place in Athens where fresh food markets are held. The finished project will then be shown to an audience of parents.
According to Project Elea founder Andreas Ashikalis, children make up 30 per cent of residents in the camp.
The schedule for Tuesday at Eleonas Refugee Camp. All classes and workshops are provided by Project Elea volunteers. Source: Maani Truu/SBS News
In the ‘little school’ class toddlers scream and run around, colour in and play with blocks while metres away in the much-quieter library, an Arabic class for children is run by a 21-year-old Iraqi refugee called Aycr.
The Arabic textbooks enthusiastically scratched at with crayon were donated by a former Saudi Arabian volunteer, Ms Plassard said.
'It’s a disgrace and it’s the reality'
Before the workshops were able to get underway, Mr Ashikalis cut through the cheerful plans to remind the volunteers of why they are there.
The previous day, he said, another refugee boat sank between Turkey and Greece killing at least 12 on board, including five children.
“Every person on that boat paid 5,000 euro [$8,100] to do a trip that usually costs 5 euro,” he told the group.
“It’s a disgrace and it’s the reality.”
He later told SBS News that in the past week 19 bodies had been recovered from sinking refugee boats in Greece, but that the actual number of victims could be much higher.
“The media’s attention and the general public’s attention has almost completely faded,” Mr Ashikalis said.
“This is not the best that European citizens, Americans and Australians can do.”
Mr Ashikalis said he believes the Eleonas Camp “has a long life ahead of it”, but is optimistic that there is room in Greece for more refugees to enter the workforce and, eventually, be able to move out from government accommodation.
“There are still difficulties in attracting Greek people to work in the agricultural sector, for example, because the conditions are difficult and the pay is not great … the economy might be in crisis but certain professions are understaffed ” he said.
“There are people from the Balkans or Albania having these jobs, for the most part, I don’t see why a refugee from Afghanistan cannot obtain that job as well.”
In lieu of available work in Athens, some refugees have taken to creating their own businesses within the camp, using precious space in their shipping container accommodation to sell meals or groceries to the hundreds of other residents. Each container features two small rooms, a kitchenette and a bathroom and is often shared between multiple families.
Outside one container, a Syrian man who was a chef before coming to Greece runs a takeaway souvlaki and falafel business from his front porch, selling them for one euro each.
Meanwhile, Aycr - who did not wish to be photographed for fear of reprisal from the Iraqi government - said he is too busy teaching the daily Arabic classes for children and continuing his university study to job hunt.
“I just need them [the kids] to write and read Arabic,” he said.
He said he will be able to continue his pharmacy degree online after leaving his homeland with his family three years ago, covering one week’s worth of content each month.
Aycr hopes to be able to finish his degree in Scotland, but said he is still awaiting a decision on his asylum claim.
Despite the opportunities within the camp, nearly every resident sees Greece as another stop in their journey, not the final destination - which they hope is western Europe, the US or Australia.
For Mohammed, who had only arrived back at the camp that morning following a failed bid for asylum in the Netherlands where his sister lives, this is because Athens - with its famous cobbled pathways and hills - is not easy to navigate in a wheelchair.
“I’m always using the streets, I seldom use the pavements. Also, not all places are accessible for wheelchairs,” he said.
“The Netherlands, I can tell you that the streets are better, but the people are worse,” he added, laughing.
In July 2018, Mohammed was granted formal asylum in Greece and now holds a Greek passport. He said he is now searching for a new job, after resigning from his previous employment to seek asylum in western Europe.
For the others, it’s the lack of job opportunities or the desire to reunite with family that keeps them wanting to move on.
“Everybody knows Greece is a way to go to another country,” Masoud said.
“Greece is a nice country but there are some serious problems, we need to work out … we need action, not only talk about it.”
Video at top of article: Syrian refugees arrive in Greece through Turkey - Médecins Sans Frontières, 2012
