Imagine this is where you live
and you don’t know when you’ll be able to leave.
And this is where you’re raising kids.
This is Moria, a refugee camp on the island of Lesbos, Greece.
Rasha and her family arrived at Moria Camp
in late December 2017 after crossing from Turkey.
She worries a lot about keeping her three children
fed and healthy since the family fled Syria.
Her husband, Waleed, made a decent living
as an ironsmith and roofer there.
He hopes he can do the same in Germany,
where he’s heard there is work.
Nearly 172,000 migrants entered Europe by sea in 2017.
Most landed in Italy; the rest in Greece and
Spain.
Many -- like Rasha -- are fleeing war.
Others are seeking better work opportunities.
Rasha and Waleed’s journey began in Deir ez-Zor --
a city in eastern Syria.
After seven years of war, they decided to flee.
They headed toward Europe,
and it’s promise of safety, jobs and an education for their children.
They borrowed money to pay smugglers
to help them cross the Aegean Sea to Greece.
Finally in Europe, they discovered that Moria camp was overcrowded –
often holding three times its capacity of 2,000.
Rasha’s family decided to pitch their tent
just outside the camp in an olive grove.
As temperatures drop,
the lack of hot water is becoming an issue.
Outside the camp, there are no toilets or trash bins.
But inside the EU-funded camp,
conditions are far worse.
My eyes water at the stench of rotting garbage and urine.
There are only a few public toilets,
which often overflow with human waste.
The fundamental problem is these people are stuck.
Locals oppose expanding the camp,
yet migrants keep coming,
and the understaffed Greek Asylum Service
can’t process claims fast enough.
Human rights groups say
the chronically terrible conditions are deliberate –
that this is how the EU deters more migrants from coming.
The EU and Greek government say the reasons are more complex.
While they wait, Rasha and others in the olive grove
make the best out of a hard situation.
Rasha and her family don’t know how long they’ll live like this.
Refugees in Moria are usually here for at least four months,
sometimes longer.
And their next step is likely another refugee camp
on mainland Greece.
The end goal is Germany, but to get there,
they’ll likely have to hire a smuggler.
That’s expensive, and Rasha says she doesn’t have money.
For now, she and Waleed are just waiting,
as more refugees continue to arrive.
Joanna Kakissis for NPR News.
Lesbos, Greece.
