Trigger warning: Some of the details may be distressing to readers
LESBOS, Greece - The customs officer smiled when I told him why I was going to Lesbos. 鈥淚t鈥檚 an old problem,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut, it鈥檚 still a problem,鈥� I answered. He stamped my passport, laughed, and then told me to take a few [migrants] with me on my way back.
Moria refugee camp, Greece鈥檚 biggest, and arguably the most controversial camp in Europe, is located in Lesbos, a mere six kilometres from Turkey. From there, an unknown number have drowned trying to cross the Aegean Sea on inflatable dinghies, and some now trapped in Lesbos believe they might have been better off at the bottom of that sea.
There are between 700,000 and 800,000 Rohingyas who have found refuge in Bangladesh in the past year. So why is there such a big deal surrounding the roughly 8,000 refugees and migrants waiting for asylum on a Greek island? The short and grossly unfair answer is, because it鈥檚 on European soil. You can leave the camp and walk 10 kilometres, as the migrants often do, and find yourself in front of a boutique hotel surrounded by islanders and tourists drinking ouzo and eating calamari. The contrast is hard to grasp -- just ask Doctors Without Borders who says the burnout rate among staff is the highest in the world.
Refugees attempting suicide
The conditions in Moria camp, compounded by the severe trauma asylum seekers have brought with them, have led to a problem aid agencies say they鈥檝e rarely, if ever, seen before: refugees and migrants, including children, attempting suicide.
Unlike most camps, Moria didn鈥檛 grow in size as the number of arrivals skyrocketed. They just piled on top of each other in a space that was designed for just 3,000. A makeshift camp next to it is expanding, but most are stuck in Moria, which was once a military installation. Asylum seekers used to only spend two or three days here before taking a ferry to the Greek mainland and then travelling along the Balkan route hoping to reach countries such as Germany and Sweden; but that changed in 2016 Now, once they reach the island, they are trapped until their asylum application is processed. They鈥檒l either go to the mainland, or be sent back to Turkey. Some, mostly economic migrants, have been waiting here for more than two years.
Journalists, especially with cameras, are rarely given access to Moria camp, but the people inside are free to come and go.
There are 58 different nationalities in this camp trying to co-exist in filthy conditions. Most of their days are spent lining up in a giant cage and often fighting for food that鈥檚 not always edible. Raw sewage has found its way to the tents where children sleep, according to aAt night, the water is turned off and clashes can turn violent. Stabbings are not a rare occurrence and women are more easily assaulted.
The IRC report says that 30 per cent of its patients have attempted suicide. However, the camp is so overcrowded they鈥檙e often discovered before it鈥檚 too late.
Idoia Moreno, the Moria clinic co-ordinator for Doctors Without Borders, (left) and Bilal Ibrahim, a refugee from Syria.
Idoia Moreno, the Moria clinic co-ordinator for Doctors Without Borders, was previously posted to the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, Mozambique and Angola and she鈥檚 adamant that she鈥檚 never seen anything like this -- not even in Ebola camps.
鈥淚 have families, fathers, mothers in our clinics with three small kids who are telling me, 鈥榃e are escaping from Syria, Afghanistan, Congo, horrible wars and what we are finding in Moria refugee camp is even worse than what we are escaping, we prefer a bomb killing [us] and all my family than having to life in this [inhumane] living conditions in Moria,鈥欌�� she says.
One pediatrician tells me about a seven year-old boy, her youngest patient who, twice, tried to take his own life. First, with a rope. The second time, his dad caught him as he was about to jump off a roof. The refugees come to Lesbos already damaged, many having witnessed executions, family members being tortured and bombs falling all around them. A psychiatrist tells me most of his patients suffer from hallucinations and PTSD, they can still see and hear the perpetrators they escaped in their respective countries. Combine the untreated trauma with cramped and appalling living conditions at Moria, and the result is a shocking mental health crisis.
Fighting mind-numbing boredom
Tooshy Ibrahim is in his 20s, from Falluja, Iraq. He came here alone after he says 9 of his family members were killed in a rocket attack. Single men, compared to families, have to wait much longer.
In his tent are four other single men, mostly from Syria. One of them, Bilal Ibrahim, has the name of his girlfriend, Nejma, tattooed on his forearm. She鈥檚 been in Germany for four years. As soon as we sit, he starts making us tea.
鈥淚f it gets any worse than this, I鈥檒l go back to Iraq,鈥� says Tooshy. He admits he buys drugs off some of some of the migrants to help escape the boredom. The drugs are smuggled in from Athens. 鈥淚 can鈥檛 live in the real situation,鈥� he says. I ask about the scars on his arm. 鈥淭he Afghans,鈥� he answered. He says they jumped him with razor blades.
'鈥n Moria, they kill us every day'
Nearly half of the camp鈥檚 population, 48 per cent, is Afghan, an all-time high since the height of the migrant crisis. Among them is 17-year old Sami who would like to live in Toronto and become a martial arts champion. 鈥淥ur children have become beggars,鈥� he told us during a protest outside the camp. People ask him to translate: one father complains of bedbugs in their family tent, another, of mice. Neda Yacoubi also speaks English: she tells me they鈥檙e treated like animals here.
鈥淲e came here for a better life. We escaped from Afghanistan because there was war, but here we can鈥檛 save our life. How can we do that? We don鈥檛 study, we don鈥檛 work, there鈥檚 no food, so what do we do?鈥� she asked.
Sami鈥檚 words are particularly hard to forget. I asked him if Afghanistan is really worse than this place: 鈥淚n Afghanistan,鈥� he says, 鈥渢he Taliban kill us once, but in Moria they kill us every day.鈥�
