A Syrian Princess by Petros X, rescue and relief volunteer worker Lesvos island, Greece Cover: Painting by artist Sofia Filea, inspired by the chapter “Angels of the Aegean”. More information about the artist, her work and contact details can be found in Sofia’s personal Facebook account below. Sofia Filea: www.facebook.com/sofiafileasart In memory of all those little angels of the Aegean, (we are sorry for arriving too late...) Map of Lesvos island with places of interest for refugees and volunteers «…Πουθενά, σε κανένα άλλο μέρος του κόσμου, ο Ήλιος και η Σελήνη δε συμβασιλεύουν τόσο αρμονικά, δε μοιράζονται τόσο ακριβοδίκαια την ισχύ τους όσο επάνω σ‘ αυτό το κομμάτι γης που κάποτε, ποιός ξέρει σε τι καιρούς απίθανους, ποιός Θεός, για να κάνει το κέφι του, έκοψε και φύσηξε μακριά, ίδιο πλατανόφυλλο καταμεσής του πελάγους. Μιλώ για το νησί που αργότερα, όταν κατοικήθηκε, ονομάστηκε «Λέσβος»…» "...Nowhere, in any other part of the world, the Sun and the Moon are co-reigning in such harmony, sharing so faithfully their power as over this piece of land, that once, who knows in what improbable times, which god for the fun of it, cut it and blew it away, like a sycamore leaf in the middle of the sea. I'm talking about the island that later, when inhabited, was named “Lesvos” … " «Ο ζωγράφος Θεόφιλος», Οδυσσέας Ελύτης, 1973 “The painter Theofilos”, Odysseus Elitis, 1973 Contents Preface ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 1 A prologue .............................................................................................................................................................................. 2 Chapter 1: Lesvos, October 2015 ................................................................................................................................... 3 Chapter 2: Arrival at Mytilene ........................................................................................................................................ 5 Chapter 3: Embraced at Kaloni ...................................................................................................................................... 7 Chapter 4: Alexandros ...................................................................................................................................................... 9 Chapter 5: Operation field Sykaminia (Despair’s flotsam) ............................................................................... 11 Chapter 6: Night watch ................................................................................................................................................... 13 Chapter 7: First wave ...................................................................................................................................................... 16 Chapter 8: Khalid the radar ......................................................................................................................................... 19 Chapter 9: Second wave ................................................................................................................................................. 21 Chapter 10: Tears for the East ..................................................................................................................................... 23 Chapter 11: Third wave ................................................................................................................................................. 25 Chapter 12: The quiet Afghani.................................................................................................................................... 27 Chapter 13: A march of shadows ............................................................................................................................... 29 Chapter 14: The doctors from Achaia ...................................................................................................................... 32 Chapter 15: Aeolus descending ................................................................................................................................... 35 Chapter 16: You are safe now! ..................................................................................................................................... 37 Chapter 17: Bryan the cook ......................................................................................................................................... 41 Chapter 18: Grandmothers, anarchists, and NGOs .............................................................................................. 43 Chapter 19: The meeting ............................................................................................................................................... 45 Chapter 20: A Viking priest, and the Mayor ........................................................................................................... 47 Chapter 21: A fisherman’s silence .............................................................................................................................. 50 Chapter 22: Vineyard philosophy with a Pakistani from Birmingham........................................................ 52 Chapter 23: Alert on the coast! .................................................................................................................................... 56 Chapter 24: Inter-camp shuttle service ................................................................................................................... 59 Chapter 25: All camps are full! .................................................................................................................................... 61 Chapter 26: Grief ............................................................................................................................................................... 65 Chapter 27: A Syrian Princess ..................................................................................................................................... 68 Chapter 28: PIKPA's Heaven ........................................................................................................................................ 72 Chapter 29: Moria’s Hell ................................................................................................................................................ 75 Chapter 30: A swastika at midnight .......................................................................................................................... 78 Chapter 31: ...and a good time was had by all! ...................................................................................................... 80 Chapter 32: Prayers for an unbeliever ..................................................................................................................... 82 Chapter 33: The Angels of the Aegean ...................................................................................................................... 84 Chapter 34: Leaving ......................................................................................................................................................... 86 Epilogue and a tribute .................................................................................................................................................... 87 A note to the people of Europe (written in the summer of 2016) ................................................................. 89 A short note to the Visengrad countries .................................................................................................................. 91 Για τους Έλληνες .............................................................................................................................................................. 92 Preface This is a personal account of the refugee rescue and relief effort mounted in the island of Lesvos, as I experienced it during my days of volunteer work on the island's North coast in October of 2015. All the characters and events are real, improbable as some may appear to be. The same goes for the main dialogues, even if naturally I could not remember exact words or the time sequence of their occurrence. Names have been mostly changed to protect the privacy of individuals. The reason for my anonymity is to avoid usurping, upending or in any way attaching my name to what has been, and still is, an immense collective effort by many rescue and relief workers on that coast of despair. Most of them have done (and still do) so much more than I did. Moreover, before any of us arrived there from other parts of Greece and the World, the people of Lesvos have always stood there, doing it all alone. In a story repeated in other Aegean islands, local fishermen plucked refugees from often unforgiving seas, at all seasons, villagers treated them in their houses, village squares, small taverns and cafes as best as they could, many years before this vast river of human desperation registered on the radar of much richer European countries to the north. Finally, while there are individual refugee stories, theirs is a picture unavoidably blurred and incomplete. This is simply because of the dynamics imposed on us from facing wave after wave of refugees arriving on the coast. All that remained at the end of a day was a smile there, a fragment of a story here, a sad faraway look,