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October 16, 2008

refugees

The refugee situation this summer seems to have escalated.

Last winter a camp was built just outside of town but its 3x filled its capacity this summer. There was also an Italian coast guard ship helping with the patrolling. Turkey is half a nautical mile at the closest point so many crossings are made here, often dangerous and some don’t survive. These boys are from Afghanistan, they had camped out on a bit of lawn on the water front. When I approached with my camera [courage attained with a couple of mojito's]they asked if I was a journalist and I’m not sure if that was good or bad for them, but then I’m not. They also spoke quite good English and seemed aware that being here, on this island in the Aegean was a hell of a long way from their desired destinations. Some of them who come over have no idea where they are nor how distant it is from where they think they are or want to be. There certainly is not a demand for labour that would make Samos a place to stay. I think quite a few get sent back, though I’m not sure how that works, nor where exactly they get sent back to, seeing as Turkey doesn’t particularly want them either.

Its also difficult to tell how this story will evolve, whether it will just keep escalating or trickle out. In the winter there are fewer crossings because of weather, but they don’t stop entirely and often there are rumours of accidents and bodies.

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