SAMOS - THE PRISON ISLAND
Samos is less than two kilometres away from the Turkish coast. Its beautiful landscape contrast with the dark realities of the camp. One of the five registration centres, or so-called hotspots, for asylum seekers on the Greek islands of the north Aegean Sea. Built fo 640 people is found to be housing 6.000. A new camp is being built in Samos, which, unlike the others, will be a closed camp, a sort of detention centre from which migrants will not be able to leave. Winter is coming, and the refugees, to find shelter against the cold wheater build wooden houses. Ther’s high risk of deadly fire, as alredy happened, since they light fires to cook. This fire has devastated the lives people have attempted to carve out in the most inhumane of spaces and in the face of inhumane and degrading treatment.
Samos, Greece. Hassan, 15.1. 1996, and her little daughter Raghad Ismail, born on October 16, 2019, in the camp in Samos. Together with husband Ismail, they crossed from Izmir to Samos on the night of November 17, 2019. He is a Kurd, she is a Sunni Arab, they fled their hometown Ain Issa from the Turkish and Syrian invasions.
Samos. Greece. Improvised hairdressing studio in the Syrian quarter of the Samos refugee camp. A refugee looks in the mirror.
Samos, Greece. Two men are making a coffee in their shelter, around which they have collected branches. Open fires are prohibited in the camp, but the law is not enforced.
Samos, Greece. Preparations for the winter: The refugees buy wood in the city, drag the lath up the hill and nail small houses to themselves to protect them from rain, frost and dirt. They don't get any help from the Greek government for this.
Samos, Greece. Syrian refugee with visible scars on his stomach, which are said to have come from a phosphorus attack.
Samos, Greece. Firefighters rush to the scene and roll out Schleuche. Fires are not uncommon in the Samos refugee camp. The fire brigade was able to extinguish this quickly, 2000 square meters of forest were burned according to the fire brigade information, there were no injuries, under drier conditions a large part of the slope would have ignited.
Samos, Greece. African refugee looks at the refugee camp through his smartphone.
Samos, Greece. Saad Hisham Baaj, 30, is from Syria, Deir ez-Zor, and has a son, two years old, who has leukemia and needs daily medicine, including vitamins and iron. The public health system no longer issues social security numbers to asylum seekers, so the father has to pay for the medication himself. He is on his way to the NGO clinic in Samos, soon he will be allowed to leave the island.
Samos, Greece. Hazar Hassan, 15.1. 1996, and her little daughter Raghad Ismail, born on October 16, 2019, in the camp in Samos. Together with husband Ismail, they crossed from Izmir to Samos on the night of November 17, 2019. He is a Kurd, she is a Sunni Arab, they fled their hometown Ain Issa from the Turkish and Syrian invasions.
Samos, Greece. A closed internment camp for refugees is being built on Samos. It will have a three meter high fence, here will be the wing in which people will be locked up before their deportation.
Samos, Greece. A closed internment camp for refugees is being built on Samos. It will have a three meter high fence - and provide space for around 5000 refugees. However, the construction was only planned for 1200 refugees. The area is called Zervou, about 10 kilometers from the old camp. The building is a disused slaughterhouse.
Samos, Greece. Two tents under the clouds of Samos, the rain turns the unpaved roads of the camp into a mud track - and endangers the health of the residents.
Samos, Greece. One of many children in the camp, actually they should be housed in a special, better equipped part of the camp, in fact they live in the mud, many of the children are sick, suffer from infections and skin irritations.
Samos, Greece. Night in the hotspot on Samos, many refugees prepare tea in the evening to warm up. To do this, they light an open, dangerous fire.
Samos, Greece. The NGO Med ‘EqualiTeam takes care of refugees, provides them with medical care and also gives them medication. Asylum seekers in Greece no longer get a social security number. With this you could previously buy medicines at a reduced price, now you have to pay for everything yourself.
Samos, Greece. Two tents next to where the fire broke out. In the camp, every person has their own story, little by little the residents threaten to lose their individuality and transform themselves into a mass that is anonymous for Europeans.
Samos, Greece. A worker looks at an excavator, the first of a total of five closed refugee camps is being built on the Greek islands in the Aegean.
Samos, Greece. Some of the refugees have built their own stoves, and the women in particular prepare their own bread here.