Xinhua — The first snowflakes fell on New Year’s Eve at the reception center of Moria in the suburbs of capital Mytilene on Lesvos island where hundreds of refugees and migrants wait for their papers to be processed and continue their difficult trip to western and northern Europe.
In the camp, a former military base situated in hills, the celebrations for the New Year were limited as the freezing temperatures prevailed and all minds were occupied by worries and concerns for the future.
For the New Year, the majority of refugees hope that there will be no more pain for their families and no more deaths.
But, after suffering from exhaustion, hunger, and ruthless smugglers, the cold winter is one more threat they have to consider.
The subzero temperatures and high winds put an halt to the arrivals of refugees on Dec. 31, 2015, according to the Greek coast guard at Lesvos.
The presence of thousands of refugees and migrants who have reached the the Greek shores, about 260 km northeast of the capital Athens, is clear. The shoreline is littered with slashed rubber dinghies and piles of lifejackets.
With temperatures plunging just below zero, the life at the camp is getting worse and more difficult.
Groups of Afghans, families from Syria, Pakistanis and Iraqis gathered around the fire and drank hot tea to keep warm, while others were equipped with extra blankets distributed by NGOs to spend the night at their tents.
What do they hope for 2016? “It’s a difficult question. We want to go to a quiet and safe place for our children,” Sharif, 26 years old from the third largest city of Afghanistan, Herat, told Xinhua with the help of an interpreter-photographer.
After travelling 20 days through Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey on foot and by bus, he reached Mytilene in a boat on Dec. 28 with his wife Samaira, 20 years old, and his 4-year-old son Ahmad.
Recalling his trip up until Greece where he paid 1,500 euros to smugglers for his whole family, Sharif explained to Xinhua that the most difficult part was crossing the borders from Iran to Turkey.
“We saw the bodies of six people who were killed by Iranian police,” he said.
A few meters away there was a group of children who were playing football and seemed to have fun under the guidance of Jaul, a 23-year-old football trainer from Syria. He also came on Dec. 28 at the camp with his elder brother.
“For the new year, I want all people who left their countries due to war, to have an opportunity to return,” he told Xinhua.
Along with the refugees, many volunteers from NGO’s across the world came to Greece to spend their holidays volunteering. “We came because we wanted to help,” Sara Moreno from Saragosa in Spain told Xinhua, who assisted as a translator in the camp.
She was only three days in the camp and she would spend another seven, with her friend Muhammad Nahhas.
From London, Piers came to Mytilene to join the volunteers from his country. He is another volunteer who decided to spend his Christmas holidays and the New Year eve with the refugees.
On the New Year’s eve, there were many of the refugees who were preparing their few belongings to go to the port and take the ferry boat to Piraeus port in mainland Greece.
Among them was Ilias, 26 years old, an engineer from Kabul who travelled with his wife, his one-year old son Lutfi, his brother-in-law and his family. They were going to spend the New Year in the warmth of the ferry, safe for the time being, he told Xinhua.
“I cannot trust anybody, until I reach my destination, which is Germany,” he said.
On the Turkish shores, they tried to trick him, showing him a big boat at first, but then they tried to put him with his family in a small boat.
“I do not want to die,” he told traffickers and then found another safer one to cross the sea.
The northern Aegean island of Lesvos has been Europe’s first entry point from Asia and Africa, receiving the majority of refugees and migrants.
Spyros Galinos, the mayor of Mytilene, told Xinhua that 65 percent of the migration flows fleeing to Europe by sea landed on Lesvos island in 2015.
The refugee crisis has brought Greece to a standstill due to shortages in buildings, supplies and equipment, but with the help of NGOs and local authorities the conditions have improved and become better, local officials stated.
In a small island of 90,000 residents, the arrival of 550,000 refugees and migrants inevitably would provoke chaos and abnormalities.
But, as Galinos told Xinhua the compassion and the solidarity locals, overcoming all obstacles, have shown towards refugees set an example to Europe.
