Week 5 and 6: The Duality of the Island

Kalispera friends – this post is a few days late because I’ve been grappling with how to go about writing this. I’ve been apprehensive to share this story, because it is one that is so common on this island yet also so fragile and sensitive that I wasn’t sure if I wanted to share it publicly. However, I’ve tried multiple times to sit down and write other stories from the past two weeks, and this is the only story I wanted to share. 

The past two weeks here have been beautiful, full of the last beach days of summer, delicious food at the local taverna (zucchini flowers and fried feta are some of my personal favorites) and saying goodbye to friends leaving the island to return to university. Swim lessons have ended as the water gets colder, although I am continuing to volunteer in the evenings at the gym that hosts the swim lessons. 

But amidst this beautiful experience I am having here, there is the duality of this island. Recently, I went on another camping trip and it was lovely. We looked at the stars, talked and laughed for hours, and shared an amazing meal together. But little did we know that just a few hours after we zipped ourselves into our tents and sleeping bags for bed, safely protected from the strong winds, a boat carrying asylum seekers would be arriving about 100 feet away from us. 

I have seen a lot of the media surrounding the crisis and talked to people about their experience coming to the island, but something about seeing it firsthand brought tears to my eyes. After they had been taken to the camp, my friend and I walked along the shore to make a pile of life vests to be made into bags. We found about 10 life vests for a boat carrying dozens of people. So many people made this trip with nothing to protect themselves if something were to go wrong, on the windiest and coldest night since I have been here. 

These are the stories we don’t often hear in the United States. We know about the crises abroad, but we don’t see this. The people who make these journeys, the few things they carry with them, and the courage they must have to leave everything behind. 

I want to write more about life on Lesvos and all of the beautiful things I am experiencing in this place I am falling in love with. The interesting people, the beaches, the close-knit community of island life, and the work that I am becoming even more passionate about by the day. But this was a part of my experience that will resonate with me for years to come, and for now it is all I wanted to share here. 

In the meantime, I had a busy two weeks, here are some photos of things I got up to…