Miriam Blake
2025
Mytiline, Lesvos, Greece
What They Carry: Creating Backpacks from Refugees' Lifeboats in Eastern Europe
Miriam Blake (2025: Lesvos, Greece) is working with Lesvos Solidarity on the Safe Passage Bags program, supporting advocacy efforts, assisting workshop operations, and building a network of universities to engage student volunteers. Her project includes creating an archive of workshop history and impact, culminating in a piece for the 10th anniversary of the refugee crisis.
Hi I’m Miriam – a recent graduate of Belmont University with a degree in Public Relations and a minor in Fashion Studies. From August to December, I will be volunteering at Lesvos Solidarity with their Safe Passage Bags program. Safe Passage employs refugees and displaced individuals to up-cycle bags from lifejackets and boats to raise awareness of the refugee crisis in Greece and support sustainable production.
Throughout this blog, I will be documenting what I see, learn, and feel. My background is in storytelling, digital marketing, and written communications, but since I was 16 I have also had a passion for sewing and upcycling. This project sits at the intersection of these things – and I am excited to learn as much as possible from the team in Greece. I will be assisting them with design, communications, visual marketing, and program development. While I don’t expect everything to be easy, I am excited for you guys to follow along 🙂
More about me....
Home Town: Cleveland, TN
Major(s): Public Relations
My Stories
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Week 15 and 16: Solemn Excursions, Christmas Festivities, and Winding Down
Kalispera! As promised, here is a summary of what I have been up to these past two weeks, as well as some of
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Brief Intermission for a Photo Dump
Kalispera friends! I am feeling a bit under the weather today and would like to write a more in depth piece for my
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Week 13 and 14: Hiking, Thanksgiving, and Christmas Prep
Yassas and happy thanksgiving friends! As I am writing this my contribution to the little “friendsgiving” I am attending is simmering on the
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Week 12: Travels and Familiar Faces :)
Moin!!!! Which is how you say hello in Northern Germany 🙂 My internship gave me a week off to visit some friends of
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Week 11: Airport Reflections
Helllllooo friends! I’m saying hello in English today because, guess what, I went to an English speaking country! This post was written immediately
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Week 9 and 10: Celebrations, Illness, and Cold Weather
Kalimera friends! The last two weeks have been less chaotic than usual… mainly because I have been sick. Today I am writing this
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Weeks 7 and 8: Cozying Up With Community
Ya friends! These past two weeks have been busy busy busy and (as per usual) it is so hard for me to summarize
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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
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Week 3 and 4: Last Days of Greek Summer
Kalimera friends! Sitting down to write this blog post has been a struggle. Over the past two weeks since my last post I
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Week 1 and 2: Finding a Rhythm
Yasou!!!! That’s the more casual way to say hello in Greek. This week has been exciting and challenging in all of the best
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Two Days to Takeoff
Hello! Or should I say yasas, which is how you say hello in Greek. I have two full days left in the States
