shelter from the storm


© UNHCR/Sebastian Rich


“WE ARE STILL LOOKING FOR STABILITY.”


The reopening of the resort as a refugee reception centre is the initiative of the local mayor, Nabil- Iosif Morad, a Syrian doctor


from


Homs who has lived in Greece for 25 years. A Greek citizen through marriage, Nabil-Iosif is also the first naturalized Greek of Syrian origin elected to office in the country.


He offered the resort after the Greek Government asked local mayors for help in taking in the 57,460 refugees still in Greece, following border closures along what is known as the ‘Balkan route’ to northern Europe. More than 1 million refugees and migrants arrived in Europe last year by sea, according to UNHCR figures.


LM Village is located 70 kilometres from Greece’s third-largest city, Patras. Nabil-Iosif says that although some residents were hesitant about


22 / UNHCR


using the resort as a refugee shelter, the local council approved the idea almost unanimously.


“It makes me happy to see them living like this after they’ve left from bombs and war,” says Nabil-Iosif, whose three siblings fled Homs to areas along Syria’s west coast. “But in order to stop these images we see from Idomeni and elsewhere in Europe, we have to first stop the war in Syria.”


Tarek’s escape from Syria earlier this year took two months, he says,


threatened


during which armed groups them


and money at checkpoints.


They now live with another Syrian couple from Idlib and their two children. The families met


in the


Turkish coastal city of Izmir before boarding a rubber boat together and heading for Greek shores. They spent 20 days together in Idomeni, then 15 days in Piraeus before moving to LM Village.


“Here, of course, is better than the other camps,” Kinda says. “In


demanded


Idomeni every day there were heavy rains. Still, this is temporary. We are still looking for stability.”


They are waiting to apply to the relocation


program. For now,


however, they spend their days at the beach or cooking elaborate Syrian dishes.


“I am the boss in this kitchen,” Tarek declares. He pokes at a small toaster oven. Beside him, his housemate, 26-year-old Marwa, laughs.


“Okay, put the meat in the dough, like this,” she orders, pressing a spoonful of ground beef and minced onions into a folded crescent of dough.


They set the table for their meal, the shish barak served in bowls of yoghurt sauce. The walls are decorated with balloons. Asked what they are celebrating, Tarek smiles.


“Nothing,” he says. Then he changes his mind: “Life.”


*This article was edited from the original, by Tania Karas, which appeared on unhcr.org.


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