PATRAS, GREECE- OCTOBER 2011 .Located along Patras’ La Manikos Road, the smoke stained derelict shell of an abandoned café is now home to a group of twenty Afghan children, all desperate to make the difficult crossing to Italy from the nearby international port. Run by a twenty-three year old Panjshiri middleman, sun loungers and makeshift beds are hidden under old cookers and shelving displays to keep the young residents dry from the rain that drips in from the holes in the...
more »PATRAS, GREECE- OCTOBER 2011 .Located along Patras’ La Manikos Road, the smoke stained derelict shell of an abandoned café is now home to a group of twenty Afghan children, all desperate to make the difficult crossing to Italy from the nearby international port. Run by a twenty-three year old Panjshiri middleman, sun loungers and makeshift beds are hidden under old cookers and shelving displays to keep the young residents dry from the rain that drips in from the holes in the corrugated iron roof. “It’s too cold here in Greece in the winter. We wear two pairs of trousers and jumpers to sleep in and even under two blankets we still freeze in the nights”. Burning palettes and wood salvaged from building sites, fires that smoulder in the remains of the kitchen are the only source of warmth when the boys from the old café are not out at the traffic lights on the edge of town waiting for the remote opportunity to board a truck that could be on its way across the Ionian Sea. “We thought that when we came to Greece it would be easy to leave but now we are in Patras we realise that it’s much more difficult. Three weeks ago a few people here had twenty Euros or so in their pockets but now we are just collecting bread from the garbage. The police and the Greek people don’t want us refugees here but all we can do is to hope that we can each find a way out”.
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