New York Times: A Greek Refugee Camp’s Epidemic of Misery

Squalid conditions and an inscrutable asylum process have led to what aid groups describe as a mental health crisis

An article in the New York Times presents the miserable conditions refugees are living under at the Moria hotspot on the Greek island of Lesvos.

From the New York Times online:

He survived torture in Congo, and a perilous boat journey from Turkey. But Michael Tamba, a former Congolese political prisoner, came closest to death only after he had supposedly found sanctuary at Europe’s biggest refugee camp.

Stuck for months at the camp on the Greek island of Lesbos, Mr. Tamba, 31, tried to end his life by drinking a bottle of bleach. The trigger: Camp Moria itself.

“Eleven months in Moria, Moria, Moria,” said Mr. Tamba, who survived after being rushed to hospital. “It’s very traumatic.”

Mr. Tamba’s experience has become a common one at Moria, a camp of around 9,000 people living in a space designed for just 3,100, where squalid conditions and an inscrutable asylum process have led to what aid groups describe as a mental health crisis.

 

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