Many people going on vacation want to avoid anything unpleasant and just have a good time. But for Holiday Island attorney Dorothy Crookshank, her recent trip to Greece with partner, John Alexander, was an opportunity to use tourism dollars to help people in a Greek village who have reached out to help refugees fleeing ISIS and the civil war in Syria.
Crookshank said she was inspired to visit Skala Sikaminias on the Greek island Lesbos (also called Lesvos or Mitilini) in the Aegean Sea, four miles from Turkey, after reading a story in The New York Times. The article chronicled the remarkable efforts of the villagers in this town of only 152 to take care of wave after wave of refugees who have been, and are still, landing on the their shore.
“They gave it everything they had before non-government organizations came in to help with the refugees,” Crookshank said. “Greece was already in a financial crisis and people who were living on limited incomes were already stretched. But people in this village just went out and did what needed to be done –giving out blankets, bread or whatever they had, and keeping the newcomers warm or washing and drying their clothes. The one hotel and two restaurants put business aside and gave what they could. So many people were saved and it was so clearly from an open heart and seeing what had to be done. No one was concerned about business interests or giving away the last loaf of bread from the shelf. That is just what they did.”
Crookshank was particularly impressed with their efforts because of the strong anti-immigrant sentiment in many areas of the world, including in the United States where in some circles refugees are considered as potential terrorists or a drag on the economy. But Crookshank said the refugees are primarily families and individuals fleeing unimaginable circumstances in war torn areas with constant shelling and inadequate food, water and medical care.
Many people died on the voyage from Turkey to Lesbos. Unscrupulous individuals were selling refugees life rafts that were of poor quality and in some cases they sold them life vests that sank when they filled up with water. Why would people make such a dangerous crossing in unseaworthy boats and life rafts that were overcrowded?
“The volunteers told me that it was absolutely treacherous to cross the four-mile stretch, but they realized how desperate people were when parents put their children in these rafts. It was so horrible where they were coming from, one of them said, that it was their only choice if they wanted to survive.
“I wanted some sense of the energy of the people of this village who had given so much when they had so little themselves,” Crookshank said. “It was an amazing experience. During the worst of it in 2015, 600,000 people came across to the island. There were 1,700 crossing every day, and the majority ended up at this fishing village in part because they knew people there were looking out for them. With so much negativity and self-interest these days, this really did renew my faith in the human heart.”
In February 2016, about 30,000 come across the sea. Now it is down to 1200-1500 per month because of an agreement among Turkey, Greece and the EU. Turkey has agreed to monitor its coast to keep people from leaving and the EU was to give aid to Greece to help process immigrants. It has been slow going, and they are behind. “They are going through a tremendous process vetting these people,” Crookshank said. “These refugees are victims just intent on finding safe harbor.”
Three people from the town were nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize to represent the Island of Lesbos for the work with refugees. Crookshank met one of them, a fisherman supplementing income by working at one of the two restaurants.
“He was wonderful,” Crookshank said. “He said he was not a hero, that anyone would have done what he did. He talked about how there were so many people out there during the worst of it, you didn’t know who to save first. Fishermen picked up so many people in danger of drowning that one said, ‘We are fishing for people now instead of fish.’”
Crookshank saw some of the refugees as they came to shore off a crowded life raft. “John and I both had tears well up seeing the refugees coming in,” she said. “Families were in a desperate situation. It was still more than I could imagine how they went through this.”
Not everyone has been as welcoming to immigrants during this crisis. “Tourism has been down because so many people are freaked out about the refugees,” Crookshank said. “That has been hard on the people who live there.”
Outside of Greece, Hungary has refused to allow any immigrants in, risking membership in the EU.
Even on the Island of Lesbos, Crookshank met a couple in a larger nearby town who had a gift shop selling items made from natural materials from the island.
“They had been fined ten thousand Euros by that town for ‘operating a hotel without a license’ when what they were doing was providing emergency housing to refugees,” she said. “They have faced continued harassment from that town’s governing body making it very difficult for them to continue with rescue operations. It is beyond comprehension that there were people in that town who would want to turn their backs on people. It was such a contrast to the way the other village was. I gave money to couple for their legal battle fighting the fine. They don’t have a big operation.”
Crookshank was also inspired by volunteers from around the world who have come to the island to help the refugees.
“All the volunteers I talked to were exceptional people giving all they could,” she said. “Many left their jobs to come and volunteer. If I were not working, but retired, I would have stayed. In a heartbeat.
“It’s really a beautiful island, a paradise. I’m glad that even if I couldn’t do anything else, I could come back and spread the word about the plight of the refugees there and the incredible people of this village. There is hope.”