“Three old Greek grandmothers who kindly rescued refugees, witnessed the brilliance of humanity with their lives…” The European refugee crisis that shocked the world in 2015, Greece, located in the Mediterranean Sea, was the first stop for many refugees arriving in Europe, and there are also many enthusiastic residents there For many years, he has been extending a helping hand to refugees crossing the sea in search of a chance of life.The touching moment of three elderly grandmas living on the island of Lesbo, Greece, accompanying a refugee baby was captured by a Greek photographer in October 2015Lefteris PartsalisIt was photographed and became one of the warm pictures of aiding refugees. The three grandmothers have passed away in 2019 and 2022 respectively. The grandmother Emilia (Emilia Kamvysi) who held the baby in her arms in the photo passed away on March 13, 2023 at the age of 93. Emilia was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2016 for her charitable deeds to aid refugees; now the three have passed away, but the misery since the refugee crisis has not ended.
The European refugee crisis erupted in 2015, but its origins can be traced back to the end of 2010, when North Africa eruptedArab Spring(Arab Spring), the revolutionary wave plunged the entire Arab world into an unstoppable war, forcing millions of Syrians to risk their lives to leave their homes and try to find refuge in Europe. Since then, the influx of refugees has continued to flow into European countries. It reached its peak in 2015 due to a more open and tolerant border policy. At the same time, it also became known as the “2015 Refugee Crisis” due to the tragedy of the sinking of a refugee boat in the Mediterranean Sea. . (Refer to Corner International’s “Special Project: Refugee Wave in Continental Europe”)
Before the North African country’s civil war erupted in 2014, most refugees traveled from Libya to Italy and other European countries via the Mediterranean Sea – according to the International Organization for MigrationmaterialIn 2015, more than 3,771 people were killed in the process of smuggling in the Mediterranean Sea; after the Libyan civil war, the country adopted border controls, and refugees diverted to Turkey and across the Aegean Sea to Greece to seek asylum, and most of them were Syrians. One of them was lying in bed in 2015 Fallen on the beach of Turkey, Syria has drownedlittle boyThe photo shocked the world and catalyzed the EU’s policy of opening borders and accepting refugees.
While the governments of European countries are in dire straits over the refugee issue, three old grandmothers on the small island of Lesbos in the Greek Aegean Sea enthusiastically extended a helping hand to the refugees who seek to stay away from the war in their hometown; In March, he left a warm picture of holding a Syrian refugee baby by the sea and feeding him carefully, which became a well-known figure in the refugee crisis at that time.news photosone.
The photo was taken in the coastal village of Skala Sykamias on the island. Emilia, an 85-year-old grandmother at the time, and two other friends, Maritsa Mavrapidou, 83, and Efstratia Mavrapidou, 89 – They found a drenched couple on the beach holding a one-month-old babybaby, Trying to feed with a bottle. However, the couple had apparently just experienced long twists and turns and storms at sea, and the baby may have been crying and screaming because of discomfort and unable to drink milk smoothly. Emilia, who had been resting on a bench by the sea, hurried to check upon seeing this, and asked in Greek:
“Do you want to bring the baby here? Let me try it!”
Although the Syrian mother could not understand Greek, Emilia’s friendly expressions and body language broke the language barrier. Emilia took the bottle and held the baby in her arms; Strati sang a Greek lullaby together, and after much effort, he finally managed to calm the baby down and let him fall asleep after feeding. Emilia described, “No one knows what this couple just went through at sea. When I saw them, I just felt sad. The three of us were just sitting there. We can definitely do something for them. “
“As mothers, we will always be mothers,” Emilia said. Although her eyesight has deteriorated and her hearing has become poor, when she meets the Syrian refugee couple and their children, she can still try to follow her own Experience, help the mother calm the baby. The image of the three grandmas carefully feeding the baby on a bench is famously captured by photographers.
In fact, the three grandmas themselves are alsoGreek-Turkish refugeesThey fled to Greece in the early 1920s and settled in the village of Skalasikamias, where they spent most of their lives in this small Greek village. Emilia raised 4 children and 8 grandchildren. She is a hardworking rural woman. She described that when she was old, every afternoon as long as the weather was fine, she would go to the benches by the sea with Marisa and Efstrati to rest in the sun.
However, after the refugee wave broke out, what they saw was no longer the beautiful seascape, but the scene of rescuers continuously rescuing refugees in the water. “They jump into the sea every day to save people, and sometimes they carry adults or children who have drowned.” Day after day, this scene pained Emilia and her two friends. Emilia described that they couldn’t sleep during that time, and they kept thinking in their minds:
“Why are these people forced to lose their homes?”
“Why do they have to face the fate of drowning in the sea?”
“What the hell are these people doing wrong”?
Even though they are old and know that there are not many things that can actually change, perhaps because they are refugee children, they decide to go to the seaside every day to help these Syrian refugees who are coming in one after another.After the picture of feeding the refugee baby was photographed, Emilia was also arrested.to nominateNobel Peace Prize for “her good deeds and kindness on behalf of Greece and the efforts of all organizations and volunteers in the midst of this enormous refugee crisis”.
Geographical factors make the Greek islands of Lesbo, Kos and Chios in the Aegean Sea one of the gateways for a large number of refugees from the Middle East and North Africa to enter Europe. However, accommodating refugees requires a lot of expenses. For example, in addition to building a safe shelter environment, the education costs of refugee children must also be borne.
After the refugee wave in 2015, in March 2016, then Minister of Education Nikos Phillis proposed a plan to provide education and psychosocial counseling fees for refugee children, in addition to increasing more than 800 teacher vacancies, adding English and In addition to Greek language courses, consideration also needs to be given to children in refugee shelters who cannot attend school in the field. However, such an admission plan requires huge funds, and the Greek authorities are still under the pressure of the European Commission to continue to build more refugee shelters. It is difficult for Greece, which has implemented austerity policies due to the debt crisis and has experienced a sharp economic recession, and Greece is also struggling. Criticize the EU for not giving enough support on the issue of refugee resettlement.
Along with Emilia, 41-year-old Greek fisherman Stratis Valiamos was also nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2016 for helping refugees. During the refugee crisis, he often rowed a boat to the Aegean Sea to rescue refugees who fell into the sea. He usually fished in the same boat, but gradually he found that he often heard someone shouting “Help” while fishing. Tratis said:
“When you’re fishing next to a boat that’s sinking, you can’t pretend you don’t hear it, pretend you don’t see it.”
So, people always say you’re a hero, but that’s not the case, I’m just doing what I have to do. “
According to Tratis’ calculations, he rescued a total of 75 ships. He believes many migrants must put their fears behind them in order to make the journey. Tratis asked himself, if he had no choice, who would want to leave his home with luggage, hold five babies, walk for five months, and then board a plastic boat to an unknown future and danger?
According to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR)data, as of the end of 2019, Greece hosted more than 186,000 refugees and asylum seekers, including more than 5,000 children. The UN refugee agency said efforts to focus on refugee protection had gradually been transferred to the Greek government.However, in 2021, Mary Lawlor, the special rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, found that the Greek Coast Guard illegally forced immigrants to return to their home countries such as Turkey; until February 6, 2023, after the major earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, Greece-Turkey land and sea borderstrengthen controlincluding expanding the staffing of the Aegean Maritime Defense Force, etc., the tough attitude has also aroused criticism from the outside world.
The United Nations criticized Greece’s immigration policy development focus, which has overemphasized on security and defense, which has created an atmosphere of fear among immigrants and refugees, but for Greece, or other Mediterranean countries (such as Italy), due to their own geographical factors As the first stop for many refugees to enter Europe, the first stop must be to deal with refugee resettlement. Therefore, there are often voices in China criticizing the EU for not providing substantial economic assistance. Which country will the follow-up refugees end up in? Other richer Western Europe, Whether the Nordic countries accept asylum is another thorny issue for gateway countries such as Greece.
However, under such political and social factors, the three old women and more European residents who are willing to lend a helping hand to refugees still show the humanity of the original intention of the EU policy of accepting refugees. Today, the three grandmothers who rescued refugee babies in the refugee wave in 2015 have passed away one after another. Emilia passed away on March 13, 2023. Her funeral will be held on the beach where she spent most of her life and rescued refugees in her later years. held in a small village. Marisa, who sat on the bench with her and sang a lullaby to the refugee baby in her arms, died in 2019 at the age of 92; and Efstratia also passed away in 2022. He lived to be 96 years old.
During the refugee crisis in Europe, many small island residents were willing to jump on boats to rescue the refugees coming one after another, or jump into the icy water and push the broken boats to land with rescuers. send ashore.Just like the Greek photographer Lefteris Partsalis who took the photos back then, inFacebookWhen I mourned the three grandmas on the Internet, I wrote:
“You remind us that there are those who silently sacrificed to bring us back to the original purpose of humanity.”
“It was a happy ending, your shining example that will forever remain in history.”