The refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos is all but full, still more than 1300 people have been arriving every month since July 2023.
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00:00 Emanuel Lojang radiates positivity.
00:06 That's not always easy for a migrant on Lesbos.
00:10 Lojang works as a volunteer in the Parea Community Centre on the Greek island, which has been
00:16 an asylum hotspot for years.
00:19 The centre here is run by NGOs.
00:21 Lojang is helping with security, like here at lunch, and as a translator.
00:28 He's from South Sudan and arrived on Lesbos five months ago.
00:32 He's applied for asylum and for relocation to another EU country.
00:36 He knows that many people here get stuck in the asylum process.
00:40 Some are in bureaucratic limbo for years, even though the EU told us that efficient,
00:46 fast and fair asylum procedures are critical.
00:49 The hardest thing that we are facing inside the camp is only about the process.
00:52 It's only about the process, the delayment of the asylum process.
00:56 And we have no other option.
00:58 We have nowhere to go.
00:59 We can't go back and we can't go ahead, unless you finish your process.
01:04 The community centre is right next to the migrant camp on Lesbos.
01:08 For many of the people stranded on the island, the centre is a refuge and a lifeline.
01:14 They can do laundry here, attend classes, or just relax.
01:20 Working as part of a team has given Emanuel Lojang's life on Lesbos some structure and
01:25 purpose.
01:27 At first I used to be inside the camp without doing anything.
01:30 I used to be inside the camp without doing anything and I started experiencing a lot
01:35 of stress because just from morning to evening I have nowhere to go and I have nothing to
01:42 do.
01:43 So since I joined and since I started working here, I'm seeing myself, I'm comfortable
01:47 and even I'm happy at the same time.
01:49 In South Sudan, the 27-year-old studied political science.
01:53 He wanted to shape his country's future after a long civil war and worked for an opposition
01:58 party and as an anti-corruption activist.
02:01 That put him in danger, he says.
02:03 He prefers not to give details.
02:08 If you have any misunderstanding with anyone who is in the government, the person immediately
02:13 will target you and the person will do anything to you.
02:16 At night you will not sleep.
02:17 Whenever you are sleeping at night, you will just, you will not have a peaceful mind of
02:23 sleeping because anything will happen to you.
02:27 Anything will just happen just from nowhere.
02:32 Emanuel Lojang decided to leave South Sudan.
02:35 He fled to Turkey and then found a smuggler boat to bring him across the Mediterranean
02:39 to Lesbos.
02:42 Summer has brought a huge wave of new arrivals here.
02:45 Local statistics show the camp is already over capacity.
02:49 Since July, more than 1,300 people have arrived each month, over four times more than before.
02:56 The Greek authorities rejected our request for access to the camp, saying they currently
03:01 have too much work due to mass arrivals.
03:04 But the NGO Europe Cares, which runs the nearby community centre, is concerned that the situation
03:09 in Lesbos could deteriorate.
03:12 With so many new arrivals, the housing capacity of the camp is decreasing more and more.
03:17 They started to use also drop hosts, which are huge tents where people are living together
03:22 in smaller rooms, where the hygiene conditions are a lot worse than in the other housing
03:27 units and there is no AC, no fan, so it is really hot inside as well.
03:33 The NGO workers report that some refugees here don't have enough to eat in the camp.
03:38 They say every week over 400 people pick up food packages at the centre.
03:43 In May, the Greek migration ministry decided that the camp will no longer feed people whose
03:48 asylum requests are not currently being processed.
03:52 This is a way to encourage people to leave the camp faster, so that there is more space
03:59 for the new arrivals, since the camp capacity is limited.
04:02 For us the most important thing is to provide a sense of community, a sense of belonging
04:06 to the people.
04:07 It is really important to make them feel humanised and seen in a context which makes them feel
04:12 constantly like numbers, constantly like their rights don't count, their lives don't count.
04:17 They are just described as an invasion, as a flaw, as a flux, as numbers, but not as
04:21 actual people.
04:24 Emmanuel Lojang started learning to play guitar on Lesbos.
04:29 He hopes that if he gets asylum in Europe, he can finish his studies.
04:33 He might even try to go into politics.
04:36 Music helps Lojang to keep up his spirits, he says.
04:39 He wants the lyrics to his songs to give comfort and courage to his fellow migrants, to all
04:45 those stuck waiting for asylum in Europe.
04:48 "Zaman ta ta wajah, inshallah khuloshi bukhun khwais."
04:53 "The main condition is permanent, don't think too much, everything is having time.
04:58 So if the time comes, everything will be fine."
05:02 (upbeat music)