Mobile libraries bring literature to refugees stranded in Greece
The brightly coloured minivan that pulls into Athens’ food market holds nothing edible – the hundreds of books it carries are there to satisfy a different hunger.
For tens of thousands of refugees stuck in Greece for the past two years after European states shut their borders, survival is no longer an issue.
Instead, boredom and creeping despair about their future are the new enemies as they wait for months, even years, for applications to relocate elsewhere in Europe to be processed.
Now at least two initiatives have emerged to help them fill the long hours of their day.
One of them is Echo Refugee Library, a minivan carrying more then 1,000 books, which does a weekly round of refugee camps in the greater Athens area and poorer districts of the capital where many refugees live in UN-rented flats.
The goal is to “make culture accessible to all”, says Esther Ten Zijthoff, 25, the Dutch-American co-ordinator of the project.
The books – in English, Greek, French, Arabic, Kurdish and Farsi – have been provided by benefactors in Greece, Belgium, Britain and Lebanon, or bought with online donations.
Ali, 26, is among those who never misses a delivery at the food market.
“I really love having something to read. It does me good,” the Syrian says, with an Agatha Christie novel under his arm.
The English mistress of the whodunit is proving a top draw for refugees, Ms Zijthoff says. “The mystery and romance in her stories are well liked by Arab speakers. We would like to have her whole collection.”
Language dictionaries are also in demand, with many readers borrowing them to photocopy and keep close by.
In another part of the city centre, a similar initiative draws Syrian and Afghan refugees to the offices of We Need Books, a volunteer group formed last year that also gives language classes in Arabic and French.
We Need Books has the largest collection of Farsi books in Athens, including more than 150 from Afghanistan, says cofounder Ioanna Nissiriou, 38.
Here, the most popular book is Arabian Nights. The sole copy in Farsi, delivered in June, is already in tatters, she notes with pleasure.
“Initially our goal was to help refugees escape through literature. But now we also seek to educate the children and help them integrate,” says Ms Nissiriou, a former journalist.
Zahra, 16, from Afghanistan has just discovered the works of Greek writer Nikos Kazantzakis, author of Zorba the Greek and the Last Temptation of Christ.
“I like this book because it’s a new culture for me,” she says as she pores through Kazantzakis’s Odyssey, a sequel to Homer’s classic opus.
“But my favourite is the Tales
of the Brothers Grimm, which is similar to fairy tales I used to read as a child.”
We Need Books has the largest collection of Farsi books in Athens, including more than 150 from Afghanistan