Since the 1990s, Greece had been receiving asylum seekers pretty regularly each year. Many migrants came from Afghanistan during the first Taliban rule. When the Syrian war escalated in 2015, their numbers rose from a few thousand every year to nearly a million passing through Greece within a span of 14 months. More than half a million of them traveled through a single island in the eastern Aegean: the island of Lesvos.
The numbers of migrants arriving on Lesvos started escalating essentially overnight and on the north shore of the island, an area of tiny fishing villages that is the farthest point from the main port city. Several thousand people were arriving every day for weeks and months on end, overwhelming the local community. Initially the villagers were empathetic and tried to help however they could, but they desperately needed support. That is where Lighthouse Relief began—before the U.N., Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders or other NGOs had arrived—with several volunteers who had no previous connection to one another who quickly self-organized and coordinated an emergency response that was active 24 hours a day.
Chloe Esposito, Lighthouse Relief’s Head of Partnerships and Advocacy, describes these critical early days:
“Some people would stand lookout with night vision goggles, and if they would see a vessel in distress offshore, they would call one of the local fishermen, and the fishermen would go out and help the people and bring them to shore. We had another team that was waiting on the beaches with thermal blankets and first aid equipment. Passengers would pass them their babies while they were getting off. Then they set up a camp right on the beach that was a first rest stop for people when they were just arriving. So it was a place where people could get a warm meal, a hot shower, get some dry clothes if they didn't have any. They could rest, they could get some medical attention, and they could just catch their breath.”
Once the U.N. Refugee Agency, UNHCR, eventually established their own camp just up the hill, Lighthouse Relief became known as Stage 1, and the U.N. camp became known as Stage 2, where individuals would go to begin their asylum application process.
“That's how it was in the beginning. It was very transitory at that time, because pretty much everybody was hoping to make it to Germany and other parts of Northern and Western Europe, so they were passing through Greece very quickly.”
