In the Moria camp, a refugee camp situated in Lesbos, there is a tragic situation: people stay around the rubbish, they are spread everywhere. 

The children who live there are traumatized after having fled from conflict in their home countries. They are about 3000, they are from Siria, Iraq and they arrive in dinghies from Turkish towns. 

They attempted to hang themselves from a pole or suicide. So the healthy service calls it a giant open-air mental asylum with dire sanitary conditions. We can understand this situation looking at a drawing, made by a child who attempted suicide, where eyes weep blood and the children’s body is floating among the waves.

The only moments of normalcy for Moria’s children get come when they play in an area founded by a Team Humanity, when they play at a small football pitch and when they can watch cartoons.

G.Varvarotto 3H

“The Moria refugee camp”

The Moria refugee camp, in Lesbos, Greece, is located near the capital town of Mytilene. It is home to 9.000 asylum seekers living in desperate sanitary conditions. Migrants live in groups up to 30 people, crammed into tents or metal containers and a lot of children and adolescent have attempted suicide or serious self-harm, since they came to this place. Approximately 3.000 minors live in the Moria camp, place of terrible healthy conditions with a lot of rubbish, scattered everywhere, that makes the air unbreathable and causes many health problems to people who live there. Migrants come from war-torn countries like Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, but the refusal on the part of European countries to take in asylum seekers arriving in Greece, makes people imprisoned on the island, with no way out.

Moreover, physicians and psychologists say that minors are targeted in the sexual violence and suffer from depression. MSF organized a therapy session with children aged between 6 and 12, who had attempted suicide or were suffering from depression or self-harming. One phase of the therapy involved a storytelling activity in which kids tried to create a story with drawings and words: the children began drawing war scenes or shipwrecks. One of these drawings tell of trauma: stormy seas dotted with terrified faces and lifeless bodies of children floating among the waves. The only moments of normalcy Moria’s children get come to a small play area 200 m from the camp, built by Salam Aldeen, where they can play with inflatable castles or watch a cartoon on a large screen. It is the only place where they can be just kids, without bombs, violence or rapes.

                                                                                                                  Irene Treccarichi, III H

1) What's happening in the Moria camp?

2)What is the Moria camp?

3)Where is the Lesbos camp?

4)What are the children's problems who live in the Moria camp?

5)What's the camp healthy service like?

6)How many children live in the Moria Camp?

7)What conditions do children live in?

8) Where are they from?

9)What di their drawing tell us? Who were they made from?

10)What are the only moments of normalcy foto Moira's children?

11)How is therapy organised?

The article by L.Tondo taken from The Guardian, 3rd October 2018, talks about Moria refugee camp in Lesbos, Greece. 

9.000 asylum seekers live there, but it's a centre designed to keep one third of that number; so their living conditions are really bad. Furthermore migrants who arrive in Moria, coming from war-torn countries like Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, are already traumatized and the conditions in the camp have increased their traum. In fact, they live in groups of 30 people, crammed into tents or metal containers, and there is rubbish scattered everywhere.

There live also 3.000 children, who have serious psychological problems; in fact, most of them attempt suicide and they hurt themselves. Those minors are also targeted in the sexual violence. 

The trauma for them is so strong, so it's not easy for the parents living in Moria to come to terms with the psychological damage of their children, and in a short time they begin to suffer the same depression as their children.

So, the MSF, a particular clinic that's located just outside Moria, organised a therapy session to help those children who have attempted suicide or had depression problems. One phase of the therapy involved a storytelling activity in wich kids tried to create a story with drawings and words. So, their drawings talk about war, shipwrecks and bloody scenes.

The only moments of normalcy Moria's children get come at a small play area 200m from the Camp: here they can feel at ease with the world and not a abandon themselves. M.Salomome 3H

“We have found hell”: trauma runs deep for  children at dire Lesbos camp

In the Moria camp there are more than 9,000 people who came from war-torn countries. They came there searching for help but they only find violence and other problems.

Moria camp is in Lesbos, Greece, and it’s like a prison for all the asylum seekers, forced to live in a place that was designed to hold the third of the number of the actually people there.

The biggest problem of the camp is the mental health condition of all the children there. Most of them suffer from depression, self harming and psychological problems which lead them to suicide.
Approximately 3,000 minors live in the Moria Camp and they come from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq. They arrive in dinghies from Turkish towns of Ayvalik or Canakkale.

The drawings made by Sirian and Afghan children show us war scenes, shipwrecks and eyes that dripped blood. They are the proof of all the trauma and terrifying things that those children have passed during their lives.

The only moments of normalcy for Moria’s children are at the small play area situated 200m from the camp. There are some inflatable castles and a small football pitch where kids can play and have fun, at least for a few hours.

MSF (Médecins Sans Frontières) organised a therapy session for a dozen of children who attempted suicide or were suffering from depression or self-harming. The therapy was divided into  more phases, one of them consisted in a storytelling activity in which kids tried to create a story with no words, only drawing.

Maria Dragomir 3H

Moria refugee camp.

Moria's camp is a refugee camp in Lesbos, Greece, where live 9000 asylum seekers, of which one third are minors.

Most of them come from war-torn countries like Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. Those who arrive in Moria are traumatised and the situation worsens their trauma.

Life in Moria is a daily battle for survival, physicians and psychologists say that minors are also targeted in the sexual violence.

To defend herself, Fatima, sleeps with a knife under her pillow, but rape isn't the only threat this Iraqi girl faces: the other is depression.

The drawing in the photo tells of trauma, the pencil scrawls were drawn by children who are part of a growing phenomenon in this camp.

The parents in Moria are afraid that their children have suffered from psychological damage, in fact so many children attempt suicide and the MSF organised a therapy session with these kids who had attempted suicide

The only moment of normalcy for Moria's children is at a small 

play area 200m from the camp; thanks to a private donation they have  inflatable castles and a small football pitch.

E. Di Carlo 3H

The Moria Camp in Lesbos

Every day, in the Moria camp, approximately 9,000 migrants, coming from war-torn countries like Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, struggle for survival, beacuse of the violent and unsanitary conditions which persist in the refugee camp, located in Lesbos, Greece. Here it is "home" for these people, although the Medicines Sans Frontieres calls it a giant open-air "mental asylum", because of the overcrowding and desperate sanitary conditions. One third of the migrants living in the camp are children, who are afflicted by trauma due to abuse and violence. In the camp, a shower is shared by 84 people and a toilet by 72 people while they sleep in groups of up to 30 people into tents or metal containers. The children live in terrible conditions: often targeted in the sexual violence, of which one girl, for self-defence sleeps  with a knife under the pillow; sometimes they stop speaking, inflict wounds on themselves or even they attempt suicide. In the drawing, a minor, who attempted suicide, tells of trauma: in a stormy seas there are lifeless bodies of children floating among the waves and planes dropping bombs, down on to homes and on to people. MSF organised a therapy for children aged between 6 and 12 years old who are suffering from depression or self-harming: a phase of it involved a storytelling activity in which kids tried to craste a story with drawings and words. Luckily in their life there is a normalicy moment: thanks to Salam Aldeen, who built a small play area 200m from the camp, children can play in inflatable castles and in a small football pitch. At 4pm, they can also watch cartoon on a large screen.

Sara Renda 3H L.S.B.Croce Palermo

No more I fear 

Laying over wintery sand 
With closed eyes and hearts 
To be free I pretend 
To be by nothing hurt 
All of a sudden the sea 
Touches my skin and I see 

Kidnapped by mild, frothy waves 
Gentle currents pull me down 
In another land in another place 
With fish and flowers I dance around
I eavesdrop the chant of a seashell 
Inebriated by kelp forestʼs smell 

Inexpressible words I learn 
They teach me new ways 
To be alive without going astern 
Scars and bonds they erase 
All pain and suffering disappear 
And emptiness no more I fear

When it gets too cold again 
And Iʼm of myself the burden 
Then the sea breaks the chain 
And I discover a room hidden 
In mind where itʼs possible to reunite 
Them with me the day and the night 

Marlene and Ginevra IV M
L.Scientifico B.Croce