An unlikely refugee camp in Greece
Syrian refugees in the Greek Peloponnese region have found a home from home in a camp with a difference. Myrto Papadopoulos went along to take a look.
The missing link
A teenage boy surfs the internet on his phone at dusk outside the camp's common area which has been converted into a collection center run by the Amaliada branch of the Hellenic Red Cross. Smartphones constitute almost the only link the refugees have with the outside world.
Basic amenities
The bungalows in the LM Village house eight people in two small bedrooms. Each also has a bathroom and small kitchen area with a camping stove and sink, but no hot water nor a refrigerator.
Strike a pose
Ranee Mousa, 27, poses with her eight-month-old infant who was born in Syria shortly before Ranee and her husband fled to Turkey and then Greece.
A moment of tranquility
Women from the camp take a group of children for a stroll in the country lanes outside the LM Village. Before the summer tourist season gets under way in June, the surrounding area of Myrsini is relatively quiet and sparsely populated.
Plotting their next move
A group of men talk on the beach at sunset outside the LM Village. Fewer than 60 men live in the LM Village refugee camp, all of whom are accompanied by their wives and/or children.
Home from home
Women and children sit in the evening light outside the tourist bungalows of the LM Village. Of the camps 340 residents, 209 are under 18 and 69 are women.
Family life
A Syrian woman holds her six-month-old infant outside the tourist bungalow where she lives. A number of the women in the camp, as well as having small children to care for, are also pregnant.
A boon for the local economy
Tarek Alfelou visits a small local supermarket in the village of Myrsini about a half hour's walk from the LM Village with his children Wedad, 11 and Ziad, 7. Many refugees buy additional supplies from the village providing a small boost to the local economy.
A familiar face
The mayor of the Andravida Municipality, Nabil-Iosif Morant, is originally from Syria and says that he is the first non-ethnically Greek mayor to ever be elected in the country. He stresses that while the camp was his idea, its creation was supported almost unanimously by the local council.
Strawberry fields
A Bangladeshi worker at a strawberry farm, a short drive away from the LM Village refugee camp. Many of the workers in the area's farms are undocumented migrants from southeast Asia who pick strawberries for 8 hours a day for 22-25 euros during the season.
Local help
Giorgos Aggelopoulos (center) is a local resident of Myrsini who volunteers at the camp where he has become close with a number of refugee families. He says that local opposition to the camp eased significantly after people saw that its residents were largely families with children.