Ripe Figs by Yasmin Khan

Author:Yasmin Khan
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781526609717
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2021-04-15T00:00:00+00:00

Ezme salad

HOME FOR A DAY

LESVOS, GREECE

Lesvos is Greece’s third largest island, situated in the Aegean Sea just sixteen miles from Turkey. It’s a breathtakingly beautiful place, with long stretches of sandy beaches next to crystal-clear waters, thickly forested mountains with therapeutic hot springs, salt marshes that are home to flamingos and wild birds, and more than eleven million olive trees (yes really) which are cultivated for the island’s most important food product: olive oil.

But amid all its beauty, Lesvos carries a heavy load. For in recent years, this island – once a major tourist attraction – has taken on a more troubling story. Its proximity to Turkey has made it the first stop for many refugees en route to Europe, who arrive by boat after a perilous journey by land and sea.

One afternoon in early 2014 a local fisherman, Nikos Katsouris, came across a large group of refugees who had just landed on the shore. Shocked at their story of fleeing the war in Syria and the journey that had brought them to this quiet, sleepy island, he felt moved to help them, buying them food to eat and giving them whatever spare clothes he had with him. Later, when he arrived home, he told his wife Katerina what he had seen and, as soon as she heard the story, she threw herself into the kitchen, preparing home-cooked meals to take to them. Hours later, the couple filled their car with food and every blanket and spare item of clothing they could grab and went to the area where Nikos had seen the newcomers. Unable to find them, after much searching, eventually they learned that the refugees had been detained by the local police and upon heading to the police station (and despite their best efforts) neither Nikos or Katerina – nor their food – were allowed in.

Stunned by the day’s dramatic events, the couple drove back to the beach, a place where they often went to reflect. There they began to consider a situation that – though they didn’t know it at the time – was emerging in Lesvos and throughout the region, where more boats kept on arriving. They stayed, talking until nightfall, when all of a sudden they heard voices coming from the water. After several minutes, an inflatable dinghy came bobbing its way towards the shore, filled with cold, scared, soaking wet people. It was a great surprise to everyone on the boat to find a couple sitting on the beach, seemingly waiting for them and able to provide blankets, clothes and home-cooked meals. ‘This,’ Katerina tells me, ‘is how it all started.’

In the months and years that followed, more and more refugees kept arriving on Lesvos, and Nikos and Katerina continued to feed them. First, they worked with other volunteers and made meals to deliver to the refugee camps. Later, at their small fish restaurant, they would serve refugees free meals and allow them to take up seats alongside paying customers from the local community.

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