While we're all stuck at home, I am glad to finally arrive home. On February 19, I left for Greece to work with Starfish Foundation and refugees on the island of Lesvos. The foundation wanted someone to redesign their website.

Starfish provides support for both refugees and island locals. More than 20,000 asylum seekers live on Lesvos in Moria refugee camp, originally meant for around 3,000 people. Wide stretches of island coastline are overwhelmed by marine litter from tens of thousands of abandoned inflatable boats and life jackets. Both locals and refugees bear the shared brunt of powerful forces beyond their control.

About a month after I arrived, the U.S. suspended travel from Europe, and flights started to become scarce. I had planned to be there for three months, so I assumed this whole virus thing would calm down by May 19 and I would get home. Then the U.S. Embassy in Greece started sending out regular notices of diminishing flights and I began to realize I could be stranded for an indefinite period—on a small island with 20,000 refugees who have no options for self-isolating, let alone washing hands. 

After hours of searching online, I succeeded in putting together four flights to get home. Following several days of worry, I arrived home safely after 40 hours of travel. I was especially grateful for all the airport and airline employees still working in Mytilene, Athens, Zurich, Newark, and Minneapolis who made it possible for me to get home! 

I had to self-quarantine from my 75-year-old husband. My room is small, but cozy, and the TV is in English, not Greek. My favorite luxuries are that the hot water is always hot, I have central heat, and I can throw my toilet paper in the toilet. Travel gives new appreciation for things we take for granted at home.

I continue to work with Starfish remotely. You can learn more about the increasingly dire situation on Lesvos by listening to Refugees can’t practice social distancing, a PRI interview with Douglas Herman, cofounder of the nonprofit reFOCUS Media Labs, or watching Coronavirus: Protecting yourself in a migrant camp from the BBC. Herman is a Starfish collaborator and teaches videography to refugees in Moria.

—Cathy Lee Gierke, UMRA webmaster