Capturing the chaos
Devin Heilman | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 9 years AGO
<p>Former Press photojournalist Gabe Green snapped this photo of a refugee boat in the Aegean Sea Wednesday just moments before the boat sank. Green is in Greece documenting the waves of refugees entering the country from Turkey.</p>
<p>This photo, taken moments after a refugee boat filled with more than 280 people sank in the Aegean Sea on Wednesday, is just one example of the hardships refugees are facing as they flee to safety. Former Press photojournalist Gabe Green took the photo and will continue to document the crisis. Follow him on Instagram and Twitter, @gggreen14.</p>
<p>Volunteers take a possible smuggler to shore on Lesbos, Greece, Saturday afternoon after the man was rescued by two Spanish lifeguards as he attempted to float back to Turkey on a partially deflated raft after delivering a group of refugees. He was later delivered by volunteers from Drop in the Ocean to a police station in Molyvos.</p>
<p>Two Syrian boys who were aboard the wooden boat that sank earlier in the day embrace Wednesday evening after reuniting inside a church in Molyvos, Lesbos, Greece.</p>
The Syrian refugee crisis in Europe is much closer to home than you might think. Former Coeur d’Alene Press photojournalist and North Idaho College graduate Gabe Green, 23, is in the midst of the action on the island of Lesbos, Greece, where thousands of refugees are pouring in every day. Green captured two images Wednesday of a refugee boat on the Aegean Sea — the first image of the boat loaded with more than 280 people and the second image, a minute later, just after the boat sank.
This is only one moment in a time that Green says is “pure, unadulterated chaos on a daily basis.” The rescue of the refugee boat was reported on Aljazeera.com; five children, two men and one woman are known to have drowned with many more missing. “I've been following this issue before it started,” Green said in an Internet interview with The Press on Saturday from Greece. “I kept a close eye on the development of the Arab spring in 2011 and the beginning of the war in Syria. I kind of grew an attachment to this issue and when I saw this huge migration of people into Europe, I was both fascinated and horrified. “I think the death toll of people trying to cross the Aegean Sea from Turkey to Greece is somewhere around 4,000 now which is completely unacceptable,” Green continued. “These are people that are traumatized, coming from war-torn countries who should be treated with respect and dignity and instead they are forced to risk their lives crossing the sea in rubber rafts, stay for days in camps waiting to get registered for travel in Europe and then have to find a way to travel thousands of miles without much help from anyone.” Green, who was working at the Daily World newspaper in Aberdeen, Wash., felt moved to become involved in this situation and bought a one-way ticket to Europe. He arrived in Greece Oct. 7. He spent 10 days in Athens before taking a 12-hour ferry ride to Lesbos. He has been staying in hostels and hotels with photojournalism colleagues and working closely with volunteers. He just happened to be with some volunteers, driving along the north coast of the island, when the refugee boat caught his attention and he grabbed his camera and photographed the disaster.
He said it is impossible to not feel passionate about the refugee crisis now that he is witnessing it firsthand.
"The circumstances they endure are absolutely tragic," Green said. "People come off the boats cold, wet, sometimes unconscious from hypothermia, many are seasick. Some boats do come in that haven't had any issues, mostly full of young men, who are just ecstatic to have reached Greece but as the weather has gotten colder most boats are more like the former."
He said the crisis is seriously lacking a presence of government agencies, and almost all the work is being done by individual good Samaritans and non-governmental organizations that can't handle the volume of people coming in from Turkey. He said he has only seen a few people from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
"They have set up some tents and other facilities and are paying for some buses to transport refugees to camps, but other than that the UN doesn't seem to be involved much in Lesbos," he said. "My biggest hope is that the European Union and UN can finally find some sort of plan for dealing with these people in a way that they won't have to risk their lives to escape from countries that their lives may have already been threatened. All these people want is for their families to be safe and to have a prosperous future. My biggest hope is that they will have that." Green said being able to document this crisis and share these people’s stories are part of why he became a photojournalist in the first place. “I've always wanted to make a difference in the world,” Green said. “I feel that if I can spark some sort of positive change with my photographs then I've done my job well. These people really need an advocate and although I'm a journalist and have to maintain a level of objectivity, I still strive to maintain a level of humanity as well."
Follow Green on Twitter and Instagram, @gggreen14, as he documents the refugee crisis in Lesbos.