SERRES, Greece, June 16 (Xinhua) -- At the outskirts of Serres, a city of about 80,000 people, some 600 kilometers north of Athens, neat rows of pre-fabricated containers turned into two-bedroom homes provide shelter for 350 Yazidis and their dreams of a better future after the nightmare they have been through.
The Serres open refugee camp, constructed in August 2016 with the support of the International Organization of Migration (IOM), is considered as a model among the about 35 permanent and temporary accommodation facilities currently operating throughout Greece, Chryssa Tapa, the camp manager, a Greek Migration Policy Ministry employee, said while taking Xinhua on a tour recently.
With more than 60,000 refugees and migrants stranded in the country after the closure of the Balkan route to central Europe in 2016, debt laden Greek authorities struggled to offer the best support to people in need.
The residents of Serres camp, mainly families from northern Iraq, all Yazidis, live in 94 air conditioned containers of 37 square meters each. There are no rain soaked tents, but solar panels on the roofs and electrical heaters. Each home has a living room, kitchen, two bedrooms and a bathroom.
NGOs help in providing medical aid, while under a UNHCR funded food full cash program each family receives at least 150 euros (167.6 U.S. dollars) per month so that they no longer rely on handouts.
Half of the camp's residents are minors and from April this year each noon they are bused to nearby public schools to attend classes, Tapa said, as Dalia, a 10-year old refugee girl greeted Xinhua in fluent Greek while playing with her friends.
During a recent visit to the site Migration Policy Minister Yannis Mouzalas described it as a "decent place for dignified people."
Living conditions here are undoubtedly far better than the hardships most of the Yazidis housed at Serres and other refugees have endured while fleeing warzones and making the perilous long journey seeking refuge in Europe.
Still not one of these families has applied for asylum in Greece, but they all seek a new start in other European countries under the EU relocation program, Tapa said.
Despite the drawings on the walls, the air conditioned container is not home, the prospect of returning to their homeland in the near future seems unlikely and compared to the prosperous European North they believe that the poor South has little to offer.
Mervan Hasan, a 32-year-old farmer from Hanasar village in northern Iraq, has been living over the past two months in the container with his wife Hadya and their three daughters aged 3, 4 and 6. They are very satisfied, he told Xinhua welcoming us in his temporary home.
The family left Hanasar on Aug. 3, 2014 when other Yazidis alerted them that ISIS fighters were approaching. They all left their homes and headed to the mountains to save their lives.
Hasan and his family sought safety in Syria and then back to Iraqi Kurdistan before managing to reach Turkey in January 2015 and Greece in February 2016.
They crossed the Aegean Sea on a boat with 60 people from Turkey, risking their lives. They were so afraid on the boat, but once the Greek Coast Guard officers located them off Limnos island, everything went well, he said.
For several months until December they were living in a tent. After spending the winter in a hotel, as they are waiting for their bid to be assessed, they try to heal their wounds and make plans for the future.
Hasan has three brothers living in Germany and other three in Iraq. He wants to join his relatives in Germany. It is not that he doesn't like Greece or feel safe and welcome here, he told Xinhua. He thanks Greeks for their assistance and will never forget it, but he wants to be together with his brothers.
"When we visit hospitals Greeks who are more ill than us give us priority to enter first. These are small gestures, but very important," he said.
"Germany is giving us our position as human beings," he repeated several times. Above all, a home or money, he wants safety.
He has heard that Germany offers Yazidis protection and adequate aid compared to other countries. He wants to be treated as human, he stressed, referring to the suffering of Yazidis back home.
Hasan cannot understand and forget the torture, the abduction and sexual assaults against women and girls, the killings of men and boys. He cannot understand how the international community remains idle before this suffering, he said, while beheadings and other atrocities are shown on TV screens.
When asked about how he envisions his future and the future of his family, he says he does not believe they will ever return to Iraq. He is dreaming of all Yazidis living together in a safe place in Europe and not be dispersed across the continent.
"For my children I am dreaming that they will become good people. I want them all to attend school, to become something, to become useful persons to the entire world. I have many dreams for my daughters," Hasan said.
"I do not care whether they will become doctors or something. I want them above all to become good persons, to live in a safe place, to have rights, to love the entire world, because for us Yazidis love is very important. I want them to love the entire world and to be good persons. I will try hard for this," he underlined.
Hasan does not forget however those left behind.
"I am dreaming about my children and I believe my dreams will become reality up to an extent, but there are still 200,000 children back in the mountains living in tents or out in the open. They are not safe. The world must do something for those left behind. They are always on our minds," he told Xinhua, before closing the door to his temporary safe place. (1 euro= 1.1 US dollars)
