Our group of eight cyclists rounded a corner and found ourselves in the old Moria Camp. My cycling buddies became quiet stopped side by side looking out across their old home.
Then slowly, arms started pointing and, even though they were speaking in Farsi, I could tell they were remembering moments in camp and working out where different places had been.
I stood back. My experiences of Moria could never ever match theirs.
As we cycled on, F and I were at the back and he said “Moria was a terrible place. There was fighting every night. Nine people were killed here.” I didn’t really know what to say, so I just said “Moria no more.” And he nodded seriously.
Our cycling was all downhill from here thank goodness! It was a hot evening and it turns out that Lesvos is one big hill! So my face was pretty red now.
This 15km bike ride was part of my visit with founder Estelle and the team at the brilliant Yoga Sport with Refugees (YSWR).
Founded here on Lesvos it’s now expanded to Athens (where I met Nina last year) and Ioannina in northern Greece, with plans to slowly build up activities in Paris too.
When we got back Estelle was boxing training one of the guys whilst a Greek man started the next class with warm-ups for an acrobatics lessons. Earlier had been a “free session” where 8-9 guys were weight lifting.
Estelle (and Nina in Athens) make a very dedicated team running these gyms and I can see that, for the people who come each day, how much of a lifeline it is to them. Not only to keep fit, or to be away from camp, but to be part of something and to have a connection to a “family”.
We’ve used your donations supporting YSWR several times. Their gyms and activities support both physical and mental health and I hope they’re here for refugee communities for a long time to come.
When YOU keep donating to our work, then WE can keep supporting inspiring people like Estelle running lifeline projects like Yoga Sport with Refugees.
