In 2018 we established The first ReFOCUS Media Lab inside One Happy Family Community Center on Lesvos, Greece. We came back to this island, where we taught photography and started our refugee storytelling project in 2017, because the island continued to host over 20,000 asylum seekers with more arriving every day. This community center was built with and for asylum seekers, and it has been a dream to help this community continue to thrive.
SEVEN years on, Lesvos remains one of the most important asylum seeking hubs in Europe. Most people trying to cross from Turkey to the European Union arrive on this island. OVER 5,000 PEOPLE ARE CURRENTLY FORCED TO ENDURE a 4TH winter in THE “temporary” MAVROVOUNI camp.
IN COORDINATION WITH OUR PARTNER EUROPE_CARES AND THEIR PAREA community center, we offer daily opportunities to develop media creation skills including photography, videography, graphic design and audio engineering.
