Map of Hope and Sorrow: Stories of Refugees Trapped in Greece

Helen Benedict, Award-winning British-american Professor Of Journalism At Columbia University, Teams Up With Syrian Writer And Refugee, Eyad Awwadawnan, To Present The Stories Of Five Refugees Who Have Endured Long And Dangerous Journeys From The Middle East And Africa To Greece. Hasan, Asmahan, Evans, Mursal And Calvin Each Tell Their Story, Tracing The Trajectory Of Their Lives From Homes And Families In Syria, Afghanistan, Nigeria And Cameroon To The Brutal Refugee Camps, Where They Are Trapped In A Strange And Hostile World. These Are Compelling, First-person Stories Of Resilience, Suffering And Hope, Told In A Depth Rarely Seen In Non-fiction, Partly Because One Of The Authors Is A Refugee Himself, And Partly Because Both Authors Spent Years Getting To Know The Interviewees And Winning Their Trust. The Women And Men In This Book Tell Their Stories In Their Own Words, Retaining Control And Dignity, While Revealing Intimate And Heartfelt Scenes From Their Lives. There Are More Displaced People On The Globe Than Ever Since World War Two, Fleeing A Combination Of War, Civil Unrest, Religious Conflict, Dire Poverty, Local Violence And Climate Change - Forces Often Inextricably Intertwined - Just At A Point When Anti-immigrant, Authoritarian Governments Are Rising All Over The World, Threatening Democracies And Breaking Their Postwar Commitments To Protect Refugees And Uphold Human Rights. As A Result, Refugees Today Are Being Persecuted, Demonised And Denied Their Legal Rights, Both Within Europe And The Usa, The Very Places That Are Supposed To Protect Them, And That, In Some Cases, Caused Them To Become Refugees In The First Place. This Is The Scenario Being Played Out In Greece, The Major Gateway To Europe For Refugees From The Middle East And Africa - A Gateway That Europe Has Deliberately Turned Into A Trap.