Feature: Unaccompanied refugee minors become kids again on Greek island

Ahmed Biggar, a 17-year-old boy from Somalia, is living in a hostel on the Greek island of Lesvos together with 19 unaccompanied minors after a long, hard journey.

He is among 192 under-aged, unescorted refugees being hosted on the island in spaces rented by the NGOs Praksis, Metadrasis, Iliaktida.

Biggar came from Mogadishu. His neighborhood had been taken over by the militant group Al-Shabaab and most of his friends became members of the group, Biggar said.

"Everyone was trying to persuade me to become a member of this organization. I did not want to join the group because I had different dreams for my life. I wanted to go to school," said Biggar.

He tried to hide in a village of the Mogadishu district, but was kidnapped by Al-Shabaab and held captive for a long time.

"Finally, I managed to escape. The only choice I had was to leave the country. I traveled to Turkey and traffickers sent me by boat to Lesvos nine months ago," said Biggar.

The hostel where Biggar lives is a temporary home before he and the others can be transferred to a more permanent one in Greece. In Mytilene, the capital of Lesvos island where the bulk of the refugees have landed since 2015, there are ten hostels hosting the under-aged refugees.

Praksis Spokesperson Chrisoula Patsou said that once the young refugees settle in the hostel, "they calm down and become children again. In a secure environment, they take part in a daily educational program with creative activities."

The majority of these minors are boys. "The families that sent them away think that a boy can cope more easily with the hardships of the journey," said Patsou.

Praksis coordinator Yiorgos Ganigis said that at the hostels: "We see them rejuvenate, putting aside their traumas and awful memories and evaluating their lives on a different spectrum."

Eleven caretakers look after the 400-square-meter house of Praksis in Mytilene, taking care of the children's basic needs, while the hostel itself has three translators, two psychologists, a lawyer, a social worker, and a person in charge of education.

Most children are taught Greek and English, but they have other activities too. Some minors are enrolled in local football teams of Mytilene and train every day. Other children train in martial arts at gyms in Mytilene or have artistic activities such as drawing. All these are funded by the hostel.

According to the latest data of the National Center of Social Solidarity, a governmental agency in Greece, there are 2,300 under-aged, unescorted refugees, all over the country, but there are only beds available for around 1,300. Endit