D. is an Iranian Kurd from a town near Mahabad. His parents and brother are still in Iran – so he prefers not to use his name. He is 24, a friendly rail-thin man and friends with the 2 Baluch men – an equally repressed people. He tells me there are about 150 million Kurds in the 4 countries (Iran, Iraq, Syria, Turkey
He arrived with a friend.. “I was an import-export worker, often walking goods by backpack across the Iran-Iraq border. Chocolate, juice, Cola are affected by sanctions.”
When he left it took him a week to cross Iran by car via Lake Urmia.
With a group of men they walked from there across the mountain border to Turkey.
With another car they continued a week across Turkey. He made it across to Lesbos on the first boat on March 2. They spent 15 minutes in ice-cold water when they were landing in Greece. He counts the days. It has been 4 months and 22 days when we talked on July 26. He had his 2nd interview and is waiting for the decision.
He does not like the Moria camp.
26 men live in ONE container.
He resents that many are inconsiderate, and there is smoke and noise and music all night long so he can only fall asleep at 5 AM. For 3 weeks he slept in a mosque to get away from the noise. Nerves are frayed and a punch left his front tooth wobbly. Today a volunteer US dental professor + student team had a weekly office hour at OHF. They found the root was broken and extracted the tooth. Now he has no way to replace it.
He hangs out with other Iranians who nurse a coffee for 2 hours + show me photos from home and their trades. Malid has photos of the exquisite and ornate furniture he makes and hopes to find clients in Europe.
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