It ’s a classic trope of way magazines : What ’s in your handbag ? But that doubtfulness , lay by a photographer with theInternational Rescue Committeeto refugees arriving in Greece from Syria and Afghanistan , take on a very unlike tone .
This summer , the nonprofit aid group sent one of its staffers , a photographer namedTyler Jump , to Greece on a missionary station to bring more attention to the tens of yard of refugee come there from Syria and Afghanistan . As IRC ’s Juliette Delay , who directed the projection , told me , the refugee crisis has grow so huge that it ’s difficult for people to get the picture the humanity behind the report numbers — and that ’s a job when it come to bring attention and offer tax shelter to the refugee . “ I require to fetch human side to a story that really , really rapidly becomes a bunch of numeral , ” she say .
To cut down through the math , she and Jump decided to focus on a question well-nigh anyone could relate to : “ What would you take if you had two seconds and had to run ? , ” Delay asks . “ In the States , citizenry would think about that in the setting of a flak . You ’d take your notecase and your baby , which is basically what these people are doing . ”
On the back page of a magazine , repose out the subject of a celebrity ’s purse is a chance to betray lipgloss . For refugees who have spend weeks or month crossing hundreds of miles of open water and land , the questionWhat ’s In My Bag?is one of long - full term survival .
Jump was stationed on Lesbos , a Greek island not far from Turkey that has become a hub for tens of yard of refugees trying to reach Europe . According toThe New York Times , more than 15,000 refugee made it to Lesbos in June alone , yet “ only squalor awaits them here . ” It ’s a weigh station along the inordinately dangerous journeying into Europe , and it ’s where Jump interviewed dozens of refugees to record their stories .
There , he met refugee like a Syrian pharmacist who rise aboard a rubber dinghy with more than 50 others . When sauceboat use up on water he had to spent 45 minute tread water before being deliver . His belongings included a 16 GB flash drive with photos of his house . “ I had to exit behind my parent and sister in Turkey , ” he tell Jump . “ I thought , if I die on this boat , at least I will pall with the exposure of my family near me . ”
Money ( wrapped to protect it from water )
Old phone ( soused and unusable ) and new smart phone
earpiece charger and headphones ( plus superfluous stamp battery charger )
16 GB flashing cause ( take category photograph )
Another refugee , Aboessa , was traveling with her hubby and 10 - month - erstwhile . She described the acts of kindness from local Greeks . “ When we arrived in Greece , a variety adult male gave me two jolt of food . Another human render us biscuits and water when he reckon my baby , ” she tells Jump .
Hat for the baby
An assortment of medicine , a feeding bottle of sterile body of water , and a jarful of babe nutrient
A small supply of napkins for diaper changes
A hat and a pair of wind cone for the child
salmagundi of pain backup man , sunscreen and sunburn ointment , toothpaste
Personal documents ( admit the baby ’s inoculation history )
Wallet ( with photo ID and money )
cellular telephone speech sound courser
icteric headband
Then there were children , like six - year - old Omran from Syria , who carried his own property in a colorful Thomas Kyd ’ packsack . “ Because his parent bed they would travel through wood to annul signal detection , they made sure to pack bandages for excoriation and cut , ” writes Delay .
1 pair of pants , 1 shirt
A syringe for emergencies
Marshmallows and sweetened ointment ( Omran ’s favorite snacks )
Soap , toothbrush and toothpaste
Bandages
Nour , a 20 - year - old from Syria , originally had two bags — now , the former panther and guitarist expect the content of just one bag , let in two guitar picks and a picket from his girlfriend .
Small bag of personal documents
A rosary ( talent from his friend ; Nour does n’t let it touch the floor )
A sentinel ( from his girl ; it broke during the journey )
Syrian flag , Palestinian charm , silver and wooden bracelets ( gift from booster )
Guitar picks ( one also a gift from a booster )
Cell headphone and Syrian SIM card
Photo ID
1 shirt
The IRC ’s mission is focused at once on refugee in and around conflict geographical zone . But the refugee crisis spans whole continents , and part of bringing assistance to these far - flung and unwillingly transient refugees deals with how the rest of the universe thinks about them ( or does n’t , as the case may be ) .
Part of the idea behind What ’s In My Bag is to demonstrate the dire circumstances under which these refugees have been forced to flee their home countries . “ They are n’t fleeing because they desire better opportunities , ” Delay say . “ They ’re fleeing because they have no other pick . ” That ’s a crucial eminence , and one that ’s often equivocal in the way the refugee history has been reported in the media .
The words we utilize to draw this crisis are just as authoritative . Newspapers and website have often concern to the refugees as “ migrants ” this summer , a stilted terminus that inculpate a modicum of choice and freedom that were n’t part of the equation when refugees were force out of their homes or the camp to which they ’d already been pushed .
“ All of these citizenry are refugee , not migrator , and it ’s a really significant distinction , ” Delay bring . “ Words matter … The medium has a responsibility to be accurate in how they talk about these things . ”
you’re able to read Jump and Delay ’s full storyhere .
connect with the author at[email protected ] .
Greece
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