Surviving the perilous journey to Greece Many migrants and asylum seekers flee conflict, violations of human rights or deprivation and reach Greece after long and perilous journeys. During their trip, they are often subjected to different forms of violence and abuse, having fallen victim to smugglers and traffickers or having been imprisoned en route. Not all of them survive the journey. Since the beginning of 2010, 50 migrants have been reported missing in the Aegean Sea. Since 1998 it is estimated that at least 14,921 people have died at Europe’s borders, among them 10,925 at sea.8 According to MSF psychologists who worked in the detention centers, most of the patients describe the trip as very difficult but say that they were also facing many difficulties back home. Most of the migrants do not wish to talk about their journey in detail because they want to stay resilient in order to make it through the period of detention and the challenges that lie ahead until they reach their final destination. With regards to the reasons which made them leave their home countries almost one third of the 305 MSF patients mentioned conflict, instability, violence or persecution. Eight percent (8%) of them reported that they had directly experienced violence in their country of origin, 18% said they witnessed acts of violence including the death of loved ones, and 7% said that their life was threatened.9 Some of the migrants who wanted to share their stories describe cumulative traumatic experiences in their home countries and during the journey.10 In my village [close to Herat] many people have been getting kidnapped. They kidnap people and ask their families for money. Sometimes a few days later you may find the dead body of your relative at the street. People who own taxis or buses get attacked. They burn the bus or the taxi. My husband was driving a bus to Kandahar…the bus was put on fire… he managed to run away. We did not know where he was. One day, about two months ago, he called and said we should get our things and leave Afghanistan. We left with my children to come to Europe. The trip was very difficult. There was not enough food and water for my children. I fell ill during the trip but was not able to get medication. My life is finished. I just want my children to have a better life, to study and work. Afghan woman, in her early fifties I came with six others from Somalia, from Mogadishu. The situation in Mogadishu was getting worse and worse and more and more people were leaving because of the fighting. To come to Europe we had to cross the desert and that was very hard. We spent some time in Libya working in different jobs to raise money for the rest of the travel. From Libya we came to Greece by boat. It took us three days to reach Lesvos. The boat was very small and we were 40 on the boat. Fortunately the sea was not rough. In Libya the conditions were terrible. The authorities in Libya treated us badly. If they treated us well in Libya we would not have come to Greece. But now we are in Europe and conditions are bad here as well. Somali man, in his mid-twenties I first managed to reach Turkey through Iran with my brother but a month later we were arrested and were returned to Afghanistan, by plane. A few weeks later I went back to Iran. There I had to work for a smuggler for four months to pay for my trip. I was kept in a house in Iran for ten days with only water and bread before the smuggler took me to work. In that place it was very bad. The smuggler would whip anyone who protested. After four months I was transferred to Turkey. I was in Istanbul locked up in a basement for 40 days. I did not see the sun for 40 days. The smugglers were asking for more money. They threatened that they would keep me there forever, if I did not pay the extra money. The smugglers would make you very scared. They threatened us all the time saying that they would kill us. Once they hit me on the head and my arm with a thick wood. I couldn’t move my arm for two weeks. A cousin of mine paid the money so after 40 days I was released from the room I was kept. Afghan man, in his mid-twenties The trip started with good weather. Later came some big waves. The smuggler could not find the right spot to take the boat closer to the shore. Then the boat hit a rock and sank. Everyone fell in the water. As the boat sank I held on to something with my foot. I was holding my wife with the one hand and my baby high over the water with the other hand. My baby dropped three times in the water but I still managed to catch her. Then I saw a boat with a fisherman 100 meters away. I shouted and lifted higher my arm, which held my baby. The fisherman dived in the water once he saw the baby. He got us on board. Our baby could not breathe. In the hospital they gave her oxygen. We want to go somewhere in Europe to have a future for our daughter. Afghan man, in his mid-thirties 6