Arezu arrived on the island of Lesbos with her parents, her little brother, and her father’s parents on March 18. They travelled on a boat that was supposed to hold 30 people. Instead it carried 65. They had no choice but to get on the boat because, as her father, Ehsanullah said, “Behind us was the police of Turkey. In front of us, just water.” They chose the water.  

They have been waiting at Kara Tepe ever since, with nothing more to show for the five months they have been here than a so-called “police note,” which allows them to travel to and from Mytilene. They have not been able to make an appointment to pre-register for asylum, even though they arrived before the EU-Turkey deal went into effect. Because they are Afghan, they are not eligible for relocation to Europe. And so they wait.  

Ehsanullah is lovely, and is someone I have gotten to know to a certain degree in the time he has spent here. His is a face I see often and although I am glad to see him, I’m also sad to see him because it means that his case hasn’t been heard and he continues to be blocked in his search for safety and sanctuary for his family.  

I ask Ehsanullah if they would have taken the risk and crossed the Aegean Sea if he knew they would have to wait so long with, literally, no end in sight. He said, yes, they would have taken the risk.  

At least, he added: “I am alive. If I go back to Afghanistan, the Taliban will kill me.”  

Ehsanullah tells me he has a “wish list.” First, he wishes for proper care for his mother who has chronic pain in her knees and is constantly in pain.  

Second, he wants his kids to go to school. 

“It’s an emergency for my children, especially for my daughter.”  

And third, he wants a clear answer from the asylum office. “They tell me wait, wait, wait, and we must wait. We don’t have another way.”  

September 2016