Dandom Howladar owns a mini market in central Athens. Since the pandemic hit, fewer customers shop at his store – and they don’t always have good intentions.
Portraits
Inside a gardener’s quarantine
For a year and a half, Hamid Nasseri moved daily from the center of Athens to the northern suburbs and took care of the gardens at houses there. Until the coronavirus appeared, the country entered a second lock down, and he was forced to lose his job and income again.
“Mom, what are Albanians?”
Marios and Mirela came to Greece 24 years ago, and their children were born here. They cultivate garlic − a local product which has helped the region of Platykampos, Larissa, gain international attention. But they are still waiting for Greek citizenship.
“I didn’t know I had to tell my story somewhere”
Keita is from the Ivory Coast and has been living in Athens since 2010. As a minor, he decided to leave his family and pursue his dream to play football. But things didn’t quite work out as he expected.
“In Turkey there were 40 of us in a small, covered truck”
We met Raz in the afternoon of Sunday, January 21, 2020 at the We Need Books in Kipseli, Athens. He had gone to arrange Greek lessons, which he intended to start. “I am forced to. For my papers, for the language test. So as to bring my wife here,” he told me in fluent Greek.
“Take this tent, they told us, and find somewhere to put it”
We met Ghulam and Ghulam Ali on February 11, 2020, at the canteen across the main gate of the Moria Reception and Identification Center on the island of Lesvos.
I came to Greece for love
“My coming to Greece was not because of an economic or political situation. It was a decision of love”
Hamid: An expert carpet maker from Iran in Athens
He used to work in carpet store and began to make plans to open his own carpet business in London based on his Turkish network in Istanbul. But life had provided a different plan for Hamid.