Reflecting

Acclimatising to being back at home is proving to be a little bit tricky. Physically I'm back at home with my family. Mentally I'm still in Lesvos with the refugees. I don't think the things I've seen and the people I've met will ever leave me, and I don't think I want them to. I just need to work out how to make use of this, how I can continue to use whatever I have to continue to do whatever I can. Because if I don't, it was all for nothing.

I also want to make a quick note about the photos I have taken, and the photos I didn't take. It's a very fine balance between wanting to communicate to people back home exactly how dire the situation is, and needing to respect the people you are taking photos of. I hope I managed to accomplish that balance. All of the photos I have taken have been taken with permission, and with the knowledge of what I would be doing with them. I have chosen not to take photos of the squalid conditions of the camp, of the terrified and soaking wet people coming off the boats and out of the water, of people queuing for the minuscule and monotonous food they get every day. Because (a) I was too busy helping people to stop and take a picture (b) it's a gross invasion of privacy (c) it's disrespectful to take a photo of somebody at their lowest ebb, living in conditions they thought they never would. These people don't have much left in the world, but they have their pride and their dignity. No photo is worth taking that away.