Reaching Mithymna, Steven Heighton
Reaching Mithymna, Steven Heighton
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Reaching Mithymna
Among the Volunteers and Refugees on Lesvos

Author: Steven Heighton

Narrator: Michael Braun

Unabridged: 7 hr 1 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Recorded Books

Published: 01/12/2021


Synopsis

In the fall of 2015, Steven Heighton made an overnight decision to travel to the frontlines of the Syrian refugee crisis in Greece and enlist as a volunteer. He
arrived on the isle of Lesvos with a duffel bag and a dubious grasp of Greek, his mother’s native tongue, and worked on the landing beaches and in OXY—a
jerrybuilt, ad hoc transit camp providing simple meals, dry clothes, and a brief rest to refugees after their crossing from Turkey. In a town deserted by the tourists
that had been its lifeblood, Heighton—alongside the exhausted locals and underequipped international aid workers—found himself thrown into emergency roles
for which he was woefully unqualified.

From the brief reprieves of volunteer-refugee soccer matches to the riots of Camp Moria, Reaching Mithymna is a gripping firsthand account of the crisis and
an engaged exploration of the borders that divide us and the ties that bind.

Reviews

This was one of the saddest and most poignant books I have ever read. In it, Canadian poet and novelist Steven Heighton recounts the true story of his stint as a volunteer working on the island of Lesvos in 2015 when a tidal wave of (mainly Syrian) refugees escaped the horrific war that had been wag......more

Goodreads review by A.M.

In Reaching Mithymna, Heighton writes of refugee waves overwhelming the Greek island of Lesvos in 2015. Mithymna is a harbour town on the island’s north coast. Heighton joined a cadre of volunteers aiding the refugees (many fleeing the Syrian Civil War), not knowing what his role would be. He preface......more