“Our phones and power banks are more important for our journey than
anything, even more important than food,” said Wael, a 32-year-old from
the devastated Syrian city Homs who reached the Greek resort island of
Kos on Thursday morning.
Refugees are using Facebook groups with tens
of thousands of members to share photographs and experiences, find
smugglers’ phone numbers, map their route from Turkey to Greece and
onward to northern Europe, and to calculate expenses.
They use WhatsApp to help the coast guard
pinpoint their location once their boats have reached Greek waters, and
Viber to let their families know they have landed safely.
“We couldn’t take anything with us on the
boat, we were all so crammed. But these phones are our most precious
belongings,” said Wael, who fled Syria with his bright green-eyed wife
and 12 relatives, including three children.
They are among more than 135,000 refugees and
migrants who have arrived in Greece this year, amid Europe’s biggest
migration crisis since World War II.
“I wrapped my phone up in a resealable plastic bag to protect it from the water,” said the olive-skinned man.
In Kos, Syrians can be seen taking photographs
of each other on the beach using their smartphones, and ordering coffee
at local cafes where they can connect to Internet.
Note EU-Digest: As millions of refugees from Syria, Iraq, Libya and Sudan are swarming
into Turkey and the EU it is amazing to see that our "good friends" on
the other side of the Atlantic. who's Middle East policies created all
this mess, remain deadly silent when it comes to also offering some of
these refugees some assistance or a new future in the US.
Read more: Facebook, WhatsApp and Viber light way to Europe for Syrian refugees | The Times of Israel
