Carry The Future - Greece Refugee Camp
"Carry the Future is a nonprofit organization supporting refugee and asylum-seeking children and families throughout their journeys. Founded in 2015, it originally focused on collecting and personally fitting families with baby carriers so parents could safely carry infants and toddlers while traveling. Today, its work has expanded to include diapers and wipes, nutritious meals for children, educational support, and other essential assistance centered on providing dignity, care, and hope to displaced families."
Back in October 2015, I traveled to Greece with Carry the Future to support refugee families who had endured dangerous and unimaginable journeys in search of safety. Over the course of the trip, our team visited more than 10 refugee camps throughout the country, providing parents with baby carriers so they could safely carry their infants and young children while navigating an incredibly uncertain time. We also distributed baby boxes filled with essential supplies that provided babies with a clean and secure place to sleep.
Some of the families we met had only recently arrived, while others had already been living in the camps for quite some time. Despite the uncertainty surrounding them, families and volunteers were doing what they could to create a sense of stability and normalcy for the children. In some camps, makeshift schools had even been created so children could continue learning, playing, and experiencing some structure in their daily lives.
During the trip, I also served as a photographer for Carry the Future, documenting the organization’s work, the conditions within the camps, and the strength and resilience of the families we met. My photographs gave the organization images it could use to share its mission, raise awareness, and help others better understand the human stories behind the refugee crisis.
It was an emotional and deeply meaningful experience. We were there to provide practical basic necessities, but the trip was also about showing compassion and preserving dignity.
It is also important to remember that the people in these photographs were not defined by the camps in which we met them. Before being forced to leave their homes, they were doctors, teachers, plumbers, business owners, neighbors, friends, mothers, fathers, and grandparents. Their children went to school, played with friends, celebrated birthdays, and had routines and dreams for their futures. They were families living ordinary lives until circumstances beyond their control changed everything.
I’m sharing a larger collection of images from this trip because it is nearly impossible to narrow down everything we witnessed and everyone we met. Each photograph holds a different piece of the experience. The children, the families, the conditions they were living in, and the moments of strength, connection, and humanity that stayed with me long after I returned home.
Please click in each image for full view or the first one to scroll through each.
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