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WATCH: The refugees stuck in limbo in an eerie, abandoned airport

Life gets strange (and boring) when you’re living in an abandoned airport with no prospect of leaving.

TheJournal.ie / YouTube

THEY SAY THE worst thing is the boredom. The boredom, and also the uncertainty.

For months now, thousands of refugees have been stuck living in Elliniko Airport in  Athens, Greece, which has been abandoned since 2001.

Since the Greek border closed in March of this year, the people have been living in limbo. They don’t know what’s going to happen to them. They don’t know when they can work again, or go to school again, or when they will have somewhere permanent to leave.

Many say that they feel abandoned.

Several weeks ago, Irish documentary makers The Reelists visited the people living in Elliniko Airport and spoke to some of them about what’s happening to them, and to some of the people volunteering at the makeshift camp.

It’s a sharp insight into what it’s actually like to live in such close proximity to thousands of other people, with minimal bathroom facilities and nothing for anyone to do all day.

This is their story.

This video was shot by The Reelists for TheJournal.ie while on location in Greece shooting a music video, which will be released on 30 September. The video will be available on The Reelists’s Facebook page and on Rofi James’s Facebook page

Read: Ireland is the most welcoming country for Syrian refugees, according to International Rescue Committee survey 

Read: “When you go down the streets, everyone smiles at you”: Syrian refugee families settle in the US 

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31 Comments
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    Mute Mary Lyons
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    Apr 15th 2015, 12:33 PM

    The tech guides go right over my head even though I am the one who needs them most!!

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    Mute Byyys
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    Apr 15th 2015, 12:29 PM

    If you’ve limited space and have to delete photos or Apps to make room, then just buy a MicroSD card.. (I have a 64GB SD card with plenty of space left) Apple wont allow the use of SD cards with iPhones or no USB support either to easily transfer Photos to PC!

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    Mute Kelvin Collins
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    Apr 15th 2015, 12:35 PM

    However you can set up iCloud to automatically copy all photos to a PC as they’re shot, meaning you have a back up and can delete off your phone if you so wish. No need for any cables or leads!

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    Mute Byyys
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    Apr 15th 2015, 12:43 PM

    iCloud?…. Naaaah ill keep my privacy/data to myself and do it the old fashioned way with leads!

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    Mute Kelvin Collins
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    Apr 15th 2015, 12:49 PM

    You got some dodgy photos you want to keep secret?

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    Mute LittleBlackPetal
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    Apr 15th 2015, 12:56 PM

    I’ve this problem with my phone now, and don’t really trust backing them up to Google or anything. Would you trust an sd card from eBay? Is an sd card and usb key the best way to go?

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    Mute LittleBlackPetal
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    Apr 15th 2015, 12:57 PM

    Does everyone not have dodgey photos that they want to keep secret?! :-/

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    Mute andrew haire
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    Apr 15th 2015, 12:41 PM

    Don’t take too many photos. Live in the moment.

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    Mute Ken Peacham
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    Apr 15th 2015, 1:09 PM

    I use an app called Clean Master (Android) great for sorting and deleting duplicate pics – also keeps the rest of your phone clean of junk

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    Mute mahonez
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    Apr 15th 2015, 5:28 PM

    For precious pics that I really want to save, I email them to myself. Or upload to Dropbox. Or print em out. Crap amount of storage in iPhone 5c, so I have to try and sort and delete pics often.

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