Journalist and club Rotarian, Maria Karagianis shared the account of her 2016 visit to the Moria Refugee Camp in Lesbos.  Through some informal contacts, Maria was asked to visit the camp to observe and report on the conditions.  After some deliberation, she did agree to visit, however when she arrived, the Greek government would not give her a press pass. Being an astute journalist, she quickly met up with some camp volunteers who provided her access,(somewhat illegal Maria recounts).

The Moria refugee camp was dubbed "the worst refugee camp on earth", as reported by the BBC, a sentiment also echoed by  Maria.  The camp was built to accommodate around 3,000 people, however there were around 20,000 people living in the camp, among whom 6,000 to 7,000 were children under the age of 18. It was not uncommon for people to wait in line for 3 hours for food and never get anything.  Maria said it was more like a prison than anything.  Luckily there were a lot of great volunteers at the camp.