The Unwanted: List 3

Early on, I decided The Unwanted would focus on the refugee experience and disregard information beyond that constraint except when necessary for context.

To fully portray the complex religious, political, and cultural web that describes Syria — a ruthless Shia-Sunni rivalry dating back to antiquity; undemocratic and unstable governance typical across North Africa and the Middle East; volatile ethnic divisions, such as the striving for an independent homeland by the Kurdish people; the meddling of outside powers for their own geopolitical benefit, to name just a few...

To fully portray the complex religious, political, and cultural web that describes Syria — a ruthless Shia-Sunni rivalry dating back to antiquity; undemocratic and unstable governance typical across North Africa and the Middle East; volatile ethnic divisions, such as the striving for an independent homeland by the Kurdish people; the meddling of outside powers for their own geopolitical benefit, to name just a few...

...would have made for an enormous, sprawling book, one that would not be well served by a graphic novel.

The camp is open; people come and go as they please, and the census of the camp is always unclear and in dispute — not an unimportant issue when supplies are keyed to head count.

Although the camp is ostensibly under air force control, it's really operated by a hodgepodge of groups, mostly NGOs — nongovernmental organizations.

Although the camp is ostensibly under air force control, it's really operated by a hodgepodge of groups, mostly NGOs — nongovernmental organizations.

They provide education and arts programs for kids, psychological care, and prenatal and medical care — though health care is haphazard, and residents must do without immediate help on nights and weekends.

They provide education and arts programs for kids, psychological care, and prenatal and medical care — although healthcare is haphazard, and residents must do without immediate help on nights and weekends.

The government has stopped providing food at Ritsona and gives the refugees a monthly stipend instead.

"Welcome," "Hello," "Love," and "Hi" are painted in bold red-and-yellow letters above the factory's windows, shout-outs in graffiti to the cars traveling an adjacent highway leaving the crossroads city of Thessaloniki, in northern Greece.

There is a central kitchen for residents to cook meals, a stainless-steel facility reminiscent of a lunchroom kitchen in an American school.

There is also a school, really just a clutch of rooms with school supplies strewn about, not for the absence of organization but for the lack of shelving and closets.

There is also a school, really just a clutch of rooms with school supplies strewn about, not for the absence of organization but for the lack of shelving and closets.

The wartime experiences have blasted holes in their education, prompting the need for much remedial learning.

Its proximity made Leros a target destination for Syrian refugees.

Their young and earnest volunteers provide activities for the refugees.

In the end, I found value in the visits by their having made me a more sensitive witness to the refugees' dilemma and a more powerful advocate for their salvation.

In the end, I found value in the visits by their having made me a more sensitive witness to the refugees' dilemma and a more powerful advocate for their salvation.

At the time of this writing, the Syrian refugee crisis has sparked a backlash against immigration of all kinds and upended politics across the globe.