Every day at the Port of Mytilini, groups of young male refugees from Syria, Afghanistan, and Iraq, gather to take a desperate shot at improving their situations. For the majority of refugees, despite the freedom to come and go from the camps as they please, the island of Lesvos itself is effectively a prison. Wherever there is a prison, there are people trying to escape. These young men, in a desperate roll of the dice, loiter around the port parking lot watching and waiting for an opportunity to stowaway in or on or under any one of the tractor-trailer trucks that load onto the ferry to either Athens and what they assume is a better life, or back to Turkey and possibly prison. The refugees I've met have been unable to read or speak Greek and were unaware which ferry went where.  

Here, as the last few trucks wait to be driven onto the ferry, a young Afghan man makes a go of it while his two compatriots stand watch close by. Ultimately these three boys saw yet another sunset over Lesvos. No one today was ready to take the leap. All trucks and cars boarding the ferries are searched casually by only four Greek Army officers. Every day this small drama plays out in the port parking lot. The refugees gathering, waiting, and weighing their chances. Fifty feet away, the Greek Army officers do their cursory searches in the hopes of deterring the refugees. For all their hopes and effort, actually boarding the ship would clear only one hurdle. Making the 12 hour passage across the Aegean Sea in the hold of the ferry presents its own hazards, some of which have been fatal to others who've gone before.