‘Home Means Everything to Me …’: A Study of Young Syrian Refugees’ Narratives Constructing Home in Greece

Abstract

Abstract The ongoing civil war in Syria has displaced many citizens who have fled the violence in order to seek sanctuary and asylum in Europe. As they seek refugee status, they are living in liminal spaces in transit countries, in the hope that they will be relocated on a permanent basis to a new country. In many instances, family members have gone before them and are already ‘settled’ in new countries. The remaining family make the perilous journey out of Syria, in the hope that they will be reunited with their family members and accorded refugee status. In this article, we share the stories of five Syrian children (aged from 11 to 15 years of age) temporarily housed in the LM refugee centre near the town of Lehaina (Myrsini Ileias, Peloponnese, Greece). We asked them about their concept of ‘home’ and, using a narrative methodology, we present their personal stories of their reconstructions of ‘home’ while they are located in this liminal space. How do they share stories of their original homes? What are their lives like in this and the other unfamiliar places that they have found themselves in? What do the young refugees make of their ‘new homes’? What challenges do they face? These are just some of the issues that we explore here in these narratives of a search for a ‘new’ home.