"In Idomeni, there were so many talented people," says
Mahmoud Abdalrhim, a 25-year-old former law student from Aleppo, Syria.
"
We wanted to show the Europeans that refugees are talented and
educated, not ignorant. [Europeans] were seeing us through a certain
lens - describing us as numbers, while politicians were using us as
bargaining chips.
Through our videos, we wanted to show people that we
are just like them."
Mahmoud fled Syria after the army tried to force him to join the fighting. He took a boat from Turkey to Lesbos, hoping to make his way to Germany,
where his fiancee lives. But Mahmoud got stranded in Idomeni, a town on
the Greek-FYROM border which, until May 2016, was the site of
Europe's largest informal refugee camp, holding about 8,000 refugees when Greek police started clearing the camp on May 24, 2016.
Mahmoud was moved to a new camp in Oraiokastro,
together
with his three friends - Basil, Sameer and Mustafa, the cofounders of
the satirical online television channel refugees.tv. After initial hopes
of a speedy relocation to other European countries, the mood among the
camp's residents soured as time passed and the authorities were unable
to offer any clarity about how long they would remain in Oraiokastro.
That's when Mahmoud, Basil, Sameer and Mustafa decided to organise a talent show.
"We wanted the residents of the camp to forget their
worries," says Mahmoud.
