Mrs. Ifigenia Kanara, Consul General of Greece in Boston, will be coming to the University of Southern Maine in Portland, 133 Wishcamper Hall at 5 p.m.,
Tuesday, October 18, 2016. A reception will follow. Mrs. Kanara will speak about the more than 1 million people, migrants and refugees, that crossed the Mediterranean Sea in 2015, fleeing war and per- secution in Syria and elsewhere. An unprecedented humanitarian crisis was sparked in Europe as transit countries were struggling to cope with the influx.
Greece found itself in the epicentre of this crisis. More than 60,000 people remain stranded across the Greece which in the midst of a severe economic crisis is trying hard to provide for those in need. The crisis has put to the test not only the European Union’s ca-
pacity to respond in a united and coordinated way, but also the western world’s readiness to address the problem collectively and in a way compatible to our common values.
The island of Lesvos in the northern Aegean Sea has become the gateway for the wave of migrants and refugees that are flooding into Europe through Greece. As of last count, more than half of the nearly one million people who have come through Greece in 2015 first landed on Lesvos. Portland, Maine and Mytilene, Lesvos are Sister Cities.