Lost Boys: Asif

In 2016, over 30,000 child refugees crossed the Mediterranean alone. These are unaccompanied minors. The great majority are boys escaping war and terrorism.

In Europe, they are adrift in countries with no infrastructure for aiding refugee children. Many are detained by in prisons for lack of space in orphanages. The less fortunate try their chances with smugglers. Over the last two years, European newspapers have reported the deaths, suicides, and sex trafficking of these children on a near-weekly basis.

While freelancing in Greece, I spent time in over 30 refugee camps. The first few hours of reporting in a new place always felt clumsy. Inevitably, young boys were the first to be friendly. Often, they were unaccompanied children. And so these boys became my translators, tour guides, and friends.

I shot and edited this footage of Afghan refugee children orphaned by a cruel system. The narrator was a guide and translator to me, and a stand-in father to a younger boy. 

As always when no guardians can provide consent, I was careful to conceal the kids' faces. One hopes they will one day cease to be refugees, and these shameful circumstances we've created won't follow them.