Author: hollywoodreporter.com | 15 March 2019
The actress, one of the International Rescue Committee's Voices on behalf of refugees around the world, reveals her experience a dangerously overcrowded camp on the Greek island of Lesbos, and explains why "ignoring and hating is not the answer."
In June 2016, Lena Headey traveled with some of her Game of Thrones co-stars to meet with refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos for the "Rescue Has No Boundaries" campaign, part of a partnership between HBO and the International Rescue Committee. What she saw inspired Headey to become an IRC Voice, and on March 5 she made a second trip to Lesbos, where some 7,000 asylum seekers wait in limbo, many at the overcrowded Camp Moria. Headey writes here about the site's mental health crisis and the need for solidarity with refugees.
This is a really tricky piece to write. The situation is multilayered. Heavily political. It's the most unsexy issue, it's not cool, its easily ignored by the majority. But here's the thing: It isn't going to disappear, it's not going to stop, so we must find a solution.