In the fall of 2015, Steven Heighton made an overnight decision to travel to the frontlines of the Syrian refugee crisis in Greece and enlist as a volunteer. He
arrived on the isle of Lesvos with a duffel bag and a dubious grasp of Greek, his mother’s native tongue, and worked on the landing beaches and in OXY–a
jerrybuilt, ad hoc transit camp providing simple meals, dry clothes, and a brief rest to refugees after their crossing from Turkey. In a town deserted by the tourists
that had been its lifeblood, Heighton–alongside the exhausted locals and underequipped international aid workers–found himself thrown into emergency roles
for which he was woefully unqualified.

From the brief reprieves of volunteer-refugee soccer matches to the riots of Camp Moria, Reaching Mithymna is a gripping firsthand account of the crisis and
an engaged exploration of the borders that divide us and the ties that bind.

The fishermen on Lesvos call her Kanella because of her cinnamon color. She’s a scrawny, nervous
stray–intimidated by the harbor cats and the other dogs that compete for handouts on the pier.

One spring day, a dinghy filled with weary, desperate strangers comes to shore. Other boats follow,
crowded with refugees who are homeless and hungry. Kanella knows what that is like, and she follows
them as they are taken to a temporary refugee camp set up in the parking lot of an abandoned nightclub.
There she comes to trust a bearded man–an aid worker. She is given shelter like the refugees, who
line up for food and who sleep on the ground for a few nights before being taken to a much bigger,
permanent camp that the aid workers call Mordor.

Then, one day, a little boy arrives and does not leave like the others. He seems to have no family, and
he sleeps on a cot in the food hut, where Kanella keeps him warm and calm.

But life in a refugee camp is uncertain at best. Where will Kanella and the boy go? Will they ever
find a permanent home?