In 2015, boat after boat crowded with refugees crashed onto the doorstep of Elpiniki Laoumi, who runs a fish tavern near Greece Island of Lesbos, the north shore of which is just 10 kilometers from Turkiye. She fed them, gave them water, made meals for aid organizations.

"You would look at them and think of them as your own children," said Laoumi, whose tavern walls today are decorated with thank-you notes.

From 2015 to 2016, the peak of the migration crisis, more than 1 million people entered Europe through Greece alone — the majority by sea, landing in Lesbos.