Berlin (AFP)

Leaning on his sewing machine in the workshop of the Berlin association mimycri, Khaldoun Alhussain slides under the needles a piece of gray plastic, while pressing the pedal of his machine.

A border of yellow thread takes shape on the thick material that it caresses with an expert hand.

Abandoned by migrants on their arrival on the beaches of the Greek islands, inflatable boats find a second life in Berlin where they are transformed by refugees in bags and tote bags sold on the internet.

The 34-year-old Syrian, a seamstress around his neck, is familiar with this rugged, weather-resistant plastic that has been recovered in Greece. Four years ago, he climbed a makeshift boat made of the same material to join the Aegean island of Chios from the Turkish coast.

"We were many and the crossing was very, very dangerous," recalls the tailor who has long worked in garment factories in Damascus before seeking asylum in Germany.

- On the banks of Chios -

The non-profit organization mimycri, created by two thirties, recovers inflatable rafts stranded on the shores of Chios and the island north of Lesbos, witnesses of the tragedy that occurred in 2015 when hundreds of thousands refugees have landed on the beaches to reach Europe.

At the peak of the "crisis" of refugees, Greece has recorded up to 7,000 arrivals per day. Since an agreement between the European Union and Turkey in 2016, the number of crossings has slowed considerably, it still amounts to an average of 100 per day.

On the spot, NGOs recover these canoes that litter the coastline with other detritus, lifejackets or clothes.

"We recover 90% of the boats stranded on the coast" of Chios who are not escorted by the police once entered the Greek waters, explains Toula Kitromilidi, Greek coordinator of the NGO CESRT. "The rest is used by locals", for example farmers who use plastic as tarpaulins.

Cut into large black and gray stripes, plastic sheets are sent to Berlin, cleaned and then transformed into backpacks, tote bags, computer cases or kits. The air chambers, with the liveliest colors are also recovered.

Customers "buy these bags because they tell a story, because they are more than just a thing," says German Vera Günther, one of the two founders of mimycri, in her studio. bright where rub shoulders heavy sewing machines, shelves filled with plastic parts and computers.

Each piece is unique, sometimes with stripes or marks that reveal often tragic destinies.

Mimycri's clients, who generated some 120,000 euros of turnover last year, can indirectly "learn from this side what is happening in Syria (...) and how many people have died or continue to die there ", adds Khaldoun Alhussain who hopes to be able to bring to Berlin his mother, sick and alone in Syria.

- The Greek Islands content -

As for the inhabitants of the Greek islands, "they are very happy (of our work) because they do not want their beaches to be soiled by plastic waste", continues Vera Günther, who dropped her job in the environmental sector to develop her activity.

In total, mimycri offers a dozen products of which 3% of the sale is donated to NGOs in Greece. Latest creation: a toiletry kit sold like all products on the internet, in shops in Berlin and Munich or in museums.

For Vera Günther, the adventure begins in the summer of 2015 when hundreds of thousands of refugees arrive in Germany. The young woman is one of the many Germans who came to meet them in the country's train stations with teddy bears and soup pots.

"I wanted to be part of this new Germany that welcomes people who have lost their property, their home and sometimes their families," she enthuses.

During the winter of 2015-2016, she left for Chios to help the migrants who arrived scared and cold. In Izmir, she crosses to the Greek island in 30 minutes for 14 euros "drinking a beer and taking a short nap" while Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans risk their lives on rafts of fortune by paying at least 1,000 dollars to smugglers.

With her partner, Nora Azzaoui, she spends several months on this island and returns to Berlin with a piece of plastic in her luggage. It is transformed into a kit. Mimycri was born.

"We want to change the way we look at refugees," says Vera Günther. "They are people (...) who, like us all, want to have a job, a house, we have much more in common than we believe."

© 2019 AFP