Across Women's Lives

The first real shelter that Nadereh Shahbazi and her family slept in when they arrived in Greece was a tent pitched under a piece of red, corrugated iron that shielded them from the relentless Athens, Greece, sun. But when it rained, their tent floated in the mud.The family of three escaped from their home in Afghanistan fearing for their lives, and after weeks of homelessness in Athens, the family managed to find a tent in a refugee camp on the city's outskirts.Shahbazi was full term and could have given birth in the tent at any moment if Sahar Kamrani, a refugee advocate, hadn’t walked by and found her. “They were sleeping next to a tree in the mud of the camp in Malakasa,” Kamrani said. Related: Some refugees in Greece wish they hadn't won their casesThe Malakasa camp is run by the International Organization for Migration, and most asylum-seekers receive a container for shelter. But for newcomers, especially those not yet registered with the Greek government, pitching a tent is the only option. Kamrani, a