ATHENS ― A man who lost his money and credit cards on the island of Chios, Greece, got a pleasant surprise when two migrants from Pakistan returned them almost immediately.
Minutes after Michalis Galatoulas, a Chios resident, lost his wallet in the town center Thursday morning, he received a phone call. A woman told him she was calling on behalf of two men from Pakistan who found the wallet and wanted to return it, the Athens News Agency reports.
The men did not ask for anything in return but only insisted that the man check that everything inside the wallet was intact, including 200 euros in cash (about $226) and credit cards.
“They were two polite young men who are struggling to survive,” Galatoulas told a local radio station, adding that finding his wallet was of vital importance as he had payments to make.
The island of Chios, in the eastern Aegean, is one of the most popular gateways to Greece for many people forced to flee the war or biting poverty in their home countries. The island has seen 38,292 migrants and refugees arrive by sea this year alone, most of them from the Middle East, according to UNHCR, the United Nations refugee agency.
The European Union and Turkey signed an agreement in March to restrict refugee flows into Europe, as a result of which at least 3,316 refugees and migrants are currently stranded in Chios, waiting in government-run camps under their asylum claims are processed. The newcomers’ relationship with the locals has often been strained, with tensions erupting between camp residents and locals who are protesting the refugees’ presence on the island.
Related
Before You Go
