Her junior and senior high school years were dominated by long hours in the pool. After elementary school, she joined the famous Itoman swimming school in Osaka with hopes of making it to the Olympics, a decision that meant living away from her family. She started swimming at the age of three by 12 she had broken the Japanese junior record in the 50-meter freestyle. Imoto was born in Aichi Prefecture but grew up in Tokyo. I was curious to know what had made her go from being an Olympic swimmer to helping refugees. “I spend a lot of time thinking of ways to get the Ministry of Education to help us.”Īlthough Imoto has a grueling job, there is a sense when talking to her that she finds the challenge extremely fulfilling. “Like many other EU countries, Greece recently voted in a center-right government, which is making it harder for us to accept refugees” Imoto says. In another classroom, a teacher helps a group of young refugees who attend a public secondary school with their homework. “UNICEF supports the Greek Ministry of Education’s learning assistance programs and uses European Union funding to provide informal educational services.” This includes an ongoing project to develop tablet-based resources for providing students fun and engaging ways to learn Greek. “Around 40% are school age and attend public schools,” she explains. She tells me there are currently over 100,000 refugees living in camps around the country, including some 40,000 children. Imoto heads up the education team at UNICEF’s Athens office, where she oversees a small staff of Greek employees and coordinates with a slew of non-governmental organizations. Imoto goes to help a student who is having trouble, speaking to the child in fluent Greek. Inside the classroom, a group of around eight children wearing headphones sit at tables, their eyes fixated on tablets in front of them. When I express my surprise at finding a proper soccer pitch in the middle of a refugee camp, Imoto quietly smiles and then leads me to a prefabricated classroom block, explaining that the remedial classes are about to start. Admiring the patch of green, I watch a group of teenage girls run around excitedly on the natural turf.Ĭolorful temporary housing surrounds a soccer pitch inside the Elaionas refugee camp. I accompanied her on a visit to a large refugee camp housing asylum seekers from countries like Afghanistan and Syria that is located in the neighborhood of Elaionas on the outskirts of Athens.Įntering the camp, I was surprised to see that the temporary buildings that house the refugees are arranged around a soccer pitch that is more than big enough to play futsal on. In mid-February, when the coronavirus pandemic had yet to hit Europe, I traveled to Greece to meet Imoto Naoko, a former Japanese Olympic swimmer who is now an aid worker in the country.
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