On the island, KLABU works on a grassroots basis with our wonderful partner organisation Yoga & Sports With Refugees, and the local community, to help refugees overcome challenges.

The refugees on Lesvos, from countries like Afghanistan, Sudan, Eritrea and Sierra Leone, are among the over 114 million people displaced globally due to war and violence. This number was estimated by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency in 2023, and it inspired the start of this eL Seed collaboration. However, the number sadly continues to climb every day.

Friendship formed through sports offers a form of escape for refugees from complex asylum procedures, and the desperation that drove them to risk their lives crossing the Aegean sea to Lesvos in the first place. Together the KLABU clubhouse, and the gym run by Yoga & Sports With Refugees, active just outside the Mavrovouni refugee camp, are a focal point for refugees to quickly form friendships, even though most members end up staying on the island for only six months.

When painting the KLABU clubhouse with the Lesvos community, eL Seed was moved to enter into a personal collaboration with refugee Bibi Zahra who had a passion for drawing. Together they worked with her motifs and painted her home in the Mavrovouni camp.

The artwork was inspired by a quote from Greek poet Odýsseas Elýtis: “Always, always you pass through fire to reach the shining”, which applies very meaningfully to any refugee trying to rebuild a life. The design of this mural influenced the exclusive KLABU x eL Seed collaboration, creating a piece of wearable art.

He uses his art practice as an echo of the stories and wisdom of the communities that he meets around the world, underlining the commonalities of human existence, and aims to amplify their voices, as he has done to stunning effect in this KLABU collaboration.