For some Australians, the refugee crisis in Europe is new. The tragedy of it all came suddenly and forcefully - three-year-old Aylan Kurdi lying dead on the beach - as though families had not been fleeing this war for years. 
But they had, as the people of Lesbos know. The Greek island, just a 45 minute boat journey from the coast of Turkey, is the landing place for thousands of Syrians seeking refuge.
It was to this pit stop that Shaan Ali, a 25-year-old law student from Melbourne, was drawn three weeks ago. He had completed an exchange in Geneva and spent two months travelling Europe. Just as the haunting image of Aylan seemed to provoke so much rethinking around the world, so too did a photograph motivate Ali to action.
"I saw a photo on Facebook of a mother holding her baby above the water as she was drowning," he says. "The image just moved me to the point where I didn't have any other option but to cancel my plans and fly here."
He spoke via a poor Skype connection from Molyvos, on the north side of the island. It is 10 kilometres from Turkey, less than an hour's journey if the boat's engines are working properly.
Syrians who arrive on Lesbos may have been travelling for weeks. From Molyvos, they must get to the south-eastern port of Mytilene, where they are registered, photographed, fingerprinted and issued papers. Then it is a ferry across to Athens and onward into Europe. For most, Germany is the ultimate goal. "They've heard that it's good there," Ali says.
On his first day on the island, Ali met an injured elderly woman. She had made it across the water with three or four cracked ribs. Ali drove her to the hospital in Mytilene.
Ali works with Melinda McRostie, another Australian, who has lived on Lesbos for 45 years. She runs a harbourside restaurant in Molyvos called The Captain's Table and for months she has used land behind the restaurant as a campsite for refugees.
In less than two weeks, Ali raised $15,000 for supplies through an online GoFundMe campaign. Other volunteers have done likewise, or solicited large corporate donations.
Ali describes the Australian government's promise to resettle 12,000 Syrian refugees as "wonderful".
He has already missed his scheduled flight back to North Melbourne, vowing to stay on Lesbos until early next month. Last weekend he was joined by his 23-year-old friend Sophie Parr, also a Melbourne law student, donating her time while on exchange in Amsterdam.
On Thursday she stands at a bus stop in Molyvos directing people to food and water. "There's just so many people, it's crazy," Ms Parr says. As we speak, men and women approach her asking questions, which she answers as best she can in English and pigeon Arabic.
Ms Parr estimates the volunteers moved about 1300 people towards Mytilene on Wednesday, while another 1000 slept on the streets of Sykaminia.