Instead of leaving you all with the the things that broke my heart, I wanted to tell you where I saw the light.
I want to elaborate on a couple of stories where I saw the love and hope that is Christ. I mentioned the other horrible realities because I think they are important and shouldn’t be skipped over. I do want you to feel the dire need and the weight of their circumstances. But not without hearing what God is doing too.
We went to these refugee corridors two weekends out of the month we were there. So, the first weekend we visited, I had briefly walked up and introduced myself to a woman in the corner of a room. Then after we bega walking off and looking for other people to meet, she pulled me aside and described how she had been experiencing a uti and it wasn’t going away and she was wondering if I had any medication I could give her. My heart dropped because I have back-up bottles of meds in my backpack, but that stuff is all back in the city we came from 6 hours away. Extras I had packed and have been blessed to not have to use so far. But they were of no use in my pack. I went and talked to the red cross and found out a doctor comes out around lunch time every other day and that would be her best bet for getting medication. Elizabeth, my teammate, was with me and asked the girl if she had Facebook. Neither of us had wifi to be able to find each other’s profile but Elizabeth left her name and her city typed into this girl’s phone in hopes that when she got wifi, she would be able to “friend” her. We both hesitatingly said goodbye, feeling bad we couldn’t help such a small-scale problem in the scheme of the environment around her and the reality of what it means to be on the move. Then later on in the week Elizabeth got a Facebook friend request from our friend from the refugee corridor! When we found out that we would be going back to that same refugee corridor, we messaged her to find out if she was still in the same place or if she had left for the next place already (and also if she had found any medication for her uti). She said the red cross wasn’t handing out medication for uti’s and that she had asked other people but hadn’t found anyone able to give her meds to help. Elizabeth and I went straight to the store to get her a backpack of things to make life a little better considering the way she was living. We were able to find her again and get her some medication for the uti. We literally walked away that first day never knowing if we would see her again not knowing how to help without the means to do so. So many small things had to line up for us to be used by Christ to be able to help her in a way she actually needed. Finding a refugee in the same camp two weeks later can be hard to do.
Next Story:
We went around hanging out in different people’s tents because it was pouring outside. We found a couple of families in need of food and a couple of us went to the store to make bags of food for these families to receive. I stayed in the corridor when they went to the store, so I asked them to bring back something for one family I had wanted to get a bag of food for. And off they went as I continued to get to know more and more people from this field of tents. One family invited me in and insisted I eat with them, they told me their stories and we chatted for hours. I realized shortly after my friends left, I wish I had asked for a couple more bags of food. The group got back and we started hand delivering these bags to their tents because it could get dangerous to openly distribute food in a place of need like that. As I was walking my bag to a tent, this little girl I had met the first weekend we came (the quiet type but you could tell she was an observer of the crowds) walked up to me. She had followed me around the first time and in some ways, she reminded me of myself and how quiet I can be. She came up to me and said is that for my tent? I asked how many people are living in your tent, she said 8! I told her I will see if there are extras but that this was for someone else. She smiled eager to bring home something for her family, I said wait here. Then I went and dropped off the food with the family that invited me into their temporary home and shared their story with me. Then as I was walking back, Ryan who had gone to the store said, go back and get your second bag. I said, I only had one family, but he said I got you two bags for two families. That was completely outside of me, I had only asked for one. I really only made connections with one family by the time the store people left, but God knew as I sat there and talked with people for hours while they were at the store getting bags of food that I would find people. And, the Lord provided a way to give each and every one of those connections I had made a sack of food. So, I got to snag a bag for another family that invited me in for biscuits and milk even though they had nothing. As I was coming back my friends said they had some extra bags so I grabbed one for the little sweet quiet girl and her big family.
The next story is two-fold.
The second time we visited the refugee corridor was different than the first. In many ways, it was easier the first time to step into a place with no expectations and no experience. Putting it all in the Lord’s hands because you have no idea what to expect. But coming back the second time after my heart was broken for these people that aren’t always viewed as humans and that are treated like a problem or just looked past, thrown in a dilapidated building or field in the outskirts of the town; I knew things now that my eyes had never been open to before. Things I couldn’t fix. I knew the circumstances sucked – I knew that when I came up and met new people and greeted people I had met last time, asking them how are you doing…was the last thing I wanted to do. It put them in this weird obligation to answer falsely or because answering actually horrible but there isn’t much you can do to fix the situation I am in so I am not gonna bother with the details because my hope is running dry is unlikely when they barely know you. Of course, they aren’t doing good, of course their situation sucks – they have no home, sometimes no food. Real showers and washing clothes are distant memories. They are raising their kids on the run. They are in emotional pain, I cannot even begin to grasp, fresh from the past. They have limited things in their possession because most of them have traveled through multiple countries on foot and only with what they can carry in whatever bag they could get their hands on. And I was at a loss of how in the world to engage in conversation without asking a question that keeps their head in the horrible reality they are living day-in and day-out, for years. So, I came into the second weekend saying God you gotta give me an introduction into conversation with people because I don’t have it in me to initialize it. Literally not long after we got out of the car this little girl grabs Elizabeth’s hand and says come on, I want to show you my friends. Literally invites Elizabeth into a tent and drops her off. She then comes back and grabs my hand and says okay come on let me show you something. I start walking with her and she takes me to another tent and invites me into their tent. I say hello is this your daughter and they said no and pointed to another little girl inside the tent and said “friends.” We left her friends tent and she was dragging me to another tent. I stopped her and said wait where is your tent, I can meet your friends later, do you have a tent? She pointed across the field and then grabbed my hand. She led me to her tent and I sat down with her mom and dad. I told them – you have such a social butterfly, she has been showing me all her friends. And we laughed and began to talk about where we were from and exchanged stories and I swear I was looking down at this little girl thinking she was some sort of angel. She just hand delivered me to people, striking up the introduction into conversations just like I had prayed.
Then we left and went to the second refugee corridor an hour away. We got there and I met up with my friend to give her the uti supplies/meds and then after some conversation she left. Elizabeth and I looked around at the crowded dilapidated building that seemed to have more single men living there and honestly it would be hard to initiate small talk. It can be hard to come into someone’s sleeping area and expect them to want to talk to you. I turned around to Elizabeth and said Lord help us engage with people because I don’t even know where to start. Elizabeth and I kept walking and not even 5 minutes after I said that out loud, these two little kids lock eyes with Elizabeth and I and we begin playing with them. Then one kid wants to take us somewhere. We began to follow these kiddos and they began going down this dark, damp, narrow hallway taking us deeper and deeper into the building. I couldn’t see where this hallway was leading us. Elizabeth and I looked at each other and began to hesitate. Then in that same split second a thought popped into my head. I literally just asked for God to help me, I cannot be scared to step into what I ask for. So, I pushed through this dark hallway and these kids led us to a room full of…FAMILIES. We were surrounded by 5 kiddos and we began playing with them. I talked to the parents of the little boy who led me there for a while, but they didn’t seem to want to talk. So, feeling like it may be time to move on and leave, I bent down and began playing with two of the kids for just a little longer. When I began walking out, these two men in the corner as I passed said, “Where are you from?” I said, “America,” they said “Wow! I love America” (honestly not uncommon to hear since we have been traveling 6 months). Then one of the men offered me a candied date and all the sudden I was sitting on their mattress of blankets talking with them about psychology (my major), religious freedom, and Trump vs Hilary. We talked about why they left Iran and how freedom was incredibly limited. One a psychology professor and the other a computer programmer, both with great English and both incredibly excited just to sit and chat. The two kiddos I had been playing with lingered, sitting in my lap. But without those kids I would have never found these guys who I had the longest beneficial conversation with. I had the chance to uplift and distract these men with casual conversation. This room was tucked into this dilapidated building and I would not have ventured there without the Lord prompting me.
This last story is one of my favorite moments in the corridors.
A young girl at my church from back home raised money by selling heart bracelets for my World Race. I was wearing one when I met this little girl at the second corridor. She was a gentle kid, no very loud or pushy. I saw her get her toys taken away by the other kids from other families. Not a huge thing – kids will be kids. But I chose her. I looked her in the eyes and I played high-five games and twirled her around. I told the other kids no a couple times to be able to focus on playing with her. I let her feel seen because I know God’s heart for her isn’t the heart the kids around her were currently showing her. After an hour of playing with her, I gave the little girl my heart bracelet and she gave me a half-eaten sucker (no I didn’t eat it). I tried to deny it and give it back but she insisted I keep the sucker. As I looked at the heart on her little wrist, I couldn’t be happier that the Lord let me love people for Him; not for me but for the glory of God. In such a dark, hopeless place we were able to choose to love and see these people. Not because they earned it, but because He first loved us. As hard as it was to look past the situation they were in, squatting hundreds of miles away from their homes and families, no running water, no stability; it was even harder to leave these people we laughed with, sat in silence with, talked with, cried with, prayed with, played with, and loved.
This is by far my favorite type of ministry. And what a blessing it had been that this church family in Bosnia let us be a part of the difference they are trying to make in their country and for God.
TTFN,
Jenny
