It’s 3:15 in the morning as I’m starting this blog and I’m on our teams last overnight shift. We came in a little after midnight and will be here till around 8:30 in the morning. That is if they can find a driver for us to get home. But getting us home isn’t the biggest logistical problem here. The other day they ran completely out of diapers to hand out and the money to buy more just simply wasn’t there. Babies were having to stay in dirty diapers for days until something could be worked out.
Most people here speak pretty good broken English. Enough for us to converse about various topics. They love to ask about my political views and play dumb to the fact that they keep up with American politics. I play dumb back and get them to spill the beans on how they really feel about America. It’s kind of a fun game I guess. Most of them appreciate us being here. They understand that we have a heart for them and are here to help, but others are more skeptical. On last nights shift I was questioned for almost an hour by an Iranian man who believed I was here for a secret agenda. He wanted to know what it was, because it didn’t make sense to him that I would be here helping when my government was waging/threatening war against other countries close to wear he was from.
I had to explain to him that I don’t represent my government and I am here to help despite their actions. It took a minute for him to grasp that concept, but after he did we became buddies. I’ve made a lot of friends just by talking to them. They love asking me questions about English and almost every time I’m on a gate I end up giving an English lesson to someone. It feels good to be helpful in more ways than just opening and closing a gate. As well as their eagerness to learn, It also amazes me how giving these people are who have almost nothing to their name. I have had people buy me coffees, Red Bull’s, bring me blankets, etc. and then to think that some company somewhere can’t drop enough money for diapers so babies don’t get sick living in their own poop for days is hard to swallow.
I think that’s the overall question for workers here is, “Why the injustice? Why does this have to happen?” Another feeling that is hard to cope with is the feeling that our love and humanity is only as big as the amount of resources we have available to give. Having to tell a family that they can’t have more blankets for their kids makes you feel like a monster. Like there’s no mercy inside of you at all. That’s why I enjoy talking to people and teaching them proper phrasing with words that have double meanings, it makes me feel more human and that I have more to give than just my incredible gate opening abilities.
Not everyone here can speak English very well, but there is one universal phrase that everyone knows, “Big problem my friend”. We hear it a lot when we are having to move people into already crowded tents or just don’t have any solutions for them in general. It’s become almost a rallying cry as it’s even been graffitied on walls around town to remind people that there is still a problem to be fixed. It seems like it never will as more people pour in. Almost three-hundred people have been added in the last two days here. This isn’t going away anytime soon and the people here are very aware of that. So in closing all I can say is that we have a big problem my friends.
I hope you will take the time to pray about what you can do to help. Whether it be donations or petitioning your church or business to get involved somehow, anything will help!
