Our last week in Paris has been busy! Since the refugees from Porte de la Chapelle moved into a new center, we have visited just once to go and connect again with some of our new friends there. Since we had been last time, they had taped a sheet of craft paper for us to all paint together. Most of the craft paper was filled up with words & pictures before we arrived, where other people from our squad had painted with our friends already! While painting, a man was talking to my teammate Kiana. His name is Zach & he is from Ethiopia. He asked if Kiana & I would join him for lunch, & took us to a quiet corner outside, offering us a peach & yogurt from his lunch tray. It took him eight months to travel from his country, across hot desert, & wild sea. He showed us photos of his siblings who are living in the U.K. who he hopes to be reunited with soon. He played us a few of his favorite songs, & taught us some dances that are common in his culture. Every time that someone shares part of their story with me, I am so amazed at humanity. After everything Zach has been through, he was there with us, smiling & laughing, just wanting to connect & be friends.
The last two nights, we have gone to a place near Chateau de Vincennes to give fruit & cookies to prostitutes. We were able to walk down the street & talk with many of the women there, ask them if they need any prayer, tell them that they are beautiful & valuable human beings. Each woman that we talked to was so kind, & genuine, greeting us with hugs & kisses, asking us questions, eager to have a conversation. Most of the women there are from Nigeria, & many believe in Jesus. They pray passionately, & touched our lives more than we could know.
The hardest part of our time here in Paris is that we only have so much time to give in the three short weeks that we are able to be here. Most of the connections & relationships that I have built last at the most for just a few days before we moved locations, or circumstances did not allow us to be able to connect with them again! I have wished more than once this month that I had the time & resources to pour into the people here long term, rather than just a few hours every day. That being said, I do believe that there is so much power in small acts of kindness, in a smile, a prayer, a conversation. It is my joy & privilege to love the person in front of me, every day.
So that just about wraps up Paris! Tomorrow we hop on a bus for Spain! This month we will be hiking on El Camino de Santiago, or the Way of St. James. We arrive September 1st in St. Jean Pied de Port, France which is where El Camino starts. It is a journey of about 790km if you walk the entire distance, but all of the El Camino’s routes end in Santiago de Compostela, where the tomb of St. James is found. El Camino de Santiago is a pilgrimage, & many of the people who decide to walk it are searching for something, & looking for deeper spiritual meaning in their lives. We as a team have yet to discuss which sections of El Camino that we would like to hike. Since we only have 21 days, we won’t be able to complete the entire Camino, but I couldn’t be more excited about the next part of this journey!
I’ll be updating again soon when I have more concrete details of where we are heading next!
– Em
If you would like to see more photos, follow the link to our photography page where I have updated the travel section!
http://www.sarahandemilyphoto.com/travel/
