Moria. This facility located on the Greek Island of Lesvos once served as a military prison, but now houses >6000 refugees. People from around the world who fled from war, persecution, and oppression found themselves here. Every individual seeking refuge, protection, a strong tower. They have left behind homeland and family. Often times the lives they knew have ceased to exist. I have some friends who witnessed terrorist groups kill their family members. Other friends were forced to leave after their entire neighborhoods were destroyed by war. Trauma and tragedy is commonplace, and physical and mental illness is standard. Men, women, and children have trekked over land to Turkey, then spend ~$800 each to pay a smuggler to bring them by boat across the Aegean, landing on the shores of Lesvos. They reach Europe hoping to begin the process of constructing a new life, but are met by an extended stay in an overcrowded prison, and an arduous path of seeking asylum. All of my friends who are POCs (Persons of Concern) spend months or years of their lives here, stuck and waiting for their paperwork to be processed. And they WAIT. What was meant to be a Hotspot, a short stop before an official stay in a standardized refugee camp has become an unexpected holding place.
I left Moria different than when I first arrived. It has been the most powerful opportunity on the World Race, but also the most difficult to really share while in the middle. Paradox is one word I can use to describe it. It does not make sense that I had the deepest and realest joy in Moria, while also holding tragedy and suffering. I grew deeper in understanding that justice is adjacent to mercy. The intensity of the environment opened my eyes to the constant spiritual battles, and the implications of the struggles in the natural. Below I’ve written only a summary of my time there, but know that behind every bullet is probably a super cool, or challenging, or possibly even heart-breaking story.
End of January, Week 1:
- My team of 10 arrived on Lesvos, and we began training the SAME DAY I stepped off the overnight ferry.
- Work Days, 8am-5pm
- I worked diaper distribution on Day 1 of work. An orderly system of tickets and lines becomes a chaotic scramble of elevated voices, and claims of Ali Babba! Ali Babba! (King of Thieves. Often claims that someone stole someone’s ticket. Maybe true, often not. We do the best we can!)
- Spent the afternoons walking throughout camp to different tents and other shelters to distribute tickets and insurance papers. Throughout the process, we would meet new friends, have “chai”, share family pictures, and practice English, Arabic, and Farsi.
- Fumbled my way through housing jobs by preparing spaces for new people to move in. Searched hectically throughout camp to find a family to move into available shelters, while also trying to prevent other families from stealing spaces that they are not assigned to.
- Clothing distribution. A bit of a madhouse as we go through hundreds of boxes of donated clothes and try to arrange them in a semi-organized manner, then attempt to distribute them to hundreds of families in a manner that is fair. Add the element of desperation that comes from legitimate need. Yikes. It would get a bit chaotic and sometimes aggressive, but again we do the best we can.
End of January Week 2
- Evening shift!! 4pm-Midnight
- Security, security
- Guard the New Arrivals gate, where families who have just arrived within the last few days are housed.
- Guard the single women and the minor boys sections.
- Build friendships, drink chai, tell jokes, kick the soccer ball around, and just be present with people.
- Try to stay warm because it’s FREEZING outside at night
Beginning of February, Week 3 at Moria
- Mix of both evening and day shifts
- More housing jobs, take down old structures, have chai with new friends.
- Eat DELICIOUS camp food. Accept invitations for dinner and enjoy some Afghan rice after shift! But during shift, stop by the Bolani man’s tent and grab a fresh, deep fired bolani (savory Afghan pastry), or find the fresh Afghan naan being baked in the wood burning oven in the middle of a field.
Mid-Late February, Weeks 4-5 of Camp
- These were some TOUGH weeks. The entire camp was becoming increasingly crowded, and I was given the special project to begin “consolidating” Life Shelters, a specific type of house of where the majority of single men in camp live. My responsibility was to work with a specific people group and make sure that the correct number of men were living in each shelter. I had to ask people to move into already tight living spaces, or ask them to allow people to move into their shelters. I held meetings with each group of men living in the Life Shelters, had discussions with community leaders and elders, allowed the men to voice their anger/frustration, sometimes share hard truth about the reality of the situation and call for compassion and mercy in the midst of this greater broken system. In the end, not everyone was happy, but there was a level of deeper shared respect, greater understanding between us, and new single men were able to be housed.
**Two Week Break for Team Debrief in Athens, then Squad debrief in Azerbaijan**
The 3 Weeks When I Returned to Camp in March:
- Reconnected with POC friends. I had a few moments to share about God’s heart for them, and to remind them about their worth and value.
- Worked housing jobs, helped run the information center, helped out at the warehouse a bit, fixed tents, tore down structures… just about every job in camp I could volunteer for! Overall, these last few weeks built off the first episode. Though the work tasks were no less challenging, I was less overwhelmed and depended on the Lord for more of His wisdom, patience, strength, and love every day. The relationships with fellow believers were encouraging, and I continued to have opportunities to live out the Gospel before believers and nonbelievers every day.
I experienced God’s nearness like never before. There is so much JOY in abiding in Him, even in the hard places. I KNEW I wanted to be there for years, and I am so grateful for the opportunity to have spent more than 2 months there. I went to Moria because God has been growing a desire for deeper empathy and stepping into the darkness of suffering with people. I knew that God comforts the broken-hearted. I often pictured Him as conquering King and Ruler in Moria, setting captives free, releasing prisoners from darkness. But my eyes are opened to how He is so very near, and He chooses to enter in and walk through the valley of suffering. He is near, He is constant, He is sovereign, and He is ready to extend Himself to everyone who calls on His name.
