One of our World Race squads just finished up a month on the Greek Island of Lesvos. There were actually settled down in Albania when Adventure’s got the desperate call to come and work alongside the United Nations, Euro-Relief and Samaritans Purse as they encountered the Syrian refugee crisis head on. Here’s what’s happening:
Refugees sneak into Turkey where they pay smugglers €1,000.00 per person to reach Greece. They join 40-60 people on a four-mile ride across the water on a rubber raft built for 12. Needless to say, not everyone survives the journey and those who do arrive soaked and on the brink of hypothermia.
Our Racers are stationed at the transit camp where they help hand out dry clothes and food, provide medical treatment and a bus ticket for refugees to continue on towards other European countries—with the sheer hope of being offered asylum somewhere. They have left behind everyone and everything they know. They have nothing but their wet clothes, naked children and hungry mouths.
The transition camp was designed to house 300 refugees per night, but they’re receiving upwards of 4,000 people daily. Stories are flooding back of rafts flipping over, newborn babies making the journey, days of non-stop rain and temperatures in the 40s. One team received a raft while learning that a 4-year-old boy had gone missing along the way.
All I can think about is our 2-year-old Maxi and having to risk his life with such a journey. Or taking off into the dark waters while clinging onto our drenched and freezing week old daughter Ruby. Not to mention the little guarantee of what’s to come, even if we survive the water.
Before the Racers arrived, 15 volunteers were taking in the thousands of refugees. The group of 45 Racers was an incredible relief to those exhausted volunteers and saved the camp from closing down within a literal 24-hours. What would these desperate refugees have done without a warm, dry reception?
As I sit in my house watching Ruby sleep, tightly swaddled in a warm blanket, and Maxi playing with his cars, I’m humbled, heart broken and grateful. Grateful that Racers are responding to the desperate needs of our world, grateful that we’re able to help train and prepare them, and grateful that God is at work even in the most despairing of moments.
This information is a collection of many first hands account from our Racers, including the following: Taylor Slagh, Joy Grayczyk and Felicia Pena.
