“If your eyes could speak, what would they say?” -The Book Thief
Tuesday, OCTOBER 28, 2015 7:15 AM
Two World Race teams arrived at the UNHCR Refugee Camp for the morning shift. As the van approached the entrance of the camp, our site coordinator just stared in disbelief.
I saw fire.
Along the outside of the campground, 20 shivering families were wrapped in foil blankets gathered around self-started fires. I saw children huddled closely to their parents desperately trying to keep warm from the frigid air. Many of them were still in wet clothes because of their recent journey across the Aegean Sea.
A simple yet desperate prayer ran through my mind:
“God, we need You.”
I saw chaos.
Two of our men were holding off the mob of people. Our site was filling to capacity, and we needed to wait for more busses to come before we let in the next wave of Refugees.
The large group of Refugees pushed their way past the fence and toward the entrance of the food tent. Everyone in the crowd was screaming something in either Farsi or Arabic. You could hear women saying in English repeatedly, “baby baby” or “family family”. Many were gripped with fear, and fear can make you do desperate things. Despite our plea to wait, the crowd continued to push forward. That’s when things really stared getting out of control.
“Get back! Get back!”
A woman in the crowd screamed as she was pushed by the crowd against the empty wooden crates stacked along the edge of the food tent. We managed to pull her out and hand her a bottle of water. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she took the bottle from my hand. I looked up at my teammates by the gate that were now PHYSICALLY holding back the mob of Refugees. I could barely process that this was actually happening.
Tears started to fill my eyes quickly, so I rushed inside the food tent and shut the door. When I turned around, I saw my squadmate Kris kneeling on the floor of the food tent with her face in her hands. She immediately got up and wrapped her arms around me. My tears began to fall silently. I could still hear muffled sounds of screams. More than anything, I wanted to help them, but how? I took a moment to take everything in as we embraced.
This was out of control. This was out of MY control.
The desperate prayer ran through my mind yet again:
“God, we need You.”
I saw no solution.
My heart was breaking as I continued to hear the screams and cries from the crowds outside the tent.
“What can I do?”
I looked around the tent and asked Kris if we should start bringing food out to the people. We started assembling apples and bananas into crates. The crowds were restless and on the brink of panic. I asked the site coordinator, Emmanuel, if I could grab someone and go into the big tent to start food distribution. He initially said no, knowing that the crowd would become unruly, but he saw that my heart was breaking to feed these people. He hesitantly granted me permission. I grabbed my squad-leader, Benita, to accompany me. We made our way towards the back corner of the tent carrying crates of biscuits (cookies) and apples.
It did not go as planned.
We were suddenly surrounded by Refugees on every side. They began reaching over our shoulders, agressively grabbing all at once, and shoving the crates we were holding into our stomachs. Benita looked at me and said, “We’re going to set these crates down now. This is becoming unsafe.” We set them down and backed away slowly as the mob lunged towards the crates. After a few short seconds, the crowd began to disperse, and all that remained was broken plastic.
I remember feeling completely helpless. There were still so many people who needed to be fed, but the situation was too unsafe to enter again. I knew they were scared, and I so desperately wanted to know how I could help them. I returned to the food tent and told Kris to shut the door and pray with me. We began to intercede for supernatural peace, renewed strength for the volunteers, and Divine strategy. We knew we didn’t have the answers, but we knew the One who did.
I saw hope.
I’m not sure how much time had passed, but it’s as if everything changed in a moment.
Emmanuel assembled the volunteers with a plan of action to get all of the Refugees in the tent onto the busses before letting anyone else into the camp. Before I knew it, the inside tent was completely cleared out. That’s when I first felt it… peace.
An Iraqi man that was standing in the line outside the camp asked if he could help in any way. He left his wife and children in the line to help us prepare the camp for the new crowd of Refugees. I was blown away that this man who just faced a dangerous journey across the Aegean Sea was willing to help these random American volunteers. His name was Mahmoot.
Emmanuel approached me as I was taking my 6th bag of trash to the dumpster.
“Kayla, do you want to start passing out food?”
My heart almost lept out of my chest. “YES!”
“Ok. We’re going to get everyone into the tent. Tell them to sit down, then start distributing the fruit and water. Grab someone to help you.”
I rushed into the food tent with a huge smile on my face. I quickly grabbed 2 packages of bottled water and relayed the plan to Kris. We both smiled at one another, completely overwhelmed with joy.
Mahmoot directed the crowd towards the tent inside the camp. When they sat down, Kris and I started passing out the water. I looked around and saw… smiles. With every water passed out, I heard “Thank you.”
My heart was filled with joy! We then started distributing the apples and bananas. Refugee men from the crowd thanked us and asked for trash bags to collect the banana peels and apple cores. At this point, my mind was seriously blown.
Mahmoot turned and asked me, “Are you from Holland?”
I laughed. “No, I’m from America.”
He seemed shocked. “I never thought in my life that I would ever meet a good American. I’m from Iraq. I was taught that all Americans do is take money and fight and kill. But now, I know that there are good Americans. You like to help people, like I do.”
What a sobering moment, a moment I will always remember.
I waved goodbye to Mahmoot and his family as they assembled their belongings and loaded the bus with the remaining Refugees. I closed my eyes and smiled, taking in everything that just happened.
A volunteer from Samaritan’s Purse commented on his way into the food tent, “I’ve never seen the camp like this. It’s so… peaceful.”
God showed up that day. He showed up with peace that surpasses ALL understanding. He showed up with Divine strategy and renewed our strength. He brought JOY, and transformed that camp in an instant.
If my eyes could speak… they would sing of my God’s enduring faithfulness!
“I will sing of the LORD’s great love forever; with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known through all generations.” Psalm 89:1
