It’s been very difficult for me to capture what I experienced during our month in Greece, not just because it was hard to fathom beforehand, but because there is such a weight to what we witnessed. Coming into ministry this month, we were told not to have expectations, to be flexible. But really, I think there’s no such thing as ‘having no expectations’. Whether we know it or not, we often develop this mental image of what we think things are going to be like, but we don’t realize it or admit it until reality is different than the image in our head.
This happened to me on my first day of ministry. My team lived in Thessaloniki and traveled an hour north to the Greece-Macedonian border. Our destination – a make-shift refugee camp near the small Greek border town of Idomeni. The camp is not an official government run entity but was instead created when the border to Macedonia was closed to asylum-seekers a few months ago. I couldn’t have told you what my expectations were or what I pictured the camp to be like, but when we arrived that first day, it was definitely not what I excepted. When people say ‘tent city’ I didn’t expect these camping style tents everywhere, but that’s exactly what the majority of the people were living in…camping tents. The whole camp didn’t actually seem that large, but it was reported that anywhere from 13,000 to 15,000 people live there. There are two entry points, one is the train station and the other a road that crosses the train tracks near the border. The whole area around the road and all along the train tracks are covered mostly with the tents of refugee families and storage containers of various non-profit organizations.
Since it’s not an official camp, there isn’t one single organization in charge as far as I could tell. Every organization that comes to help seems to be doing their own thing. The ability for these separate groups to work independently yet in harmony is a testament to the dedication and heart of the organizations, the workers, and the volunteers. Each one committed to doing what is needed without being asked instead of sitting back waiting for ‘someone else’ to step in.
During ministry, we were free to help at any of these organizations as needed. While working our 5-hour shifts, the most frequent areas needing assistance related to food distribution. We would either help cook and package in the Colors open kitchen or hand out food at the Praksis food distribution area. The rest of the time, we either walked around the camp looking for other places to help, or visited families we had met along the way. Every day volunteers from all over Greece and other parts of Europe were doing anything from picking up trash to handing out necessities to playing with children.
Outside of ministry in the camp, one day we ended up at the Samaritans purse warehouse in the nearby town of Polykastro helping assemble over 2,000 headlights to hand out. The last two weeks, our ministry host was able to use his church to meet an immediate need of families living in the camp by providing a small break from the uncertainty surrounding daily life. Each day a couple of families from Idomeni were able to come back to the church to take showers, pick out clothes donated to the church, and use the kitchen. I stayed back at the church with some of the families a couple of days, and it was interesting to see the satisfaction of simply being able to cook for us and themselves. We wanted to serve them and provide a break from the harshness of living in the camp, but they ended up blessing and serving us as well with such joy and freedom!
Over the three weeks we were in the camp, I noticed changes here and there but nothing major all at once. The first week, it was actually calmer than I expected it to be. But then after the first Sunday, there was a protest and attempt at cutting through the border fences by about 200 people from the camp. They were met by Macedonian police forces with tear gas and rubber bullets. Arriving at the camp the week following the protests, I could tell the atmosphere was different. Not because I was expecting it, but you could see it. Tents had disappeared as families left, more black market selling, more security for volunteers even getting to the border, more police presence, more reporters. Just more restlessness than before.
Those that remained at Idomeni held out hope that the borders would be re-opened soon so they could continue their journey to other European countries. Even with pleading from the Greek government to move to official military camps elsewhere in Greece, most did not want to leave for fear of being deported or ending up in a place with worse conditions.
It hit me one day as I was walking around the camp, that I have not one shred of understanding for what they are experiencing. These families have lost or were forced to leave everything they own behind. They have no home, no government protecting them, nothing to go back to except violence and likely death. They are not criminals or reckless, most were people of influence and education in their home country. They just want the best for themselves and their family, a safe place to live and start over.
I’ve never felt so helpless in my life. Hearing the stories and knowing there is really very little I can do in that moment to help them. But like the church here in Thessaloniki helping a few families at a time, we can’t change the world for everyone, but we can help change someone’s world…physically and ultimately through the freedom of Jesus. We all have our part to play.
It’s easy for me to feel defeated when thinking of the vast needs in our world. If I can’t do something for everyone, then it seems unfair for the ones who do benefit from it. Yet, it’s not my personal responsibility to do everything for everyone. I am asked to do something with what I’ve been given and trust that others are doing the same thing with what they’ve been given. Together, a little at a time and with the power of God through us, we change the world.
Thank you very much for reading, ALL of it for HIS glory – Pamela
