The refugee issue is connected to the issue of trafficking in many ways. First of all, these refugees are actually trafficked persons in many cases. They have been financially exploited to illegally cross borders. The refugee issue relates more specifically to sex-trafficking in that this is a population vulnerable to sex-traffickers. We heard stories of sex-traffickers volunteering in the camps in order to identify those who would be most vulnerable to sexual exploitation. These issues of exploitation are closely linked.
The camp we volunteered in looked nothing like what I'd seen in the news. The camps reflected in the news stories I'd seen were primarily on the islands where traffickers who have sold a vision of a large, safe ship to cross the sea to Greece for exorbitant amounts of money disgorge their passengers dozens of miles from the intake camps. Cold, wet, hungry and potentially devastated from the loss of family members in the sea voyage, the refugees must then traverse many miles to then wait in lines at the intake camps.
In contrast, the camp we worked at was an overflow camp outside of Athens that was located in a massive and eerily-abandoned complex that was part of the 2004 Olympics. We drove for several minutes past the old, abandoned airport and several empty stadiums and desolate parking lots to arrive at the former field-hockey venue. Every few days hundreds of refugees are dropped off there. This is not a popular camp. The refugees would much rather be at one of the more centrally located camps with easier transportation and access to government services.
We were there on a Wednesday and already the 500-600 refugees that had arrived on Sunday evening had dwindled to less than a hundred. The refugees remaining at our camp were generally not Syrian. The Syrian refugees tend to arrive in Greece with money. They have the funds to pay for the next leg of the journey, so they are only in each camp long enough to secure transportation to get one step closer to northern Europe. The Afghan and Pakistani refugees are lacking in funds which means they have to remain in each camp longer before finding a means to move on. Our camp was an open camp, so refugees could come and go at will.
Our team's main responsibility at the camp was sorting through hundreds of bags of donated clothing. We divided out summer clothes from winter clothes and then broke those down into types of clothing and age and gender appropriateness. The summer clothes were boxed up for storage. The winter clothes were moved immediately into the press box (behind us in the photo) for distribution. You can see some of the line of refugees along the front of the box. Any toys were pulled out and taken to the entrance of the stadium so that children could have something comforting immediately upon arrival.
The refugees sleep in the empty inside of the building on the right of the photo. There are no beds, just pallets they make on the floor. Meals are provided through the concession stand windows. One bit of silver lining to this refugee shelter is that there's a big, open field for the kids to run around on and where they can play soccer.
Two women came up to me as I was boxing up a batch of clothing odds and ends before we left for the day. They started digging through the box I was attempting to transfer to the press box where it would be ready for distribution. That kind of thing is frustrating for a task-oriented, rule follower like me. I really wanted to finish up this task before we had to leave, and the refugees had been told multiple times that they should go to the window where they would be provided with clothes that matched their needs. It was easy for me to lose sight of the compassion that should be driving this venture, and my distracted and diverted heart was brought into sharp focus as I realized what these two ladies were looking for. They were looking at the handful of bras we had come across from dozens and dozens of bags of clothing. And that's when their situation struck me in a more personal way. I can't really fathom what they've been through in crossing war-torn continents. And I was at a place that was providing them food, and shelter (such as it was), and warm clothes for the impending cold weather, but fleeing your home with just a few items means that you most likely don't have much in the way of clean underwear. Watching them dig through a box of someone else's donated underwear brought home the reality of what it means to have nothing and to be entirely dependent on the generosity of strangers in order for basic needs to be met. And this is precisely where the church needs to be, standing in the gap to offer kindness and generosity to strangers.
The local church we partnered with in Greece has volunteers at this camp almost every day doing everything from serving meals to cleaning bathrooms. Please pray for them as they're invested in ministering there for as long as needed.
Other posts in this series -
Part 1: Brothels and Safehouses
Two women came up to me as I was boxing up a batch of clothing odds and ends before we left for the day. They started digging through the box I was attempting to transfer to the press box where it would be ready for distribution. That kind of thing is frustrating for a task-oriented, rule follower like me. I really wanted to finish up this task before we had to leave, and the refugees had been told multiple times that they should go to the window where they would be provided with clothes that matched their needs. It was easy for me to lose sight of the compassion that should be driving this venture, and my distracted and diverted heart was brought into sharp focus as I realized what these two ladies were looking for. They were looking at the handful of bras we had come across from dozens and dozens of bags of clothing. And that's when their situation struck me in a more personal way. I can't really fathom what they've been through in crossing war-torn continents. And I was at a place that was providing them food, and shelter (such as it was), and warm clothes for the impending cold weather, but fleeing your home with just a few items means that you most likely don't have much in the way of clean underwear. Watching them dig through a box of someone else's donated underwear brought home the reality of what it means to have nothing and to be entirely dependent on the generosity of strangers in order for basic needs to be met. And this is precisely where the church needs to be, standing in the gap to offer kindness and generosity to strangers.
The local church we partnered with in Greece has volunteers at this camp almost every day doing everything from serving meals to cleaning bathrooms. Please pray for them as they're invested in ministering there for as long as needed.
Other posts in this series -
Part 1: Brothels and Safehouses
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