One of our team members this month is a nurse! We are so grateful for the medical personnel who have joined our one week trips; their help is so valuable! Today I went to the newest squat (formed this week after the Idomeni camp shut down). Shortly after entering, a woman saw the red cross on [...]
The team did a bunch of different things their second day in Athens--shopping, cooking, teaching English lessons. But mostly they walked. Part of the team went out to a couple of squats to play with kids and blew bubbles and hand out stickers. As they were about to leave, one of the members of that squat [...]
By Andy McNeely Today was filled with emotions as so much of the trip has been. Sorrow for the plight of the homeless refugees, joy with our new Syrian friends, and shock at the ability of people to survive. The most recurring emotion I have had over the duration of our trip has been that [...]
Our second day in the refugee squat began to reveal the brokenness and pain in the lives of our new friends. Tonight, we gathered to share stories from the day – a practice that has been incredibly important to our team. During the day, it’s pretty chaotic and we are individually stretched very thin for [...]
This morning I headed to the port of Athens ahead of the team and served with the Greek Red Cross. I teamed up with them distributing food, clothes, toiletries and cleaning the port terminal. It was a little difficult communicating, but with broken English from them, little phrases in Greek I’ve learned and lots of [...]
There's a lot going on in lots of different places with refugees in Athens. One of our short term teams has been there this past week and they have seen first-hand the incredible suffering and struggles of the refugees and immigrants that now crowd Greece. It's a hard place to be, but they are glad to [...]
Food Distribution Today, we cleaned up Victoria Square. We swept, picked out trash from among the bushes and plants and filled up four large bags. A couple of the young Algerian men helped out as they realized how disrespectful it was, culturally, to leave an older woman like Nihad, to sweep up after them. In [...]
Mama Nihad Today, Nihad assisted the Salvation Army in sorting more clothing donations and assisted some of the women volunteers in preparing decorations for the refugees coming to the day center. She went out to the Square and helped Boat Refugee Foundation to distribute tea. Nihad purchased cold medication for young men that had caught [...]
Here’s an update from two of our teammates who are networking with refugee relief workers in and around Athens, Greece in order for us to be better able to serve there. Today we spent all of our time in a Park. The need there is tremendous! The majority of refugees are from Afghanistan and Algeria. [...]
I served with a Servant Group International team on a Greek island. Each day we accompanied approximately 1,000 refugees arriving on the northern coast. The refugees arrive on shore wet, hungry, thirsty, exhausted and frequently in shock from the 6-mile journey. Most have been displaced from their homes for at least a month – many [...]
