I was taught that a good essay always has a prologue and an epilogue. I'm at the airport now waiting to board my plane to Heathrow and I can't but reflect on the events of the past 8 weeks. So as an epilogue, here are some of my reflections.
What have I accomplished in these last 8 weeks? Very little indeed.
I was warned at my briefing session at The Salvation Army's international headquarters that this may be my response and indeed it is the response of many a humanitarian worker.
There are over a hundred thousand refugees who have come through Greece during my time here. I was only able to just meet a few. There were many who needed food, I was able to give sandwiches to very few of them. Many children needed milk, I was able to give only to some of them. Many had sore feet but I only bought plasters for one of them.
I take comfort in the fact that there are many like me who have tried to offer something, and if there's enough of us, perhaps every singe refugee would have experienced some touch of kindness, some comfort.
There is a great march of refugees that goes through Greece seeking refuge and a better tomorrow in a European country.
The Archbishop of Greece in his visit to Lesvos reportedly said:
“All these refugees are the result of our own actions, the so-called western world. We, with our actions, have forced them to abandon their homelands and now we stack them like sheep for slaughter,”
Who am I to know who's to blame, I'm just a humble Salvation Army officer who was on a humanitarian mission for 8 weeks. Regardless of who's to blame we, in the west, have certain responsibilities towards the people who are seeking refuge here.
As long as these people remain just numbers of whom we hear about in the media we can easily be passive and just don't care.
The moment someone comes in contact with the people who are on this great march, that moment a person ceases to be a number and is a face; it is a person with longings and hopes, with fears and joys, with sadness and despair. This person is a person like you and me, their only "crime" is that they were born in the "wrong" part of the world.
I was born in a part of the world in which I have enjoyed freedom, education, sanitation, travel, work and family. They are born in a part of the world in which they have experienced tragedy, pain, loss of dignity, separation and conflict. They are God's creation, like I am, and yet their rights have been denied to them, their life is lived in fear, their hopes are dashed and their future is bleak.
My only response is to open my arms and embrace them.
You will say that I am naive. You will find many reasons to explain why there is not enough room for all of us here in Europe. You may be right. Where can they go?
I will finish this series of posts with a quote from one of my favourite writers, Fyodor Dostoevsky:
What have I accomplished in these last 8 weeks? Very little indeed.I was warned at my briefing session at The Salvation Army's international headquarters that this may be my response and indeed it is the response of many a humanitarian worker.
There are over a hundred thousand refugees who have come through Greece during my time here. I was only able to just meet a few. There were many who needed food, I was able to give sandwiches to very few of them. Many children needed milk, I was able to give only to some of them. Many had sore feet but I only bought plasters for one of them.
I take comfort in the fact that there are many like me who have tried to offer something, and if there's enough of us, perhaps every singe refugee would have experienced some touch of kindness, some comfort.There is a great march of refugees that goes through Greece seeking refuge and a better tomorrow in a European country.
The Archbishop of Greece in his visit to Lesvos reportedly said:
“All these refugees are the result of our own actions, the so-called western world. We, with our actions, have forced them to abandon their homelands and now we stack them like sheep for slaughter,”
As long as these people remain just numbers of whom we hear about in the media we can easily be passive and just don't care.
The moment someone comes in contact with the people who are on this great march, that moment a person ceases to be a number and is a face; it is a person with longings and hopes, with fears and joys, with sadness and despair. This person is a person like you and me, their only "crime" is that they were born in the "wrong" part of the world.I was born in a part of the world in which I have enjoyed freedom, education, sanitation, travel, work and family. They are born in a part of the world in which they have experienced tragedy, pain, loss of dignity, separation and conflict. They are God's creation, like I am, and yet their rights have been denied to them, their life is lived in fear, their hopes are dashed and their future is bleak.
My only response is to open my arms and embrace them.
You will say that I am naive. You will find many reasons to explain why there is not enough room for all of us here in Europe. You may be right. Where can they go?
I will finish this series of posts with a quote from one of my favourite writers, Fyodor Dostoevsky:
“At some thoughts one stands perplexed - especially at the sight of men's sin - and wonders whether one should use force or humble love. Always decide to use humble love. If you resolve on that, once and for all, you may subdue the whole world. Loving humility is marvelously strong, the strongest of all things, and there is nothing else like it.”
