Are you, like many people in the world, afraid of refugees? Or, more likely, do you add that telling “but” to your sentences? “I feel for the refugees, BUT you never know…” “I want the U.S. to accept more refugees, BUT national security comes first…”
If the answer is yes, my reply to you is…
Okay. I get it. (Did you think I was going to yell at you?) People who are different are big unknowns to our sense of safety. Refugees are a complex population of many different faith sects, ethnic groups, and geographic origins. They’re practically walking question marks, right? Yes, they’re undeniably diverse and nebulous as a group, but refugees themselves are far from dangerous to the safety of anyone, especially in the West.
I may not change your mind, but in this post I just want to describe things that have made me feel unsafe in the past four weeks of time spent traveling in Greece and working in refugee camps.
Times I’ve Felt Unsafe Out and About in Greece:
1. When a sweet-looking, elderly Greek lady pulled a move on me in a crowded tram and tried to steal stuff from my backpack (luckily, I had caribeaners on all the zippers).
2. When the same sweet-looking, elderly Greek lady began to feel around the side of my pant leg and in my pocket as I tried to get off said tram.
3. When a harmless-looking, elderly Greek man grabbed Stacy’s phone from her pocket and began to slide it out before she realized and clamped her hand down over it.
4. When I was swimming in the bay outside our hotel on Lesvos and saw a fellow tourist (male) enter the water who proceeded to swim way too close to me. (I got out.)
5. When I walked down this one shady street in Thessaloniki.
Times I’ve Felt Unsafe in Refugee Camps:
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Yep, I have felt 100% safe in all the refugee camps I’ve been in (a total of five, of varying sizes and levels of organization). Most refugees have greeted me with a smile and addressed me as “my friend.” The young Muslim men I’ve met, the supposed terrorists, are ones I’ve worked alongside in the camps. More than any other group, young refugee men have been helping the camps to run and serving their fellow refugees. I’ve seen them prepare meals, translate for our clothing distribution team, and distribute food door to door.
Some fears are warranted. Fear of refugees is not. Refugees are fleeing the same violence that the West fears. They’re fleeing terrorist attacks like the most recent one in Baghdad that claimed over 200 lives on Sunday. They’re fleeing suicide bombers in Turkey. They’re fleeing war and annihilation in their home countries. Many of the kids we’ve been working with are Yazidi. Those families are fleeing persecution and ethnic cleansing by methods as cruel as beheadings. Those kids, who wear read and white striped necklaces to show that they are Yazidi, are not just in ISIS’ line of fire — they’re the targets.
It’s not productive to make more enemies than we need to. Let’s not make that mistake.
Firsthand 