A Greater Tragedy

It’s not about the grief expressed or action taken for an innocent animal, it’s about the lack of expressed grief and action taken for innocent human beings (thousands of them, at that).

Sally Lieber, Veteran Volunteer

Sally Lieber, like Curt Rhodes, spoke at Spark Church and gave incredible perspective to Stacy and I on the refugee crisis as she experienced it while volunteering on Lesvos. She was there long-term helping with the organization “Dirty Girls of Lesvos Island,” which washed clothes left behind by refugees and gave them to refugees arriving on Lesvos in rafts. Sally really helped elucidate what tangible, human needs there were and continue to be in Greece. She also explained her interactions with refugees and how they were hopeful, kind, and compassionate towards those they encountered; for example, the men would cheer as Sally passed them in her car while driving women and children uphill to their registration and departure points.

We also met with Sally again closer to our departure date and spoke about her second trip volunteering in Idomeni (near the Macedonian border), where there was a huge refugee population with poor conditions, for much of the time in a cold and wet winter climate. Idomeni has since been cleared, but refugee camps near Thessaloniki and the border remain with insufficient resources. Beyond food and water, there are simple needs like sunscreen and mosquito repellant that we take for granted. Since we’ll be on Lesvos and in Thessaloniki, Sally provided valuable insight to the conditions there and how she interacted with those spaces for such a long time in an incredible capacity. Sally does so much for the Bay Area community and for the refugee crisis. It’s really an honor to learn from her dedicated, long-term work.

Curt Rhodes & Questscope

We had the opportunity in to speak with the amazing Curt Rhodes, who directs the organization Questscope and spoke at Spark Church. He offered so much insight into the issue. Questscope works in Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon and has an incredible mentorship program where they pair adult refugees with younger (teenage) refugees, among other very successful ventures in refugee camps like Za’atari in Jordan (home to 80,000 refugees). He reminded us that it’s important to evaluate volunteer organizations and what we’ll be doing, as not all volunteering inherently adds value. Finally, he encouraged us to acquaint ourselves with human rights standards and, as we may be interacting with some Christian organizations, understand that anthropology comes before theology. It’s important to consider what goals organizations have: sharing love, peace, and basic needs like food, water, shelter, and structure for children — or sharing the gospel. In my opinion, the latter should not come at the expense of the former for these refugees and that has to be a consideration.

Speaking with NPR Reporter Joanna Kakissis

Joanna Kakissis is NPR’s foreign correspondent in Greece. I reached out and was able to speak with her before I submitted my HAND application (also before the EU-Turkey deal was made), and she was able to give me a lot of great context. Because she travels around Greece reporting on pertinent stories, she had been to Lesvos and other refugee hotspots. Joanna was able to warn against volunteering on the island of Kos due to an unfortunate neo-fascist presence as well as protests against refugee arrivals — it just wouldn’t be safe. She also told me some important details: there are about an equal number of Syrian and Iraqi refugees, refugees from Afghanistan have been refugees twice, information about the prevalence and danger levels of human traffickers, and that by summertime large detention camps in Greece may be set up (she was right). She also explained the differences between the islands and what kind of impact they’ve felt since the influx of refugees. Something Joanna said during our conversation has stuck with me and impacted my research questions on this journey: that what I may end up seeing unfold is the story of what happens when an EU country becomes a giant refugee camp. Reflecting on this now, I think she was right. Her unique position gives her an amazing vantage point and she has done incredible work for NPR. If you’re interested in reading more about the arc of the refugee crisis in Greece, check out some of her stories here.

Origins: About the Project & Key Questions

In early 2015, I started hearing a lot about the Syrian refugee crisis through my church, Spark. After learning more about this issue of massive scope and background and continuing to follow it in the news, I decided that I really wanted to help and learn more about the complexity of the refugee crisis — and the best way to do that is to get up close and experience the issue firsthand (hence the blog name).

Menlo School, through the generosity of the HAND Foundation (also hence the blog name), offers research grants to a few students each year. I applied and was granted one of them. Stacy and I decided we would travel together, and somehow we have this incredible opportunity to learn and serve on this trip. I hope this blog will be a window into our journey for everyone who cares and wants to learn more from where they are.

Some big questions:
How has the path of a refugee transformed over the past year?
How has the refugee crisis impacted Greece?
In what ways, both positive and negative, has the Greek government handled the crisis? Europe?
What volunteer networks are in place, and how do they navigate this volatile situation?
In some ways, I may also be answering the question of what happens when a disproportionate amount of the burden falls upon a single country: Greece.
And finally: what lies ahead for refugees?

We’ll be in Athens, on the island of Lesvos, and in Thessaloniki over the span of a month and I hope to update the blog regularly. Thank you for reading!