As you may remember from Monday’s post, last week was a very difficult week for our team. Our Tea House ministry was literally overrun with people. Because of this, we spent this week exploring refugee ministry “out of the box” – new ideas, new methods, new dreams. One thing that I have been wanting to do is visit the western port city of Patra, about 3 hours west of Athens. We had heard reports of great need and dire conditions there. Yesterday, Themis, Brian, Kent, and I made the journey to see the situation in Patra firsthand. We visited a makeshift Afghan refugee camp, drank tea with the camp “elder,” gave a few sack lunches, and had some very enlightening conversations with refugees. Our purpose was to learn about the refugee situation in Patra… and, indeed, we were overwhelmed with what we learned. Here are some pics (more to come next week):
A makeshift camp – the area “houses” around c. 2000 Afghan refugees
A young Afghan hanging laundry outside of camp
Refugees attempt to jump aboard semi-trucks headed for Italy (via ferries).
The goal: a ship headed for Italy (guarded with tall fences, hundreds of police, and very sharp razor wire).
Susie
February 21, 2009
Break my heart why don’t you?! Great photos. I’m so glad you guys made the trip there…I wish I were a guy(in this case), and I wish I were there that I could have gone with you.