Thursday/Friday – May 26 & 27

Our night at Skala was very uneventful, thank you Lord, and we even all slept well!

Seka, our beautiful Icelandic friend, decided it would be a good idea to take the tarp, which covered a sitting area, down.  It flapped loudly in the stiff breeze and would probably disturb our sleep.  So she and I hopped up on plastic chairs and worked out knots and undid bungee cords on one side. Then we rolled it up against the other fence and tied it in place.  Great feelings of accomplishment all round!  Of course, then the breeze totally died down!

The sunset, over the Aegean, was spectacular.  Kim had told us earlier in the day that the furthest western point we could see was the ancient site of Troy!  So I watched the sun set over Troy!  We then put on jackets, tucked up into blankets, and gathered to watch Salam Neighbor on my iPad.

After I excepted good sleep, I woke about 6:15 and got the water going for coffee.  The next team arrived to relieve us and took off back to the hotel for breakfast and a shower.  We had the rest of the day off so headed to the next village along the coast, Petra.  It is another beautiful little coastal town so that meant poking around shops, stops for coffee and lunch and a little time sitting by the sea.  We also walked up the hill to the lovely little Orthodox Church.  They are always up high, overlooking the town.  I love the symbolism.  If you have been in an orthodox church you know how ornate they are.  Lovely to look at.  Then back to Molivos, supper and bed.

Today we were back to work.  We found out at breakfast that teams are going back into camp!  We are all so glad.  We probably won’t get there before Sunday, at the earliest but we will get back in!

Today four of us drove the hour plus down to Mytilene and worked in the community center set up by the church there. It is a place the refugees can come to charge their phones, have wifi, take showers, wash clothes and get endless cups of coffee or tea (called chai) fixed by us.  We use real mugs we must have washed each one several times!  The amount of sugar they all use is alarming and Seka, a nurse, tried to talk them out of it.  However, she doesn’t speak Farsi or Arabic and they don’t speak English so it was a losing battle.  A large bowl of chicken and rice was brought about noon by a church volunteer so that was served.  We couldn’t communicate very well but smiles and drinks went a long way.  Eleven until two-thirty is for men and then at three family groups come in.  The first part of the day was very busy with numerous men there – Pakistani, Syrian, Algerian, Morrocan. We kept the water hot for drinks and washed up quite a bit.

We went out for lunch in shifts so I joined Carolyn, a volunteer close to my age, so that was nice.  The center is just a short walk back from the harbor so we headed to a restaurant right by water. Perfect!  Clear blue water with various boats lining the wall – small dinghies, fishing boats, the huge ferry, and a few private sailing boats and YWAM’s large ship, New Wave. There were just a few puff clouds in the sky to contrast with the sky.  It was as beautiful as it sounds.

Back to the center for the changing of the guard.  A few of the young men stayed to help clean up – which was much appreciated.  However, I think their motives are mixed as Marta, a totally gorgeous Norwegian blonde is in charge of the place. They are all in love with her, which is no surprise. And she is sweet and rather soft spoken and just serves humbly.  She’s with YWAM and lives on the ship.

After the crowd of men left, it became very quiet.  We only had 4 people in for the afternoon.  I was hoping for some children but not today.  There is a play area with toys, books, games, and puzzles.  One of the men spoke very passable English so we got to hear his story.  He was lovely and very willing to answer our many questions.  His name is Fadi and he is Syrian.  He left because he would have been forced to fight and he didn’t want to kill anyone.  It took him a month to get out of Syria, slipping by ISIS camps and other various factions.  He made his way to Turkey, paid his $400 to a smuggler and made it over here to Lesvos on a rubber dinghy in mid- March.  Since then, he has been in the camp but hopes to make his way to Holland where he has relatives.  It is a story shared by so many but also uniquely his.  It happened to this one person who I talked with today.

 

“Jesus, the Blessed Son of God, hungers and thirsts for uprightness. He abhors injustice. He resists those who try to gather wealth and influence by oppression and exploitation. His whole being yearns for people to treat one another as brothers and sisters, sons and daughters of the same God.

With fervor he proclaims that the way to the Kingdom is not saying many prayers or offering many sacrifices but in feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and visiting the sick and the prisoners (see Matthew 25:31-46). He longs for a just world. He wants us to live with the same hunger and thirst.”            Henri Nouwen