The team did a bunch of different things their second day in Athens--shopping, cooking, teaching English lessons. But mostly they walked. Part of the team went out to a couple of squats to play with kids and blew bubbles and hand out stickers. As they were about to leave, one of the members of that squat [...]
This morning I headed to the port of Athens ahead of the team and served with the Greek Red Cross. I teamed up with them distributing food, clothes, toiletries and cleaning the port terminal. It was a little difficult communicating, but with broken English from them, little phrases in Greek I’ve learned and lots of [...]
I’ll always remember my first Newroz in Kurdistan as the time a Kurd literally gave me the shirt off his back (and his baggy trousers too!). My wife and I were picnicking with the family of one of our students. Among the many cousins, aunts, uncles, and others, there was a grandfather (or perhaps he [...]
There's a lot going on in lots of different places with refugees in Athens. One of our short term teams has been there this past week and they have seen first-hand the incredible suffering and struggles of the refugees and immigrants that now crowd Greece. It's a hard place to be, but they are glad to [...]
The vastness of Kurdish hospitality floors me. If you go to someone’s house they give you the best food, the best seat, and make you eat everything until you don’t think you’ll be able to move. They aren’t satisfied with you being at their house for an hour, you should be there for three… minimum. [...]
