The following is another of the stories I collected while working in refugee camps in Greece. These are true stories of real people, people who are now my friends. I share their stories in an effort to shed light on the situation...
I notice that with each day, Tiago* is looking more and more down-trodden. Each day I give him a hug and try to have cheery conversation during his infrequent breaks from the work. But each day it is more and more difficult to see happiness in him. “How are you today, Friend?”, I ask. “Fine. Well, actually not. Do you really want to know?”, he says, looking at me with eyes that are about to burst with sadness today. “Yes, really. I really want to know. Tell me. How are you?” “I am bad. Very bad. My health is not good. This work is very hard. Psychologically, I’m a mess.” He takes a couple of deep breaths to try to keep himself composed. “I’ve been here for 3 months. It’s too long. Too much. Everything I see and hear and know – it’s all too much.” He can no longer look at me to speak. To look at me would surely start his tears, so he looks away, he looks down, he looks past me. But he can’t look into my eyes. When he finally regains his breathing and his voice, he says, “But I can’t stop. I can’t stop as long as they are here (gesturing to the refugees behind me). Someone has to care for them. Someone has to cook.” And with that, he stands up and goes back to the kitchen. Back to prepare another 1000 meals for the next round of feeding. (*Tiago's name has been changed for security reasons)
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The following is one of the many stories of my refugee friends that I listened to and recorded while working in refugee camps in Greece.
This is the story of Ammar* (name changed for Ammar's security). “What do you miss the most about home?”, I ask. “Lots of things”, he says, looking down at his feet and thinking, remembering. Then a smile starts to break across his face. “I miss my mother’s sweet cakes. There is nothing that tastes like that!” The smile shows a love that radiates from his face, a smile almost too big to contain. “When I was young, before university, I didn’t like my mother’s cooking. I complained about her food a lot. Every day I complained. “But when I got to university, I only knew how to cook rice and pasta. McDonalds became my favorite meals, because it was fast and I didn’t know how to cook anything. McDonalds all the time. “When I went home from university for a visit, I LOVED my mother’s cooking!”, he laughs and shifts his weight back and forth and looks down. I’m struck at how much he looks like a little boy right now, embarrassed and shy in this moment of transparency. “What are your favorite foods from Syria?”, I divert the question a little bit to give him some space, to allow him to pull out of the memory of his mom, if it’s too tough, but he dives right back in and stays with her memory. “I miss everything! Too many things. No one in the world cooks like your mom!” He stops what he is doing and quickly turns to my 13-year old daughter, Sarah, and puts on his best big brother face. “Sarah, one day, you too, will go away to university. And you will miss your mom. And you will miss your mom’s food! You must always respect your mom and all that she does for you. You will miss her. You will dream of her cooking and of everything about her.” He continues to talk of his mother. “My mom, she was a teacher in Syria. I used to go in to her classroom to help her students. She would ask me to come and teach about computers. Oh my! It was so frustrating!” He gets very animated. “I have no patience. None! I don’t know how she does that every day! I cannot teach. I don’t understand why it is so hard for them to understand! And I don’t understand why it is so hard to teach them. No. I have no patience with that.” All of this makes me laugh, because all I have seen from Ammar * is extreme patience and an uncanny ability to remain calm and help others to understand. In his animated state, he is physically acting out his frustration with teaching young children, but also laughing hysterically. I point out that he is saying one thing with his words and body language, but he is laughing. It seems incongruent. “Ah. That’s because I am imagining my mother and remembering. She has zero ability to use technology. My father is a computer expert. That was his job. My brother was in technology. I was studying IT in university before I had to escape. But my mom? She cannot even use her smart phone! She stabs at it – the touch pad on the phone. She stabs at it so hard,” he says, laughing and acting out his mother’s finger stabbing in to his palm. “I tell her that she is trying to kill it. ‘Stop stabbing it! Stop killing the phone!’ But she just can’t understand.” By now, he is belly laughing and tears are rolling down his face. “My mom says that she sometimes wishes she was a computer so that all of her boys would pay attention to her like they do their technology.” And just like that, he is brought back to reality. The idea of his mother wishing that her boys would pay attention to her. A switch is flipped in his head, and in his heart, and he is back. Back to his current situation. He is a refugee, living in a refugee camp, far from home. Far from his world of university studies. Far from his girlfriend that he would like to marry. Far from his mom, and her cooking. Far from the sweet cakes that he loves. And I am haunted by his words earlier, “I miss everything! Too many things. No one in the world cooks like your mom! …one day, you too, will go away. And you will miss your mom. And you will miss your mom’s food! You must always respect your mom and all that she does for you. You will miss her. You will dream of her cooking and of everything about her.” ~Laurie You might be celebrating the holidays ‘away from home’ if…
We love that we can be surrounded by friends and new family here. Last year, Thanksgiving in Texas was a juggling act of trying to juggle people’s schedules and football games and work. In the end, only the three of us and our mothers were able to have dinner together. This year, 16 of our friends and family gathered in our home in Spain for dinner. We celebrated with a family from Puerto Rico (USA), a family from Mexico/Texas, Billy’s mom, and a family from Spain. The Spain family are commonly referred to as “Sarah’s Spanish Family”, as they adopted her (and us) years ago and they are never not involved with us. If a day or two goes by without contact, they check in on us. If Sarah has a cold, they want to take her to the doctor or bring her a home remedy. In fact, each of these families is so special to us and is so closely connected to us that we consider them family. So, when I say that we celebrated with friends and family, I mean it in every sense of the word! I’m thankful for these great people. There are several things that I’m especially thankful for during the holidays in Spain:
Pray for us as we spend another holiday season away from Texas. It won’t be easy. It never is. We miss our boys. We miss our mothers / brothers / sisters / friends more than ever during these times. And thank God that He has surrounded us with friends and family here in Spain that help us to have new traditions and feel loved and connected. We are home for the holidays, because home is both in Texas, and in Spain - home is where you have relationship roots, home is where you are loved! ~ Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas from Laurie, Billy, and Sarah Did you know that you can give a gift to the ministry in honor of someone else? Or that you can give in their name as a special Christmas gift to them? Did you know that your gift to this ministry effects hundreds (actually thousands) of lives? During this holiday season, would you consider giving a special gift for ministry? During the year, we receive financial gifts that help us to live work overseas and do the ministry that God has called us to. God has always been faithful, as have many of you, and we always have what is needed to meet the budget… sometimes we ‘just make it’, but we manage to make it. End of year giving is what pushes us over the hump and makes up the deficit from the year. If you find yourself in a position to give a little something extra for the end of the year, please consider these options: Fund bible study hospitality and coffee ($40 per month = $480 for the year)… Did you know that the majority of our discipleship and bible study time is done over coffee and a sweet? This is how this culture functions. Meetings are almost always at a café. If we’re not in a café, then we meet in the homes of others, or we open our home for meetings. But there is ALWAYS coffee and a small snack. That means that we spend significant time in mom-and-pop type coffee shops, or preparing coffee and banana bread or snacks to host a study group. Do you have the gift of hospitality? Consider an end-of-year gift to help with this part of the ministry. Fund a youth retreat ($700)… This year, we were able to take our youth group on an overnight retreat to a camp near our town. It was an amazing time of prayer and study and growth… and some fun and play, too! We wanted to have a retreat twice a year (one Spring and one Fall), but we were unable to do the funding. Your end-of-year-gift of $700 could fund a retreat for the youth of Antequera. Fund care and counseling for a missionary family in need of debrief and rest ($500)… as a part of our care ministry, we host missionary families who find themselves in need - in need of a break from a traumatic situation, in need of a safe place in times of political unrest, in need of care when the work has pulled them under. This year, we have hosted several families in these situations. Our arrangement with them is that they pay their travel expenses, and we will care for them in Spain free of charge. We host them in our home, make home-cooked meals, care for their children, have counseling sessions with the adults, and give them time and space and tools so they can go back in to the field healthier and restored. You can be a part of this restoration and care ministry by helping us to defray the costs of hosting, meals, on-ground transportation, and care for these missionaries. By doing so, you help not only the missionaries themselves, but you help to keep them on the field so they can continue to help others. Please consider an end-of-year gift of $500 to help one missionary family in need of care. Sponsor a Sunday School class ($20 per month = $240 for the year)… Did you know that Laurie & Billy are the Sunday school directors for the church they serve. This includes adult and children’s classes. This also includes the role of actually WRITING the curriculum, printing out the lessons and booklets, training teachers, and coordinating activities. The church they serve only has a working budget of $24,000 for the YEAR, and that includes the full-time pastor’s salary, operating budget of the church building, and the cost of a satellite church and several outreaches within the county. The church budget is STRETCHED! As a result, the Drum’s budget is currently covering Sunday school costs. A year end gift of $240 would cover the cost of materials and necessities for a Sunday school group (there are 4 total classes at the church). A gift of $960 would cover the entire Sunday school department for a year! Support ministry among refugees ($1000)… Billy and Laurie will be returning to partner again with the refugee relief being done along the European borders. As winter progresses, fewer and fewer volunteers are present in the camps and the ministries that are serving refugees are short-handed. The need continues to be staggering. Your end-of-year gift of $1000 would allow one of us to assist and give relief to workers who have been with the refugee crisis for many months. $2000 would allow both of us to return and give the support and love that is needed during this difficult situation. Any amount of end-of-year giving would be greatly appreciated. The above ideas are just that - ideas, options, examples of real ministry costs. There are many other ministry costs that we cover, as well. Any gift would be a gift to the people we serve, in Spain and around the globe. Thank you for your continued love and prayers for the ministry the people we serve! To give a special end-of-year gift, please print mail this card, or go online at www.themissionsociety.org/give , scroll down to the Give to a Missionary box on that page, and post your gift. Use Missionary ID # 0321. Did you realize that you have a specific food culture? Food is a major connector for cultures and ethnicities. It ranks in the top 3 topics of how people relate to each other when they meet. Immigrants often talk about food patterns and customs, and food is one way that they retain their identity. When we first moved to Spain, we began attending a church where there were many Central and South Americans. One Sunday after services, I found myself seated next to a woman that I did not know. In the process of introducing myself and trying to open a conversation, I found out that she was an immigrant from Nicaragua. It just so happens that while we lived and served in Costa Rica, we worked among Nicaraguan immigrants and refugees! So we had the beginnings of a connection. But the number one thing that surfaced was FOOD! The foods that we missed from that region. We found ourselves reminiscing about gallo pinto and fried yucca. We dreamed of guanabana juice and platanos fritos, of tres leches cake and Central American coffee. We were instantly connected as we remembered the deliciousness of the region and her eyes danced as we talked of foods that meant ‘home’ to her. It is no wonder that we are very good friends even to this day! We had good beginnings—a culture of food. When I have met Peruvians outside of Peru, we almost immediately begin talking about food. Oh, how I miss Cordero al Palo, ceviche, pachamanca, and aji de gallina (my favorite!). What I wouldn’t do to have my friend, Liz, make one more Causa Limeña for me, or papas Huancaina, or Rocoto Relleno. Oh my goodness… I shouldn’t be writing this while I’m waiting for lunch! Yummmmm!!!!! (I just might have a problem with food…) Here in Spain, there is also a specific food culture. Yes, there are specific dishes that are regional favorites and no self-respecting Andaluz would ever live without… porra and gazpacho, berenjena con miel (fried eggplant with honey), pulpo Gallego (octopus), and Spanish tortilla (crust less egg and potato quiche). But there is also a life and norms around food. Specific times of day for specific meals or breaks, and what foods are allowable at those times. For example, Spaniards do not eat eggs for breakfast. An omelet or a quiche or an egg casserole is considered ’too strong’ for a breakfast meal. Breakfast consists of breads and possibly serrano ham and a fresh tomato puree. There are social norms that revolve around food patterns. Meals are social events. Expect to spend at least a couple of hours over a lunch with someone… any less would be disrespectful and rude. Meals are to be lingered over and savored, and the company is to be savored even more! There is no culture of ‘eat and run’ or a ‘quick lunch’. Fast food is actually translated to “comida de basura” (trash food) and is looked down upon by all but the youngest generations. And portion sizes are scrutinized… a drink over 12 ounces is considered excessive, unless it is water. A local friend was recently appalled at the idea that soft drinks come in 32 and 44 ounce sizes in the USA. In Spain, the lunch time meal is the big meal of the day. It is a time to go home from school or work and the entire family gathers around the table. This is the large cooked meal of the day. Businesses close down at 2pm so that everyone can go home for lunch. Then socialization and table talk. Then a rest. It is very common, if not expected, that after a meal and a time of socialization and rest, a walk is in order. It is very common to see entire families out taking a stroll after a meal. Then back to work at 5pm and work until 8 or 9. The evening meal is light… fruit or cheese or yogurt or a light sandwich if you are in the house. Many choose, instead, to opt for relationship and take an evening stroll in town, stopping for a tapa (small appetizer) and a time with friends in the cool of the evening… a couple of hours over a small bite in a café and lots of talking and laughter. Last week, we were living in our own version of the Fiery Furnace, with temperatures well over 100 degrees. One day, we hit 113! It was not pretty here in The Drum household, being as we do not have air conditioning. We were moving slow, drinking lots of water, and wiping down our bodies with wet towels. Literally, that was one week ago. Today, we are sitting in 71 degree Heaven! The evenings are cool and we are finally getting those beautiful Fall breezes that make life lovely! I had to put on a robe and socks this morning and cover up with a quilt to drink my coffee! Ahhhh… back to nice temperatures! September has brought us ‘back’ to a lot of things. August in Spain is a very slow month. Almost everyone saves their yearly vacation time for August. School is still out and businesses close for weeks at a time. Even church cuts back to bare minimums… there is a Sunday service, but no bible studies or Sunday school classes or meetings. For us, that means that we spent most of our August doing coaching and counseling work via Skype for other workers around the globe, hosting visiting workers for coaching and counseling, and preparing for some upcoming trainings that we will be doing for other workers. But locally, not much happening. It all changed on September 1st! Back to Business. Back to schedules and agendas and meetings. Back to bible studies and classes. Somehow, the slowness that is August here—that slowness that was making me bored and fidgety—changed to a steady busy-ness that now has me begging for the slowness to return! Back to School. School children went back to school this week. Sarah started her second year of ESO (Escuela Secundaria Obligatoria), which would be equal to the 8th grade back home. She is continuing in the Bilingual education program in Spanish public school, which means that she takes some of her classes in 50% Spanish / 50% English, some classes are taught completely in Spanish, and she is in her second year of French language. She’s a typical pre-teen… excited to start school because she’s excited to be with her friends again, but not so excited about starting the classes again. Prayer Point—please pray for Sarah’s teachers as they spend the majority of their day with our daughter. Please pray for her friendships—for them to be healthy and life-giving, and for Sarah to be a light in the lives of her non-believing friends and their families. Back to Training. Sarah had a full month off of her Equestrian training, mostly because her trainer got married. She continued to ride several times a week during the summer, but now we are back to training. She competed last week and came in 1st in one of her events, so she’s still doing great. Billy and I are also back to training… back to planning for training workshops that we will be leading in the next months for other mission workers, back to language training and working with language helpers to refine and hone our skills, and back to training local leaders and workers in Spain. Prayer Point—please pray for teachable spirits, for open-minds and for a willingness to learn. Back to Escuela Dominical (Sunday School) - We started the new Sunday School year this past weekend. Billy and I are the Directors of the Sunday School program at the church here. This year brings lots of changes to the program. Changes in teachers and placement, changes in curriculum, changes in classes and age-levels. Prayer Point—please pray that our teachers develop in to a team, pray that changes are embraced and pray that growth occurs in both the teachers and in the students. Back to Study Groups—September brings new beginnings to the study groups and cell groups and home fellowship groups. Sunday was the beginning of the new study year for the Café con Jesus inductive study group that meets before church each Sunday morning. We had a full group last week! Pray for this group to continue to be a risk-fee environment where everyone feels open and vulnerable, yet safe… safe to bring important biblical questions and arguments to the table and have real discussion with others. A praise point and a prayer point here is that the pastor believes that they way to foster real growth and real change in the church and in the community is to have MORE groups like the Café con Jesus group! More opportunities for people to come together for authentic discussion and learning. Another group that has started back up is our home fellowship group in Campillos (the small pueblo where we have an outreach about 40 minutes from here). We have two homes that are open for fellowship groups there, but normally we only have a small handful of people who are regular attendees. Today, we had 14 in the group! And 8 of those were new! Prayer point—please keep this fellowship group in your prayers, pray for the 2 homes that are open to holding meetings, pray for the 8 newcomers to the group, and pray for bonds and relationships and real community to begin to grow among these new believers. Pray for Pastor Miguel and Billy and I as we work to disciple this fellowship. Back to Leadership—Our Leadership team is back together again, too. This summer was a time of furlough for part of our team, as they went back to Puerto Rico to reconnect with churches and family and friends. We stepped back during that time so that we could devote time to hosting other workers and doing debriefing, counseling, and coaching work. Now we are all back in the saddle and we have hit the ground running. Leadership meetings, strategy and planning are all in full swing. We will also be back to our weekly time of inductive study starting next week. Prayer point—please pray for this team as we work together. Pray for us to continue to be a beautiful example of Kingdom work, being an international team made up of different cultures and ages and backgrounds. Pray for us to continue to grow as leaders and to be teachable and flexible. Back to Greece— October will send us back to Greece to work with refugees on the island of Lesbos. As of right now, we will be working in the Kara Tepe camp. Two friends from the USA will be joining our team this time, as will one Spaniard (from our Café con Jesus group). Prayer point—please pray for our travel to Greece, please pray for us to be good servants and to be ready, willing, and able to do anything and everything that is needed while we are there. Pray especially for Cristobal, our Spanish friend who will be joining us. He has answered the call to serve and is stepping out in faith and obedience, but he is terrified. Going out and serving in this way is not the norm for the Spanish church, and Cristobal is the only one to respond and go. This could be a big growth point for him (and for the Church) and we are waiting and watching with great expectation for what God is going to do in and through Cristobal on this trip. And, of course, pray for the refugee situation, for peace within the camps, for joy even in times of waiting and uncertainty. URGENT UPDATE - Last night (Sept. 19th), a fire destroyed the Moria camp on Lesbos island. The NGO that we work with was spared - this is a miracle since every tent and every NGO around them was burned to the ground. Thousands of refugees are without shelter or services today. But, thanks to God, they still have NGO REMAR to feed them and be there alongside them this morning! Pray for this very difficult situation, and for the relief workers who are there to care for others in the wake of even more heartbreak and dispair. Pray that they continue to be a Light in the days ahead. Below are my video updates from my work in the Moria refugee camp on Lesbos Island, Greece.
It’s 90 degrees and still morning as we plug in the coordinates for the Malakasa Refugee Camp and start our drive north of Athens, Greece. I’m not sure what to expect. Billy has been serving for the past 10 days in the Moria camp on Lesbos island and his stories are discouraging and traumatic. I hear that the Malakasa camp has many more children than the Moria camp, many of them unaccompanied minors. I’m trying to mentally and emotionally prepare myself for this day of fact-finding, but I’m also asking God to break my heart for what breaks His and to give me eyes to see what it is that He is bringing me here to see. I don’t believe that anything happens by chance, and I believe that our invitation to come and see Malakasa is for a purpose. We arrive in the tiny town of Malakasa, Greece – a sleepy little haven with a couple of outdoor cafes and a small corner market store. But where is this sprawling refugee camp? We drive in ever increasing circles until we finally decide to stop and attempt to ask for directions at the store. Sarah and I stay in the car and watch as Billy approaches the two women in the store. After a very animated conversation that included lots of laughing and waving of arms and even a pantomime that consisted of running part way up the street as though the woman was a car and showing the way, Billy returned to the car laughing hysterically and positive that he now had proper directions. The women only spoke Greek and her daughter spoke ‘a little English’ (which totaled up to two words – “sorry” and “yes”). It turns out that pantomime directions with Greek laughter is a better map than our GPS system, and much more friendly and entertaining to boot! The Malakasa refugee camp is housed on an old Greek military base, surrounded by high fences and razor wire, gates and guard houses and posted soldiers. There are signs that prohibit the use of cameras on military property. We are met at the gate by two REMAR directors who give us our official vests and usher us in. After a small confrontation with military guards regarding food supplies and a tank of propane that REMAR is trying to deliver to the camp, we are forced to leave the supplies and propane outside the gates and proceed on foot until other officials can come and straighten out the supply issues. I don’t think we walked 20 feet before the first man approached us, a young adult male from Afghanistan. He was all smiles, stuck out his hand for a handshake, and said, “Hello, My Friends! Good to see you today.” Okay… I can’t lie… THAT was NOT what I expected! This guy was happy, he was friendly, and he spoke perfect English with almost zero accent. This scene was repeated over and over again as people smiled and greeted us while we walked through the camp. The camp itself is bleak. Rows and rows and rows of tents sitting in the scorching sun, no breeze, little to no shade, and every dumpster is filled to overflowing with the remains of meal containers and other trash. What little shade that exists is completely occupied by women, fully dressed in headscarves and full covering dresses and sitting on blankets in the dirt, trying to take advantage of the small amount of protection the trees offered from the heat. But they appear content, doing what small groups of people do when together… talking, laughing, some are playing cards. Children run around playing with anything they can and inventing games on the fly. We are ushered past rows and rows of tents, occupied by 6-10 people in each. There are more than 1600 people housed here right now. Then we pass the kitchen area, where the military is providing meals. At each camp there is a different set up. In Moria, Billy and the crew with REMAR were providing meals and helping to feed the refugee population (3500 people in the Moria camp). In this camp, the military is responsible for the feeding and REMAR is providing other services – snacks of crackers and cookies, hot tea, a community room, and a large tent space for providing children’s services. We enter in to the community room that REMAR is running and it is full of people sitting at picnic-style tables, taking advantage of another place out of the heat. There are electrical outlets on the walls and many are taking advantage of this for charging cell phones and trying to keep in touch with relatives who are still in transit as refugees. That is when I see her. She is captivating. Her face draws me in. Her eyes are so deep and her smile so kind, her face is enchanting. “Hello!” she says to me. “Come and sit.” She slides over on the bench and pats the seat next to her. For the next hour, I sit with this fascinating young girl and I am forever changed. Hosai is 14 years old, the oldest child in her family. She wants me to know that her name means “deer” in her language. She is from Afghanistan. I also meet her younger sister, Sidiqa. Sidiqa is 8, but she wishes to be 9, and she keeps telling me that she will soon be 9, so I should just think of her as 9. I smile and say that she looks like a 9 year old to me, and she shakes her head and smiles. They then tell me a very animated story about the youngest brother (6 years old) and how he is wearing a cast on his whole arm because he fell and broke it in 3 places. They are very excited that the doctor says that the cast will be removed in one more week and he will be well again. I ask about the rest of the family, and Hosai tells me that there are 4 children total (she is the oldest) and their father. She then looks out the door in to the distance and says that her mother ‘is no more’, she died on the journey. So Hosai is now the ‘mother’ for her brothers and sister. They have been traveling for 7 months – 5 months of walking and escape to this point, and two months so far in the refugee camp. They left Afghanistan in January. “I miss the snow. My part of Afghanistan is beautiful, and cooler than here. This is so hot! It can be hot there too, but not like here!” “What is your favorite thing to do in camp?” I ask. “There is no favorite thing in camp. It is the same every day. Nothing. Nothing to do. In Afghanistan, I had a lot to do. Too much! (she laughs) Every day was different. It wasn’t a good life, but every day was different. All we do here is get up, eat, sit around, eat, sit around, eat… the same every day. I want to study and to read. I miss my books. I love to study!” “What do you love to study?” “Math! Math is my favorite subject. Oh, I wish for a math book, or a class, or a teacher to sit with me! I wish to study again.” My teacher heart is melting and breaking all at the same time. I want to cry, but I hold it for later. I have already had this conversation with the REMAR directors. They say that one of their biggest issues right now is fighting boredom for the people, especially the women and children. The women would like something to do, hand work or workshops or something to learn. And the children want to study. They have the right to go to school and study, but there is no school close to the camp, no transportation, and no way to provide the school supplies and books that they need. So they cannot go. The volunteers with REMAR are trying to do crafts and play games with the children, but they have limited resources and limited man-power. This is one of the areas that they need help with and are asking us to try to help provide via volunteers and supplies. Hosai tells me, for the millionth time, that my daughter is so beautiful. She is captivated by her hair. She says so to Sarah and Sarah giggles and says, ‘no, your hair is much more beautiful than mine’, to which they have a discussion regarding hair. I am struck by the fact that my 7th grade daughter who is USA born and Latina/Española raised is sitting here talking about hair with a young girl from Afghanistan. How different and how similar they are! Completely different cultures and backgrounds, yet both immigrants trying to find their place in a different world from their parent’s. And here they sit, being fully and completely girly, discussing hair. The entire time we are talking, another young woman has been sitting across from us, watching. Her name is Ameneh, 22 years old, and she is holding her baby boy, Ali Azgar. She speaks no English. I have asked her a few questions, and Hosai has been translating for us. Ameneh has been in transit for 10 months. She traveled for 6 months from Afghanistan, mostly walking. She spent 2 months in a refugee camp on the coast before being transferred here to Malakasa 2 months ago. She doesn’t offer any extra information and does not seem eager to carry on conversation. Her face is hauntingly sad and I can’t help but feel that she is surrounded by people, yet she seems completely alone and tiny in this sea of wanderers. Desperately alone. Another boy has come over to listen in on several occasions, to interject in to the conversation, and to try out his English. He is 13 years old and is carrying the most precious little fairy of a baby girl, his one year old sister, Aisha. He is bubbly and happy and has near-perfect English. He tells me that his favorite thing at camp is the children’s tent. “It is the happy place. It is my favorite place when it is open. Singing and playing and happiness, making drawings, the nice people – it is the best place in camp!” We go over to see the children’s tent, which is closed now and two volunteers are sweeping and picking up stools and papers. REMAR’s volunteers are almost all Spanish-speakers, with a few Northern Europeans thrown in. Almost all speak English as a second language. Today, the children’s tent is being manned by a Swiss guy and a twenty-year old girl from Argentina. The guy has been here for 2 weeks and will continue to serve for two more. He is trying to decide whether or not to stay in Malakasa or go to Moria for a bit, so he and Billy chat about options and perspective. The Argentine is a bubbly young nurse who has a heart for service and missions. She is constantly surrounded by children. This camp has many unaccompanied minors – children whose parents have died in transit, or parents only had enough money to get one or two people in the family across a border, or children who were literally thrown on to boats or buses or across borders to strangers in the hopes that they could find freedom when the parents could not. These children now have no one but each other and the kindness of strangers and volunteers, so ‘Lucy’ becomes a big sister-figure or a surrogate mom to many. “These kids sit close to me, so close. They can’t get close enough. They just want me to touch them, to caress their arms or their heads.” There is another presence in the room, always watching, always reaching for someone or trying to engage someone in conversation. It is Mohammed Farhad, a 22 year old in a wheelchair due to some form of cerebral palsy. He does speak English, although difficult to understand. And he has been learning Spanish from the REMAR volunteers. He has a fond place in his heart for Spain and has a Spanish flag attached to his wheelchair with many signatures on it. When he hears that we are from Spain, he shouts “Viva España!” and dissolves in to laughter. Mohammed did not always have this wheelchair. The wheelchair was a gift from REMAR. His father carried him here on his back from Afghanistan. We met his father, who is not a big man – he is about my height (5’2”) and probably in his late 40s or early 50s. To think of this man physically carrying his son from Afghanistan. I’m instantly in awe of his dedication and love. Mohammed keeps calling me his sister. He keeps saying that I am a sister to him. I agree to be his sister and his friend. He sits next to me in his wheelchair and holds my hand while Hosai and I continue to talk. Soon, lunch time rolls around. Refugees leave the common room to go to the dining room to pick up meals and eat with their families and have an afternoon rest time. REMAR volunteers stay in the common room and sweep and clean up and prepare the room for our lunch. A group in the kitchen has prepared spaghetti and salad and juice for us, and the volunteers all sit together, family style. It is a table full of nationalities – Spaniards, Italians, Swiss, Germans, and a few Afghan and Iraqi refugees who volunteer to help REMAR in camp every day. It is a beautiful mix at the table, a family, and I think that this is what the Kingdom of God is supposed to look like. Mohammed has stayed behind when the others left for their families to have lunch, and no one even bats an eyelash, they just wheel him up to the end of the table and he sits with the volunteer family. Billy is asked to pray for the lunch and the group, and he prays over this mix of people and religions and traditions like it’s just any other day. Mohammed is seated at the end, between Billy on one side and Sarah on the other. A few minutes in to lunch, Billy realizes that Mohammed needs help and offers to help him, to which ‘Lucy’ the Argentine assumes her mother role and scoots Sarah to the side so she can switch places. Effortlessly, like someone who has done this her whole life, she feeds spaghetti to both herself and Mohammed while she carries on a deep conversation with me about places she has served and her call to missions on her life. Her heart and actions speak so much louder than her words and I am convinced that she has a calling. She is destined for great things in the Kingdom! After more conversations with REMAR directors, more fact-finding, more investigation of needs assessment and the future of this situation, we leave the camp that afternoon with a better understanding and a clearer vision for how our community and the Church in Europe and the world can rise to the occasion and help. We will return soon, with volunteers and help and supplies, and we now better understand how to pray. As we are leaving, we are blessed with Peace (Salaam) by many, and we are asked when we might return. Hosai sees us just before we leave the military base gate and she comes over to wish us well and say goodbye. She is visibly sad that we are not staying, as are we. We exchange a hug that lasts a little too long for me to be able to contain my tears anymore and I have to smile and turn away before I lose it. What lies ahead for Hosai? Will she be here when I return? I hope so, and I hope not. One of the ways we minister in Spain is serving in youth ministry. One role that we did not anticipate when we came to Spain was that of Youth Ministry. One afternoon, while sitting in the garden at the church with the pastor, he approached us with the request of leading the youth Sunday school class for a short period… 3 months. He needed to give the current teacher a break (the teacher had been in the role for several years with no break) and asked us to step in for a bit. I’ll be honest—my initial gut response was fear and trembling. The idea of teaching teens was a bit equivalent to Daniel in the lion’s den… I just kept thinking about how they would eat me alive! But the poor pastor was a little desperate for a sub for those 3 months and we have a hard time saying no or letting others down (basically, we were sitting ducks and he knew it), so we decided that we could do anything for just 3 months. There was an endpoint and we would have an ‘out’, so we said okay.
Well, here we are, 2+ years later… still teaching the youth class and now serving on the youth leadership team… and loving every minute of it!!! The previous teacher did not want his job back, and by that time, we were smitten with these awesome kids! So, we stayed in the position. Youth Sunday school mostly looks like a group inductive bible study / disciple group. These kids are smart and driven and eager to learn! They are willing to wrestle with Scripture and with ideas and with each other’s opinions. They go deep… often deeper than we expect. They are growing every week. They are amazing! This past Sunday, we started a discipleship study series with them (Life Transformation Studies). During the first session, they made connections and new discoveries like never before. One student shouted out, “Wait! Stop! I can’t handle this. My head is exploding!” Another said, “I’ve learned more today from the bible than I have ever learned in all my years of Religion class! (Religion classes are mandatory in school here.) I always feel like I don’t know how to respond or argue my point in class. I can’t wait till the next time I get to say something! This is amazing! This stuff about Jesus and God and then Adam and humanity… What?! This is awesome!” Then, to top it all off, an adult came to us after class and asked if we would please personally help them to study the bible like that. Mind blown!!! Guess youth ministry might have been a good thing after all. We also serve on a youth leadership team with other CCWs Axel and Delilah (Puerto Ricans), and with a college student (Ana –Spaniard) who is passionate about youth ministry. Axel and Delilah lead ‘youth group’ while we are responsible for youth Sunday school. Axel and Delilah are in their 30s and are younger and more gifted than us in many ways!!! Ana keeps us all straight, giving us the Spanish perspective and making sure we are culturally appropriate, as well as giving us the youthful insight of a twenty year old! She is ‘youth leadership in training’, an intern of sorts...an indespensable part of the team. Priceless. A real gem! Our youth are diverse, to say the least!!! We have many Third-Culture Kids (TCKs). These kids come from Brazil and Nicaragua, Spain and Argentina and the USA. One has a parent from Ukrania, another has a parent from Canada. Three of them are missionary kids who consider themselves to be from several places and not defined by any one place… including Sarah from Texas / Costa Rica / Peru / Spain, another who has lived in Argentina / Peru / USA / Spain, and another who has lived in Mauritania / USA / Canada / Spain. So, to say that these kids make up an incredible mix of cultures and worldviews is an understatement! This month, the team hosted an overnight youth retreat. The kids were so excited and we had great plans for teambuilding/community building games, debriefs, bible studies, and creativity activities. A crazy weather pattern caused us to scramble for Plan B on several outdoor activities and re-arrange a few things for indoors, but the rains did let up long enough for a midnight campfire and marshmallow roasting. To say that the retreat was a success would also be an understatement. It far surpassed our expectations! The kids were fantastic! They dug deep when it was time to debrief the community building games. They mined Truth from the bible study times that we never expected them to reach. They self-instigated times of prayer for each other. They played hard, studied hard, and loved deeply. Because these kids are so diverse and come from a variety of backgrounds, and because many of them are TCKs, they relate to each other in very special ways. During one session in particular, several opened up about how much they missed family members in other parts of the world and about issues in school, at home, and about being in a different culture / language. Impromptu prayers for each other broke out and tears flowed. Youth hugged each other and talked about how much they understood each other and how much they, too, miss their family members or struggle with home issues or school things. It was really beautiful and special. (Okay… I was a little choked up, too!) I think that Billy and I, and Axel and Delilah are in this role for exactly this reason… we ‘get it’. We get what it’s like to leave home, to be immigrants, to leave family behind and to grieve that loss. We understand what it is like to be working and studying in a new culture, a different language, and a completely different set of norms and values. We understand families that are under special pressures as immigrants. It’s hard. It takes work. It is stressful. And we can relate. The theme of the retreat was No estas sol@ (You are not alone). The kids latched on to it and are now using it in everything they do. We are a family - a new kind of family, a community, a team. It’s fun to hear them remind each other, “No estas solo!” We’re moving forward with these youth. We continue with Sunday school and bible study time. We will be having a youth event on May 27th with some out-of-town youth ministry folks coming in. There is a region-wide youth event on May 28th in Malaga that many of the youth will also be attending. In June, we will have a youth pool party, as well as we will be having Youth Sunday in our church (pray for this!). A handful of students have bubbled up to the top and want to go deeper and begin some leadership training and mentoring. It’s a lot of fun to watch these kids rise up and get excited and motivated to move forward! |
Laurie DrumIn my USA life, I was a teacher in Texas for 15 years. I was also a professional photographer, a soccer mom, a horsewoman, and the neighborhood hospitality queen. I did "Joanna Gaines farmhouse style" before Chip and JoJo were even a thing - we restored an 1884 Victorian farmhouse in small town Texas and did shiplap walls until I thought I'd go crazy. I taught at NASA, scuba dived with astronauts in training, and studied animals at Sea World for educational purposes. I've tried just about everything, because I have an insatiable need to know if I can do it! Never underestimate a Texas girl in cowboy boots! In 2006, my husband Billy and I became cross-cultural workers (CCWs) with TMS Global. For five years, we served in three rural Quechua Wanca villages in the Andes of Peru. And when I say rural, I mean RURAL - like no potty! I spent my days in Peru learning to live a Quechua lifestyle in a rustic adobe house - cooking Peruvian foods, sewing with Quechua women, raising my chickens and goats and pigs, and planting my gardens. Now I live my life in small town Spain, serving other cross-cultural workers via teaching and training and care, and helping displaced people to navigate their new reality in Europe.
I'm passionate about fostering personal growth, growth in community, and growth in The Kingdom. Walking alongside others and helping them to use their unique design, their gifts and strengths and maximize their abilities to fulfill their God-given purpose - that's what makes my heart sing! Archives
March 2024
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