So much has gone on since two weeks ago when I last wrote. I have been every day in the camp from morning until night and then often on the weekends, I have been making trips to the refugee camps outside of Athens where many refugees are being moved.
I teach English, help with a women’s group in the afternoon in the camp and when needed, run the little clothing room which consists of clothes that have been donated mostly from other EU countries. Other things that I have been doing on my own time: providing support for two Syrian fathers whose wives were killed back home and who are raising their children alone; providing financial help for a Syrian family living on the street; buying socks, underwear, t-shirts for the many residents of the refugee camps; volunteering to take the teen kids from the camp out on field trips outside of the camp; getting a wheelchair for Ahmed who is an Iraqi refugee that lives on the streets (I met him four years ago)…thank you Connie who offered to pay for the wheelchair; helping Mr. Ahmin, a Nigerian refugee who is going blind get new glasses (I referred him to a friend who helps refugees with vision needs) as well as buying him a table that he could eat at in his tiny container room in the camp; looking daily for an apartment for two Palestinian refugee men who want to finally move out of the camp as they have secured enough part time construction work to pay rent; and finally, helping a refugee teenage girl find a kitten (her kitten had been stolen and to have a kitten was the only thing in the world that she wanted).
I have had a lot of wonderful experiences as well: invited for dinner by some Palestinians who cooked for me to celebrate Eid Mubarak (the end of Ramadan); had my hands painted with henna by both a Pakistani refugee and an Afghan refugee; ate a wonderful dinner made for me by an Afghan mother and her two teenage kids living in the camp (unbelievable that she could cook in that tiny space with literally only a foot between the bed they all slept on and the burner she cooked on); shared a meal I purchased from a Nigerian restaurant with the Nigerian refugee, Mr. Ahmin (he was so excited to finally be eating goat head stew, okra and Jollofrice…something he has missed for five years since leaving his country); and by accident running into a group of Syrian men dancing in the street near the apartment I rent.
Hope you are all well and thank you again for all of your amazing support…. Lexine
Some pics:
