Happenings Around the World

We were deeply shaken by the horrors that we saw in Greece, and the suffering that is the everyday experience for the refugees there.

O centers

Visiting Refugee Camps IN EUROPE By Elvis Džafić

ur visit to Idomeni refugee camp was full of expectations. Idomeni is a small village in Greece, near the border with the Republic of Macedonia.

We expected to see people being taken care of in reception throughout

Greece, and the surrounding islands.

Unfortunately, that was not what we saw. We were deeply shaken by the horrors that we saw in Greece, and the suffering that is the everyday experience for the refugees there. We saw local people trying to help with what they have, and we also saw the other side of the coin, the hedonist Europe, seeking

its own interests. We experienced how much the rest of Europe is ignoring Greece, and the ideals Europe usually stands for. Our entrance into the illegal camp in Idomeni was a picture

of dread: people who hadn’t eaten for three days, sleeping in the cold, begging for information about the borders, etc. Saif, a Syrian refugee, whose parents had been in Germany for more than three months, said, “it would have been better to have died in Syria, than suffer here at the gates of Europe.” A lack of food, volunteers and doctors, and a lack of compassion from Europe caused two lives to be lost the day we got there. (Continued on next page)

Above: In Idomeni, on the railway, Mufid (right) founder of Impact, a human rights organization, and Elvis (left) coordinator of volunteer work for Croatian Baptist Aid, with refugee children

Left: Refugee camp in Idomeni, Greece, on the border between Macedonia and Greece. People were without food for three days, sleeping on the railway, hoping the border would be opened

JULY/SEPTEMBER 2016

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