The driver drops us off and we begin walking towards camp.
To the left, a sea of families lying on the road with their blankets outside of camp.
To the right, the camp guarded with police officers standing close by.
Tensions are high.
Riots broke out yesterday. Rocks thrown. Violence. Evacuation for volunteers.
We continue to walk into camp. Smiling and saying good morning to those we could just for a little extra reassurance that things would be okay. We turn to go up the hill. In front lies a huge crowd with their papers trying to get an interview so they can move on to Athens and then a new home. New country. A safer place.
8:30 in the morning I sit waiting for my first assignment.
The shift leader approaches me “Can you go do a morning census for this rub hall?”
So I walk down there looking through each place. Asking families for cards with numbers on them, asking how many people live there and then I see an empty room. After I complete the census I return to tell my shift leader about the empty room. She asks for us to go clean it out and get it prepared for a new family.
Sisay and I begin cleaning. There are tons of water bottles, scarves, and shoes. We second guess ourselves that people may still live there. We go back to the office with the items we found and get better directions.
“Find out if they moved out” was the response we got.
We go and ask the neighbors and get vague answers between the language barriers and not knowing. Payden, our squamate comes to guard the place as we go find out if the family was moved to another section. This process takes awhile but we then find out we are okay to move forward in preparing the place.
Sisay went to guard the area. You see, as soon as people see that a space is opened they come to try and take it for their family. I so deeply wish we could give it to them but there are so many other families sleeping outside that need shelter. So you have to hold it until the family is found.
Payden and I headed to New Arrivals to find a family. The only rule was that it must be a family with a baby or an elderly person. So as we walked we prayed for a family we both could agree on.
We show our badges to the police officer and enter. We start walking to the back and many families surround us. They show us their papers, pictures and plead for help.
A man walks up to me with his papers. I look at the pictures and look at Payden.
“I think we found our family “ I explained with a smile on my face.
There stands a baby, two parents and an elderly woman with a cane.
This story might not seem significant but what you did not know is; later that afternoon I spent 3 hours looking for 5 other families in New Arrivals, that the past week I just wanted to hear God’s voice more clearly, I wanted Him to reveal Himself to me in any kind of way.
That small prayer led to finding me the perfect family in less than 10 minutes. They did not complain about the space they were given but were so thankful. The people around, surrounded their area welcoming them into the new space.
God does not always seem like He is there at camp. Yesterday, I felt His presence more than ever. I took 2 minutes to pray a simple prayer and He was there ready to answer.
Thank you all for continuing to follow my journey on the World Race.This month has been extremely difficult for me to blog about because there is so many things I want to say but do not know how to. I am unable to take pictures inside the camp but I continue to update as I can. I have about 40 days until I need to be fully funded. I have 4,710 dollars left and would love any support or advertising to others that you could do for me.
