Aug 18 Sunday
Day 8
Day off to worship and swim
John and I found out yesterday that we had been selected to
work a third midnight to 8AM shift at the camp. The night shift person or persons are the
only two euro-relief people in the camp.
There are 6 to 10 Greek police that remain fairly well ensconced in
their little police station right next to the blocks A, B and C. They do not do much at all unless they are
summoned by one of the refugees or by myself.
Our first two night were fairly quiet.
Tonight, folks were a little more active. I took the first shift to watch the gate at C
where the single women are housed.
Having been there the two nights before I recognized most of them. So, it was a matter of just opening the gate
as they came in and out. Outside their
gate there was a lot of visiting and the unaccompanied boys 11 -17 in block B
were out and about as well. Four guys
evidently had slept all day because they were up and active until after
4:00. About 3:30 a group of 4 women came
to the front gate of the police station yelling for the “polecia!” I am pretty sure they were speaking Farsi
because I could understand only blah blah blah “Ali Baba” blah blah blah. Ali Baba is what the kids say when someone is
cheating or stealing (ala Ali Baba and the 40 thieves). The ladies and the police went up the hill to
the end of camp and a few minutes later one lady and two men came back and the
men were secluded and a statement (I suspected) was taken from the Lady. So that was exciting.
One of the night people’s job is to take delivery of the breakfast
food and water. The evening people have
a count of how many people are in New Arrivals and need to be fed for
breakfast. There were 104 new people
arriving yesterday. Some were housed
form the previous days so there were 584 people in New Arrivals. So that is what they order but they do not
take delivery of that number because the breakfast croissants are packaged and
what is not handed out is kept for the next day. The same with the water bottles. So, we had 130 breakfasts on hand so we
needed only 454 new ones. They come 40
in a box so we needed 12 boxes. All of
that is to say the caterers delivered 12 boxes to make up the number we needed
to get to 584. This is where the fun
part begins the military sends 4 guys and one clip board around to get a
signature for the delivery of food and water.
They tried to get me to sign a blank form. But I had been warned to not do that. Then they wanted me to sign for 584 bottles
and 584 foods even though they had delivered far less than that. So, one military guy was in charge of talking
to the English-speaking guy. He said
that the rest would be delivered for the next meal. Me and google translate said we would only
sign for what was delivered this morning.
We finally agreed (he with an exasperated sigh and look) to write the
correct number down next to my name and signature. I won!
Richard picked John and I up and we stopped at the Loud
Sisters and Skiniko and ate our apple strudel and Americano coffee by the sea
side.
We then had time to shower and for John to wash clothes
before we go to church.
We went to the Oasis Church just outside of the little
village where we are staying. It was
glorious. The Mennonites who are here on
a regular and year-round basis started this church. They run a couple of vans from Moria to the church. There were about 100 folks there to
worship. It was very much like I imagine
heaven to be like. People from many if
not every land and many if not every language was being spoken. We sang in English, Farsi, and French with
words projected on the screen. (Mostly I
sang in English.)
A pastor from Athens preached on Jesus illustrations about
the vine and the branches. He is from
Afghanistan and came to Greece in 2014 and came to Christ about a year
later. He is now an assistant pastor in
a church in Athens. He spoke in Farsi
and another person translated into English.
About half way back in the congregation there was a small group sitting
and a woman was translating the sermon into French for them.
The Oasis Church with shoe racks at entrance.
Vans bring immigrants from Moria.
After church chats
I believe it was in deference to the Arabic believers that we
removed our shoes before entering the church and then we sat on cushions on the
floor. (The people from the middle east
are very diligent about removing their shoes before going inside. This is true whether inside is a house, a
tent or even a mat on the ground. They
remove their shoes before stepping on the mat.)
Gratefully, we were early enough to find a cushion that was against the
wall where my poor old back had some support.
I was very grateful that we stood up once for the singing and then sat
down for the remainder. There was just
two downs and two ups.
A group of French speaking African believers sang a closing
song that was wonderful. It was a great
service and our God and Lord was worshipped mightily.
We came home and I rested and we are about to go to the
beach.
Kim took us to a very secluded little cove. The little beach area is a public beach but
evidently very few folks know the little dirt road that leads to it. There was a family of four there and a mother
and son when we arrived. The water is
that beautiful aqua marine color you see in photos. Across the sea is Turkey. Most of the crossing are a little farther
north where the coasts of Turkey and Greece are only 4 miles apart. Here it is about 10 miles. People still cross here. There are remnants of rubber boats that are still
on the shore. I sat in the shade on a
wooden transom from one of the boats and took pictures while the others got all
salty in the water. Thank you, no. There is a large boat on one shore of the
cove. It looks like it may have been a
life boat of a very large tanker. It had
been stripped on the inside and fitted with wooden planks for seating. It probably held over 200 people. The smugglers charge probably an average of
$700 per person. That is $140,000. The smugglers may have purchased the old boat
for $3000 or perhaps they stole it. Take
another $5,000 to $10,00 for bribe, life jackets and such and they net at least
$127,000. It is a sad situation.
All of that did not totally take away from the beauty of
God’s creation. To put a punctuation
mark on the day I had ice cream at Skinikos (yes, I see the irony.
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