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| Keleti Train Station Photo by Teanna Sunberg |
thousands of Syrian refugees who were camped outside Budapest's Keleti Train Station. They were planning, as many had done before them, to transit through Hungary on their way to Germany. There they would apply for asylum. However, when the Hungarian authorities would not permit them to continue their journey, they were forced to sleep on the streets around the train station while their future was debated by others.
This was a turning point for me. It was when the Syrian refugee situation became more than a news story to me.
Just a few months earlier, I had traveled to Budapest, arriving and departing from Keleti station. As I watched the news, I could relate because I had been there. The events were unfolding in a place where I had just been. Additionally, I started seeing updates on Facebook from friends who live in Budapest, sharing how they were becoming involved in the refugee response.
I know the media doesn't report on the ongoing refugee situation very much anymore. But I wanted to take this opportunity to look back over the past several months, specifically at what Nazarenes have been doing in response to what has been called the largest refugee crisis since the end of World War II. I have several friends who have been working with the refugees over these past few months, and I'd like to share some of their stories.
September 2015
Nazarenes in Budapest, including missionaries Jay and Teanna Sunberg, started working with the refugees at the Keleti train station. As the political situation changed, the Nazarene Refugee Response had to adapt to those changing circumstances. Soon they were working at the camps that had been set up for refugees as the borders closed.
Questions you might be asking about the Refugee Crisis in Europe -- Although the situation of the refugees has changed significantly since this post was written, the answers Teanna Sunberg gives to these basic questions remains nearly the same.
December 2015
NPH provides free small group lessons on refugee crisis -- Lessons for adults and youth look at the refugee crisis through a Biblical perspective.
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| Casey Bloom playing cards with refugees stuck in Serbia when the borders closed Photo courtesy of Casey Bloom |
Ministry of presence: Church continues refugee response in Balkans -- This story appeared in NCN News, highlighting the Nazarene Refugee Response
NCM produced the video below, recorded in the camps in Serbia and Croatia where Dorothy and Casey worked.
In May, Dorothy left again, this time for Greece, to coordinate Nazarene volunteers teams coming to work in the refugee camps throughout the summer.
Children in the Midst of War (June 11, 2016) -- If you haven't kept up on the refugee situation over the past several months, this is a good place to begin. In this post Teanna Sunberg summarizes international politics, explains the current refugee situation, and shares stories of Nazarenes working in the refugee camps.
The video below, produced by Time in March, is about a 13-year old girl who is stranded in one of the refugee camps in Greece. Erin McDowell, a Trevecca Nazarene University student who is volunteering in Greece this summer, writes (June 21, 2016):
"This is Zeinab. The church we have been partnering with in Katerini has providing housing for her, her father, and her younger sister since this video was taken [in March]. They all come to the English classes we teach at the church and have been helping us learn Arabic. She and her sister are some of the most loving and welcoming people I've ever met and they get it from their dad who has stepped into the role of both mother and father for these sweet girls until they reunite with their mother and brother. I'm so thankful for a church that is embodying what it means to be the kingdom, who welcomed our friends into their community. Zeinab and her family still have a long way to go before they are reunited with the rest of their family. And there are thousands of girls like Zeinab still in camps. Zeinab has become a great friend and so have so many displaced Syrian people I have gotten the pleasure of meeting. So on world refugee day, I stand with my friends."
What I have written here barely scratches the surface of the refugee crisis in Europe or of the Nazarene response. And, unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be an end in sight to this situation. The war in Syria continues. Refugees continue to live "in limbo" in refugee camps, not able to continue on their journey to Western Europe.
Would you join me in praying for the people whose lives have been turned upside down -- for those whose homes have been destroyed by war and now live in a tent in a refugee camp, for those who have been separated from family members when the borders closed, for those who remain in war-torn areas, fearing for their lives, and for the children and teenagers who haven't been able to go to school for the last several years due to the war? Would you pray also for those who are working with the refugees, that the love of Christ would be evident in their words and actions?
Additional Links:
If you'd like to learn more about the Nazarene refugee response, I encourage you to read Teanna Sunberg's blog: centraleuropenaz.org.
Nazarene Compassionate Ministries
http://www.ncm.org/refugees.html
Courage for the Journey
The refugee response of the Nazarene church in Central and Southeastern Europe
http://courageforthejourney.tumblr.com/
https://www.facebook.com/courageforthejourney
Donate
Use the link: https://give.nazarene.org/donate/f/125967 to give directly to the Central Europe Field refugee response efforts. Your gifts help refugees in Macedonia, Croatia, Serbia, and Hungary.
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