Sharing Their Tears

After a few months of being home, I am now back in Eastern Europe helping with the refugee situation again. The circumstances are vastly different than before. When I was in Serbia, I was at a transit camp of sorts. People came and went all day and night. There was not time to really get to know someone or build a deeper relationship. Today marked my first interaction with the horrors I've been reading of these past months. Thousands of refugees packed into makeshift camps, with no idea of what the future holds. I've seen and experienced first hand some really awful things during my times overseas, but I struggle to have categories for this. I played with a little boy who'd lived his entire life in various camps. I talked with a mom who'd been forced to deliver her baby a month early, because it was starving inside her due to a lack of proper nutrition- the baby is extremely small and is now many kilometers away in the hospital (2 hours walk) for the next few months. The children have been unable to attend school for years, so an entire generation is falling through the cracks- them being the hope of maybe rebuilding their country, should the war end anytime in the near future. The list could go on and on...

Today I met a man who is an incredible artist. He not only is gifted, but he is also able to vividly capture all the heart and emotion behind something. As we were all sitting and talking, his wife pulled out about ten sketches he'd made depicting their situation: the war, the EU decision, being stuck in Greece, religion, etc. I am a very strong person, and it often takes a lot to make me cry. However, by the third picture I couldn't hold back the tears. I could barely see the sketches anymore, but I was able to make out clearly one of the last ones. There was a tight rope stretched across a canyon. On the rope were all the refugees, struggling to hang on. Behind them were their own people yelling: "Unbelievers!" and wielding guns. In front of them, with a knife posed over rope, was the EU yelling: "Terrorists!" Where can they go, who will help them, and what hope of a future do they have? I can't imagine being in their situation, but after months of simply reading about it, it was good to share in their tears today. I know there will be many more in the coming months. Please keep praying for the war to end, for them to be able to return home, and for Shalom to come to their hearts fully!