We are enjoying our time in Athens - meeting new people and learning new things. Athens is certainly a big city, more than 3 million people. In addition to normal big city challenges, it also has the refugee situation. Our experience with refugees has only been at Omonia Church but there is a camp of refugees in Athens, and camps around Athens and on the islands. These are the people that we have seen on our TV's in the past few years. They are real people with real families and difficult recent stories.
Omonia, Greece
The small congregation is certainly providing a lot of loving service. Most importantly, they desire to provide an atmosphere of family and community to the refugees who come through the doors. They call it the Agape Project, and people are experiencing the love of God. (https://www.the-agape-
We have learned that English classes, clothing, meals, child care, lawyer services, and health care are offered. More than 750 people from many parts of the world have volunteered at the Omonia Church of Christ in the last 3 1/2 years. More than 3,000 refugees have rec'd some kind of help. The church building is open Sunday through Thursday and the place is full of people. The atmosphere is wonderful - people feel comfortable, safe, and welcome. We enjoy our time with the people.
Sue and I have completed 3 days of teaching classes of mixed ages, genders, and nationalities. All are grateful for the opportunity and eager to learn. The majority of the people we have taught are Kurdish from Syria, but there are also people from Iraq and Afghanistan in our classes. Mom has taken up the top level class, and I and Amber, from Alabama are teaching the beginners. It is interesting to teach the English alphabet to people who understand few English instructions.
We have a nice, one-room apartment in a quiet neighbourhood. Each morning we walk about 15 minutes to the Metro and take the subway train to the Omonia district. It is interesting figuring out subway routes, purchasing tickets, and standing face to face with strangers in a very cramped metro. The first morning we had difficulty finding the location of the church and walked an extra 20 blocks on our journey.
In the Athens Archeological Museum - Apparently, Canadians did NOT invent hockey. The Greeks did! We invented equipment!
This is for the grandsons - who LOVE the BIG BAD Wolf sounds from their grandpa!
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