By Nico Bougas, Special to ASSIST News Service
ATHENS, GREECE (ANS – August 20, 2015)
– Six Syrian refugees, one of them a baby, drowned while trying to
cross by sea from Turkey to the Greek islands on Tuesday, as the United
Nations revealed that an unprecedented 21,000 made the crossing
successfully last week alone.
They died when the 30ft-long
boat they were travelling in overturned. Rescuers recovered the body of
the baby. Three more migrants – two men and a child – survived for hours
in the vessel’s overturned hull, breathing air trapped in a pocket,
before being rescued by divers.
A growing number of Syrian and
other middle eastern countries are fleeing war and violence and are now
using the east Mediterranean Sea route to reach Europe. This has
resulted in an unprecedented number of refugees arriving in Greece’s
Dodecanese islands. Arriving migrants, asylum seekers and refugees are
left with poor accommodation conditions and limited access to
healthcare.
Johnathan
Macris, President of Hellenic Ministries and a team from the mission
have just landed on the island of Mytilini (bordering Turkey) to assess
the reality of the humanitarian needs generated by the massive influx of
refugees entering Europe through Greece’s islands.
They have planned a meeting
with the Mayor on the island who has been struggling to cope with this
recent crises…as if the economic/political crises of the last month
hasn’t been enough.
After the busy period following
the hectic summer season which included a major Bible distribution
campaign to 125,000 homes in northern Greece and subsequent ministry
camps at their campsite at Porto Astro. Hellenic Ministries have been
moved by the plight of thousands of refugees pouring into Greece. Macris
put it even more strongly, “our hearts have been torn apart by the
tragedy of waves of humanity that are flooding our country.”
They were aware that upwards of
one million refugees have been waiting on the other side of the Greek
border in Turkey to enter Europe through Greece. But they were
completely amazed, at the huge numbers of refugees that arrived on the
Greek islands and inundated them so quickly.
In the last month, it is
estimated that some 30,000 refugees have flooded the island of Mytilini
alone and has almost doubled the population of the island overnight.
They are arriving in small plastic rafts/boats. In the last month or
two, more refugees arrived in Greece than the total number since the
beginning of the year.
Hellenic Ministries are a
relatively small ministry with a staff that is way too small to cope
with the demands and opportunities that are coming their way. But they
have done all they can to provide extra food distribution in the town
squares.
At the same time, they are
finding that people are leaving Greece as quickly as they are coming.
The new gateway or route has been afforded by FYROM (Macedonia) which is
granting a three-day temporary visa to transit the country with all
transportation expenses covered to Serbia then finally to the border of
Hungry. This is a short window of opportunity for approximately 2,000
refugees a day rushing for central Europe through Greece before Hungary
is able to build its security and stem the flow of new refugees.
Macris has made a plea for
prayer support that the Lord would give wisdom as they add yet another
dimension to their social ministry in order to make the most of this
opportunity to bless and minister to more refugees. Evangelicals
comprise less than 0.2% of the population but they are having a
significant impact on a nation that is reeling under the impact of the
economic austerity measures being placed upon them.
The mission is working on the
possibility of temporary housing, shade and sanitation, and to set up a
“Welcoming Center” initially on the island of Lesvos in the town of
Molivos - the side of the island nearest Turkey.
There is also a possibility of
duplicating the service on the islands of Kos and Kalymnos. The vision
is to have an evangelical Christian mission to be the first to welcome
people as they come out of the water. They would be greeted with a gift
bag of necessary items for their survival for the first days in Europe!
They would be provided with
water and transportation with a bus across the island that would
alleviate a 40 mile walk through this mountainous island in the heat to
the capital for registration. They are also working on setting up a
medical facility by hiring local medical personnel that would be near
the official registration center for any first aid needs.
Almost all these refugees are
coming from Muslim backgrounds. Welcoming people here could possibly be a
means of introducing them to the Christian gospel and to the HM Refuge
centers in Athens where they can get further assistance both medically
and by way of food, showers, and care.
For more information on Hellenic Ministries and how you can get involved or support its work, please go to the website: www.hellenicministries.org
Photo captions: 1) A policeman
hits a migrant as police try to disperse hundreds of migrants during a
registration procedure on the island of Kos. 2) Johnathan Macris,
President of Hellenic Ministries. 3) Nico Bougas.
About
the writer: Nico Bougas is the International Development Director for
Hellenic Ministries. He has a master's degree in communication from
Wheaton Graduate School and M. Div and D. Min degrees from Trinity
Theological Seminary. He is the author of five books. He previously
worked for Youth for Christ in South Africa and was Editor of In
Magazine and Christian Living TODAY and currently serves as Consulting
Editor for JOY Magazine and a Trustee for Radio CCFM and was one of the
founders of Sports Outreach Africa. He previously served on the national
executive of the SA Association of Evangelists and as a Trustee for the
Bible Institute of South Africa and on the advisory board for the South
African Theological Seminary and on the executive of The Evangelical
Alliance Relief Fund (SA). For further, information contact: nico@bougas.info
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