Kos
Volunteering
Things can go badly wrong on this nomadic journey of ours, but nothing so far has made us more uncomfortable than our experience of volunteering for a refugee charity on the islands.
With some of our own close family having been refugees, we were keen to help those suffering from famine in Sudan, tyranny in Syria and Iran, fear in Afghanistan etc. We found a refugee centre on a Greek island that was a small grassroots charity which we thought had admirable aims in helping all the refugees in a dignified way.
Our jobs were to help run the centre where refugees came for donated food, clothes, sanitary products, etc as well for a feeling of warmth and community. 95% of the refugees were delightful and we spent some heart-breaking moments talking about their journey. However, a small minority were filled with hatred, and we were subjected to poisonous screams in our faces about Jews, LGBT, women and liberal society. We felt both sick and very scared, so we resigned after just one week. A real shame but it reassures us to know that the 95% will continue to be supported by those with skins thicker than our own. The charity we volunteered for treated all the refugees as partners rather than beneficiaries, in a form of solidarity with their struggle and beliefs, but when the attitudes of some are so violent and sickening, and so removed from values held dear in Europe, we felt that true solidarity, if these refugees were to have any hope of peaceful insertion in a European society, should have consisted in education, showing them where their attitudes, prejudices and mis-information differed from European values. This view was not practiced by staff during our stay. We quickly felt suffocated by the unchecked hatred and, with opinions so divergent from the charity, we all felt (charity and us) that it was wise to part ways early.
However, we don’t regret this experience because it was a real eye-opener – we came away with stories we will never forget and insights so sensitive that they are best told in person on safer ground.
With a month before our flight back to the UK, we had to immediately replan our time. Thankfully, we were in the Greek islands, and there can be few places more beautiful in the world in which to be stranded . So, it was clearly a good time for us to unwind from our experience and go “island hopping” to explore a few of the 6,000+ Greek islands.
Tinos
Andros
Syros
Sifnos
Milos
Meteora, Delphi and Athens
Next
We’ll be spending a couple of months seeing family in London, Paris and Glasgow before heading to an animal sanctuary in Croatia. Hopefully, our volunteering there will be a happier experience.
7 Comments. Leave new
Hi Sylvie & Jeff
Fascinating but sad that you had a frightening experience even though you were there to do good.
Then there is so much anti Semitism every where out of ignorance and stupidity
encore une belle expérience.
Dommage que la haine se poursuive même dans le pays d’accueil et que sans discrimination elle s’adresse aveuglément même à ceux qui cherchent à les aider.
Grosses bises à vous deux.
Ralph.
Sounds like you had a few very bad experiences, but hopefully the good ones that followed made up for the bad ones.
Great to read your posts xx
Jeff, tes photos sont superbes. Gros upgrade ❤️ Pour les valeurs de l’Europe, on peut en reparler, c’est devenu une utopie malheureusement. La réalité est plus proche de ce que vous avez expérimenté.
I’m so sorry that you had this experience of blind hatred. It is good to hold onto our own ideals but it must be crushing to come up against deeply-entrenched prejudice which seems so irrational and frightening to our own view of innate goodness and how the world can be. You are both people who are making a positive difference to those you have been living amongst. You are both living proof that whatever our life experiences and cultural backgrounds, that given an openness to other life styles, intelligent curiosity and a capacity for kindness we can connect with and support each other .
Kol haKavod. Keep going! And sharing with us less adventurous folk. xxx
Dear Jeff and Sylvia,
Thank you as ever for such a balanced and nuanced blog of your adventures. It’s shocking to experience blind hatred and I’m glad you took steps to distance yourself when it was clear that change /education was not going to be forthcoming. I loved hearing about your island hopping, so that is a true bonus that we wouldn’t have had had you stayed – thank you! Phil and I were in Turkey a few weeks back hiking park of the Lycian way, so you may have seen us looking back at you across the sea! We to were humbled by the true hospitality of those we met and stayed with en route; can’t wait to explore more. Stay safe and stay positive – there is more good than not out there xx
Loved hearing from you and following your adventures! Unfortunately, reality came knocking this time around. This appears to be the state of the world we currently live in. What a shame! Hope your next gig will be more suitable, enjoyable and appreciated. Stay safe.