Is there room for them in our inn?
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Jon Carpenter
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Thu 17 Dec 2015, 09:43 (last edited on Thu 17 Dec 2015, 13:18) Maria Tran is an American volunteering on Lesvos. She went to help because her family were Vietnamese boat people who were picked up and survived… A couple of days ago she wrote: "We packed 500 snack bags this afternoon and brought them down to the port and handed them out to refugees. The ferry ride to Athens is 11 to 15 hours and many people don't have money for food. While we were there, a man came up to us and showed us that he just had an operation and got his kidney removed. We had heard that people are selling kidneys in Turkey to pay for the dinghy to get to Greece. We paid for his ferry ticket and will get him a room for the night. My heart is broken to a million pieces because I am leaving Lesvos with that man's story etched in my mind. Love you Rayyan Haries, Anna Moutzourelli, Katerina Moujourelis, Patrick McBride, Sofia Vouvaki and Petros Tsetris for making this snack and toy run with Peter and me. Extra special to have Bogdan State from Facebook and his boyfriend Nick show up to help. So much love. So much heartbreak. That is my story of Lesvos." Maria is part of the volunteering group Sea of Solidarity. They have just funded the kitchen at the Pikpa camp on Lesvos to provide 300 meals a day for 30 days. Maria has now moved on to Athens, from where she wrote last night describing a day giving out oranges and bananas to refugees on the streets and in new camps. Then, this morning, she posted this little piece of happy news for her Facebook followers: "I woke up to happy news today. Do you remember the beautiful Afghan girl I met about 10 days ago, Tehera? The one who learned English through watching Youtube and loves Mark Zuckerberg? I wrote her twice to check in on her. I just got an email from her. Her family made it to Germany. She's been in a refugee camp in Heidelberg for 3 days now. I have visited Heidelberg before and Peter's grandfather went to college there. I am happy picturing her and her family safe in a place that we're familiar with. Here's a quote from her email, "it was a hard way, playing with life and death but god's has a dream for me." No matter which God Tehara believes in, I am happy for her and hope that there are good things in her future. Is there anyone in the Heidelberg area who wants to go and check in on them?" www.facebook.com/charlburyrefugee
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