musings on the Greek good...

There is much I'll miss about Greece when I go. Here's a few from the A-List...


1. I cleverly call it "MWJ" pronounced "Muwaj". It stands for "Mornings with Jesus". It involves relaxed mornings, a cup o' joe and some reading. Staying home until late morning is an infrequent occurrence in my homeland and will be MISSED.












2. The Metro. Seriously, so efficient, so clean and nothing makes a great story like one that involves a jam-packed metro on a 100 degree day! I wish the Northwest had such transportation modes to get me from A to B....












3. My language study has included loads of practice with this particular order, "Mia horiatiki kai dio kotopoulo kalamaki, parakalo."

One word = "YUM". (yes, that is a giant slab of feta...)









3.a. Can't mention Greek food without a nod to the olive oil. Look at this jug my friend Sofia gave me! It's fresh squeezed from the olive trees in her village...so fresh it's Green in color!

The grocery store sells it in these giant tins ...

























4. Sunshine. It's December... 'nuf said.
















5. This lovely quilt the sweet ladies at my home church made for me when I left. It has served as a precious reminder of the supportive springboard I launch into the world from and the soft place I have to land when I return home.

6. New friends. What can I say? Thank Goodness for fun people to run the race with even times of GIANT transition and many unknowns.

"You have crowned the year with Your bounty..." Ps 95

random assortment of thoughts...

I wanted to update today but my brain overfloweth and I can't seem to bring order to my many clever blog ideas. So I will share a few random things...

1. Do you wonder what I do here when I'm not on Outreach? Well, I have office hours and I do officey things. I've discovered this year that I'm wired more administratively... I mean, I guess I knew that. But as a team we have seen first hand that God equipped each part of the body with DIFFERENT gifts. While I care about newsletters and spreadsheets, Jim is great at leading us to prayer, Viorica is wonderful with the Romanian girls she meets in the brothels, and Annette has a servant's heart and many significant relationships with the Nigerian girls. So, it's been a lesson for me in not comparing your gifts and abilities to others....when they function together, they function more fully.

Here's some of the newsletters and brochures that have kept me busy in my time here. If you'd like to be added to the NZ quarterly Newsletter list, just shoot me an email and I'll add you. Here's a ridiculously long link to the latest one... http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?llr=kdwmyqdab&v=001fgXe_62hM0mQXg-xQ-zvr-o1t9HTaDGIC9hnHxLOiNafDUZ71MVOm4drcQybGOP-Y9d2_gyXAj9vNLArT6SMsrx8MqvGFiBpErLvw30WY4182OGr0b11cy41xxeKg98T

2. Some good comments came in about my last blog post. You are so right! This is in NO way just a Greek problem. Trafficking happens everywhere and is alive and thriving in the USA. A friend of mine used to work in LA with trafficked victims and one of the hot spots there for traffickers to strike was at the bus stations where young, movie-star-hopefuls would get off the buses from the Midwest (or wherever). Awareness seems to be increasing in the US, tho. That's good...

3. Can't forget to tell you THIS! Annette was mugged on Outreach on Thurs! A guy grabbed her from the side and tried to grab the phone out of her hand. She crouched down into a ball on the ground and managed to hold on to her phone! Take that, Mugger!! But the guy and his loitering friend weren't letting up. Our team was right near by...and our great volunteer, Stefanos, ran over and somehow got them to run off...only after he was punched in the head!

All is well now. Annette is fine and in possession of her tele and a good story. Stefanos' head is fine. We are so thankful! The Lord really does command his angels concerning us, to guard us in all our ways! (Ps 91)

someone should tell the Greek people...

I had a conversation with a kind, young Greek man named Georgios recently. He used to be one of these...

an "Enzone", which means elite military unit that stands guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the Presidential Mansion. They guard the tomb round the clock and switch positions with each other every fifteen minutes in a slow and highly stylized manner, kicking their pom-pom covered feet. It's an honor to serve as an Enzone during their required military service after highschool and Georgios was proud of being selected for the volunteer position.

Now that his service commitment is over, he is a waiter at this Italian restaurant in my neighborhood.

Georgios is very polite and polished...proper even. But allll the Greek people know about the legal prostitution in their city center and the many, many brothels. It's such a part of their culture that we have seen grandmothers taking their teenage grandsons to the brothel for their first sexual experience to ensure that he is "on track"! And they all believe that the girls are there by choice and since it's their legal occupation, they must be taken care of and healthy.

He asked what I am doing living in Greece and when I tried to explain it to him (I'm never sure how to launch into it without bringing the conversation to an awkward, not-sure-how-to-respond-to-THAT kind of end) he asked some good questions to learn more.

Georgios: "Are there many girls in Greece that are working that don't have control of their circumstances and have been trafficked?"

Me: "Almost all of the girls we meet in Athens."

Georgios: "O NO, SOMEONE SHOULD TELL THE GREEK PEOPLE!"

It was brilliant.

prayer update...

Remember The Escapee from May?? (if not, here's my 'riveting' story about her... http://hhorsch.blogspot.com/2010_05_01_archive.html) GOOD NEWS! She is doing so well! She is still in the shelter away from Athens but she plans to go back to Romania where we've connected her with people she can stay with until she figures out her next steps. She regularly goes to church, she looks healthier and she wants to end up helping people in prostitution! She wrote a heartfelt 6 page long letter back to her friend still working in the brothel explaining how her life has changed and begging the friend to grasp the life ring Nea Zoi is tossing her. Please pray for The Escapee (who actually has a better name than that!) as she transitions home....the conditions that motivated her to come to Greece in the first place will still be there.

"Alice" is a bubbly, outgoing girl from Romania. She is still working in the brothels, a job she does to profit the boyfriend who brought her here. But she has a great relationship with two of our volunteers and they meet weekly in our office to talk, laugh and pray together. When you talk with her you wouldn't know she lives in such a dreary cycle! She is very talkative and giggly...just seems like other young girls her age. She is the friend left-behind that received the long letter from "The Escapee" imploring her to make positive changes. But at this time Alice doesn't seem ready, or even motivated, to risk the change. Please pray that our conversations with her will ignite a vision for a better future.

"Vanessa" is a sweet girl I met in March from Nigeria. She is one of the few girls that I have personally made a real connection with during our short visits on the street. We've been on a few walks together where she has shared her story of coming to Greece to support her family, pay off a debt her Dad incurred and earn back the deeds to her family's house. She knows this isn't an ideal life, but she just doesn't see any other way to make money.

Lately she's been so different, more reserved, cautious, even jumpy! I've been calling to try to set up a meeting but she's always sleeping or working. Last wk I called her at 3:00pm and she was in a cab on the way home from work (she went to the streets the day before at 6:00pm!!) and she was going home to shower and head straight BACK to work!! Ugh....no sleep in over 32 hours!...for THAT job!! ugh.

Obviously, "Vanessa" could use prayers for rest, for another way, and for whatever specific problem has so changed my friend's countenance.

Then there's "Emme" from Nigeria. She came in to the office this wk because she is pregnant and needed our help finding a doctor. Annette took her for blood tests and indeed she is still pregnant even after taking a whole bunch, I mean 40, FORTY, 4 - 0, pills to try to eliminate the pregnancy. (They weren't abortion pills...just pills for some other ailment with a warning on the bottle that said not to take if pregnant!!) Now that she realizes she is still pregnant, she's not sure she wants an abortion and may want to keep the baby. (...but is the baby ok??)

Emme seemed taken aback when we explained that the people who brought her here and charged her € 50,000 for her glamorous life in prostitution did something illegal and that the anti-trafficking police force could help her escape and keep her safe. Please pray for young Emme as she tries to make decisions about her life and that of her baby's.

Last week as we met more girls, heard more stories and took more tea into the darkest streets this song kept going through my mind...

"Jesus, name above all names, Beautiful Savior, Glorious Lord
Emmanuel, God is with us, Blessed Redeemer, Living Word"

Maybe it seems outta place on those filthy streets...but actually that IS my hope. He is there on the street with me and then with the girls long after I leave. And He CAN REDEEM (aka reclaim, reinstate, restore, win back) even the darkest of lives.

we were BOMBED!...

well, sort of.

not exactly.

BUT someone DID throw little sacks of something hard at us during outreach last Thursday. Our team of 7 was standing with a few Nigerian girls when ALL OF A SUDDEN (caps cleverly added for dramatic effect) there was a stream of ...."things"... flying from the sky! and landing with a LOUD thud. One hit right at my feet and shattered.

We weren't crazy about that so we decided to keep moving further down the street but they kept aiming at us. Each bag of ammo seemed different....one seemed like old, hard bread...another was much too loud to be bread. We know it wasn't the girls they were targeting because the raining confetti followed us as we moved down the street. We ended up dodging around the corner and cutting our outreach short.



This is what the street looks like during the day. But at night there are less cars and shady transactions go down. The flying bags of bread ...aka "BOBs" ☺ were coming from a room up above or maybe from the rooftop????

We think it was probably just some kids who thought pelting people with BOBs was hilarious. But we also appreciate your prayers for our continued safety!

"For He will give His angels charge concerning you, to guard you in all your ways." Ps 91

sometimes I wonder...

Athens has recently launched this "Clean Up the Center" campaign. It seems the city has thrown some funds at these big banners. They say,

"No to Drugs and Prostitution in the City Center" (Holly's paraphrase)

I'm not sure it's working.

This is the door to the Nea Zoi office in the heart of the city... one day I had to wait to enter until some guys finished snorting a suspicious white powder off the front step.

(Mary's photo)

And this (below) is an all-too-common siting around our office and outreach routes. Heroin seems to be the drug of choice here.....it's a downer causing its users to crash indiscriminately.

(Kelly's photo)

The brothels are also found in our city center and indicated by white lights. Would it be better if they moved to the suburbs???

(Mary's photo)

Many, many immigrants and refugees from the Middle East also end up in Athens and hang out on the center's squares. Some estimates say that 90% of all illegal immigration into the EU comes through Greece...it is coastal and relatively easy to get to/into.

International Teams has another team in Athens called 'Helping Hands' working with Refugees.

Greece is a beeeauuutiful place to visit! Really. The history is rich, the feta is abundant, the islands are amazing and the people are hospitable and friendly. But Athens does have a few problems --- law makers have tough decisions to make regarding real, live people (not just issues!) And I think the banner campaign needs to be revisited...

"May the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you rule the peoples justly and guide the nations of the earth...." Ps 67

moldovan meanderings...

I have just returned from a wkend get-away to Chisinau, Moldova. The official purpose was the ICAP European anti-trafficking conference (ICAP=International Christian Alliance on Prostitution) and the side benefit was a visa exit trip. The conference coordinators planned on 60 attendees but ended up with 170! It was encouraging to see all the people already working on this issue around Europe and still more that came to ask questions and learn how to start a ministry in their country.

My teammate, Viorica, is originally from Moldova so she was able to give me an exclusive tour. It was interesting to be there....while there are some lovely, green areas and buildings, it's the poorest nation in Europe. Some sources say appr. 50% of the population receive funding from outside the country, such as their kids working in other countries to send $ home.

It made the situation of the Moldovan girls we meet so much more real to me. It's no wonder they leave home in search of a better life! They have so few options for employment there and they want the things we all want....security, comfort, nice things....food. That's why they are more apt to believe the scheming person that offers them a job and money abroad. One brave woman was interviewed behind a screen at the conference and she told the story of how she was working in a grocery store and was told she could make more money at a different store location....so she went with the man, believing him. Instead of a bright, sparkling, new grocery store, it was a compound where she was kept locked away and forced to sell her body. And the children that were created in the compound were kept in the basement so that (ready for this???...) their organs could be harvested!! = a different kind of trafficking.

Poverty....a KEY aspect of this war.

The conference also addressed self-care for the practitioner. (I guess that's me...a "practitioner"). It was helpful to process what healthy boundaries are. This is the Lord's ministry....and I can't SAVE or FIX anyone. (I know you probably thought that's what I was doing over here...fixing everyone...) But, alas, no can do. All I can do is show up, celebrate tiny victories and trust and wait on God for the rest.

"Let me hear Your lovingkindness in the morning, for I trust in You. Teach me the way in which I should walk." Ps 143

Some fun Moldovan dancers doing a traditional wedding dance...