Tell us a little bit about yourself
My name is Noah Bartlett. I am married to Suzi and we are expecting our first baby in the next few weeks. I am English/American, grew up in France, studied in Northern Ireland, where I lived for 5 years and now we live in Athens… confusing I know… I studied English and French Teaching and then Theology before working in finance for a little under two years. Last August though we packed our bags and moved to Athens to work with refugees.
Where do you work?
We work in Athens city centre in a part called Omonia where there is a huge refugee and immigrant population.
Who (what organisation) do you work with?
We work with an organisation called Helping Hands which is a small Greek charity. We primarily serve Farsi (Persian) speaking refugees coming from Iran and Afghanistan.
What does your work involve/look like?
Every day looks a little bit different at Helping Hands. On Tuesdays, we run a family meal day where we have about 150 people come, enjoy a cooked meal and then are invited to stay after to hear one of the Iranian or Afghan pastors preach the Gospel. We run kids’ programs during this time so adults can fully engage. On Wednesdays, we run a women only day. They can come, get a shower, do their laundry, eat together and relax. We run a men’s bible study in another building in the morning which is aimed at young believers. On Thursdays, we do a men’s day, which runs roughly the same as women’s day. On Fridays, we have an open teahouse where as many as want to come can come, have tea, chat and we have the Jesus film playing in the background in Farsi. Mixed into all of this we have days where we can do home visits, beach or park days or other one-off programs to connect with people who have shown an interest in knowing more about Jesus.
In everything we do our goal is to go deeper with fewer [people]. Other organisations in Athens are excellent are serving big numbers of people and this is vital. However, we are not able to do this, but we can grow deep relationships with fewer people which lead to countless conversations about Jesus. Most of the team have conversational Farsi and understand Muslim and Persian culture. We are therefore able to communicate with people in their heart language. This has been an essential part of our ministry and we have had the joy of seeing many come to know Jesus, plant churches and make disciples.
How did you get involved with this work? What inspired you to go?
In 2016 my then girlfriend (now wife) came to Athens for a month during the summer and served as a volunteer at Helping Hands after sensing God was leading her to be involved practically in the refugee crisis that was flooding our media outlets at the time. She was so moved by the work that was happening and we had the opportunity to go together in October 2016 for a week. Before then I had not given refugee work a second thought. I was moved and affected by what I saw on the [news] but never thought I would be involved more than that. After visiting Athens, we both felt that coming out longer term was something we wanted to do and something God had for us. We have been here since mid August 2019. We originally came for only a year as both our jobs granted us sabbaticals. However, we decided after a few months to resign from our jobs and extend our time for another year as we felt God was calling us to do this.
Our big motivation and inspiration to work with this specific organisation was that they have an incredible balance of serving practical and spiritual needs. Many organisations choose one or the other (which is fine - don’t get me wrong) but we have a passion for both helping with practical basic needs and sharing the Gospel and this organisation fit perfectly.
Tell us about one positive and one negative memorable experience
A positive experience have been the trauma courses run for women. The women who come along to our centre have experienced so much trauma, even before becoming refugees. This is then exacerbated by the traumatic experience of having to leave everything behind in Iran or Afghanistan and come to a completely foreign country.
A negative experience has been that due to our small team and the size of our organization we often feel limited in what we can do and often have to turn people away as we do not have the means to help. Many issues arise where we are out of our depth and trying to help would actually cause more harm.
Talk a bit about the difficulties that arise - day to day, bureaucratic, political, social, etc.
One of biggest difficulties has been Greek bureaucracy, both for us and for refugees. We had to obtain residency here and then a few other bits of paperwork and it was such a stressful and draining experience. However, it showed us how much worse it must be for refugees who are not European, do not speak English and are usually seen as detrimental to the country they come to. While Greece does so much for refugees, it is a poor country in a difficult situation of its own.
Greece has many excellent initiatives for refugees and does so much more than many other European countries. However, Greece is still in a financial crisis and cannot support the million or so refugees that are here. While Greece is a welcoming country, there is also a lot of suspicion and discrimination towards refugees. A lot of landlords refuse to rent to refugees and it is virtually impossible for refugees to find work here. Applying for asylum is a tedious and extremely hard process to navigate which leads to many trying to leave illegally, being caught and sent back, deported or imprisoned.
How has Covid-19 impacted the situation?
Greece has actually been one of the safest places in the world when it comes to Covid-19. As of today, there have been a little over 4000 reported cases and just under 200 deaths. One of the worst things about lockdown however was that the domestic abuse cases soared. Many of the women and children who come to the centre are victims of abuse from their husbands/fathers and being stuck at home with no escape only made this situation worse. We were able to get papers from the government allowing us to distribute dried food and other necessities over lockdown and, for the past month or so, have been able to open up our centre to a limited number of people.
What should governments be doing differently?
The refugee crisis is not a black and white issue so it is very difficult to say what governments should or shouldn’t do. I believe that Greece is unable to sustain this on their own and, while they get help from the EU and the UN, other countries in Europe need to be open to a much greater number of refugees.
What can we do as individuals?
PRAY! God is moving in incredible ways. The refugees we work with are coming from strict oppressive Islamic countries where hearing about Jesus is illegal and even having a Bible can get you killed. As they arrive in Greece they discover incredible freedom to talk and debate and learn about Jesus. God is using this crisis to bring many people to Himself so PRAY!
Find out if there are refugees living in your town/city. One of the biggest issues they face is isolation and one of their biggest needs is relationship. Volunteer at a drop in centre, visit people, talk to your church or university about initiatives you can start to reach out.
Not everyone is called to be involved in this specific issue practically, but you may be one of them. Pray and see if this is something in which God is calling to be more involved.
Love,
Just Love.