European Refugee Crisis blog 1 - Macedonia

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With today being American Thanksgiving (26th November 2015) I’ve been challenged about what I’m thankful for.

I am thankful my children are not living in a war zone. That may sound odd but when you look through Murray’s work photos you’ll understand why.

While our children are aware of atrocities in the country in which we call home and around the world, it is not their reality.

Refugee stories are flying around at the moment, and there is fear when we talk about it. Regardless of how you feel about the state of the world, when you are actually in contact first hand with refugees it is a different story. This is Murray’s reality.

In Kenya we are having a day off as the Pope is visiting. School is closed due to road closures across the city. So while I enjoy having the time to catch up on Murray’s many blogs from this year, Murray is in Greece watching boats arrive with desperate people fleeing war. I’m very proud that Murray is able to bring relief in a small way to those affected by war and don’t pretend to understand what he experiences during these trips.

So on this day of prayer in Kenya in honour of the Pope visiting, I am thankful my children are not dealing with war and reminded that many children around the world are not so lucky. And I’m feeling guilty about that.

This collection of photos are from Murray’s Europe trips relating to the current Syrian refugee crisis in Europe. Macedonia, Serbia, and Croatia.



Lady in yellow.

Murray met the lady in yellow, who was heavily pregnant. She was in a bad way and he urged her to stay and see the doctor and use the facilities at this camp as they were pretty good. He didn’t know where she was heading but it turns out it wasn’t as well resourced. Murray wasn’t sure the baby would survive. And this is just one of the many heartbreaking stories that he is witness to.

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