Hungary Day 5

Now being Monday everyone found himself or herself a little fatigued.  We had spent our day off yesterday at a surprisingly great church service—well at least the worship we found ourselves moved by our precious Lord.  The rest of the service was trying to guess at what was being said in Hungarian via body language and choppy translation.  This followed a full day of hurried site seeing and rushed Turkish Bath experience.  In all honesty the Baths were quite nice but the crowd jacked with my ability to relax--#American-in-Europe #Like to spread it out.  We left the baths and made our way to grab some great food and a little shopping before finding a bed about midnight.

 

The late night made today a slow start.  Mentally I felt drained.  Emotionally I felt flat.  We have been operating on not necessarily little sleep but adjusting has been difficult.  The first two days in the camp were so much more than routine English class.  Teaching the advanced class there has been an opportunity to dig in a little bit and get to hear the stories of these men.  I found myself blind-sided by how misinformed I had been on their situation as well as how emotionally affected I have been by their stories.  Most of the men in the camp I have talked to are stories of being beaten and banished from the cities they call home, their lives have been threatened, their families lives have been threatened if they didn't leave, home blown up from military conflict; all because these men aided coalition forces.  With new leadership coming to power and rising anti western sentiment from the new political party these men's lives are in danger for their previous willingness to serve as English translators or Coalition led/taught security forces.  These men then seek out help from remaining coalition forces in their country only to be turned away left with the only option to flee so they may save themselves or hope against hope their family will really be spared.  Almost all of the middle-eastern men that we have talked to once they fled their country, surviving very difficult circumstances finally make it to a western nation where in stead of a welcome they are met by people who do not want them.  As such they are processed and shipped to a half way camp for deportees in Hungary: Enter Biscke.  

 

The Biscke camp is a far cry better than the Hungarian closed camps.  A several month stay at one of the "closed" camps is a popular story here as well.  The camps are called a closed camp is a reference to the inability to leave the camp.  The closed camps are essentially prisons.  As one Iraqi put it "the closed camp and Saddam, are same."  

 

So, back to today: Mentally and emotionally drained.  Having worship during devotions has been awesome.  Today was special as we all walked away renewed with new energy and encouraged hearts.  Stories have been hard to hear.  Scars can be seen on their face from being hit by the butt of gun and bomb shrapnel.  All of them have scares that are not visible but run much deeper.  It has been such a privilege getting to know them.  I have been blessed by laughing with them and have been moved to tears by hearing these stories.  Our teaching English consists of elementary school worksheets but the simple explanation of what the word humiliation means can draw out stories from their recent past. 

 

My biggest challenge I am wrestling with now is "Now What?"  How do we maximize our remaining days with the people after such a great foundation has been built?  Tamara reminded me that we are not doing anything.  We are here being with them and our blessed Lord is in charge of the doing.  We need continued prayer for these people.  In our Savior Jesus there is an identity not defined by a "status," or a hard experience. 

David

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