Throughout my life, I have been fortunate enough to travel to Greece several times, almost always with the objective of visiting family, friends, and vacationing. However, this past summer, I felt compelled to do something more meaningful – to give back to the country I owe half my heritage and feel incredibly connected to. As if answering my prayers, I discovered Greek America Corps less than a week before the application deadline. I immediately knew that this program was exactly what I had been looking for.
To provide some context to those unfamiliar, Greek America Corps (GAC) is a yearly summer program within the larger New York-based non-profit organization Greek America Foundation. GAC has several three-week-long volunteer sessions in Athens, Chios, and this year for the first time, one in Thessaloniki, which I was lucky to be a part of. All volunteers are from either the United States or Canada. Each GAC session partners with local non-profit and philanthropic organizations to serve the populations in Greece most vulnerable and in need. For the group I was a part of in Thessaloniki, we worked with Elpida Home, a non-profit organization primarily serving refugee populations in Thessaloniki, and Boroume, a non-profit working to reduce food waste and fight hunger throughout Greece. Each day of the program was fulfilling and enjoyable, knowing that I was serving alongside wonderful people doing meaningful work. Three weeks flew by before I knew it.

A typical day of our volunteer work would begin with going to Elpida Home’s apartment complex housing the refugees. Throughout our time at Elpida Home, we ran various services, including doing activities with the children, leading classes in beginner and advanced English, cultural Q&A about the United States and/or Canada, and more. One day a week, we would take the refugee children to the American Farm School to do activities with them outside their complex. Volunteering with Elpida Home was one of the most rewarding and unique experiences I have been blessed enough to be a part of. Myself and all my fellow volunteers came to know and grow attached to the community we were serving. We worked with Afghan refugees who had fled their homes after the Taliban resurgence in 2021. Just listening to their stories and experience was eye-opening on its own. It made me admire the strength and resilience these people demonstrated, and it put actual faces to the events I had watched unfold on the news for months. It humanized the conflict for me; it became not just a conflict far away from home, but a tangible reality for actual people, each with his/her own unique feelings, hopes, aspirations, and anxieties.

Though there were several memorable moments throughout our service at Elpida Home, there is one I feel particularly compelled to share. One day, after one of our English classes, Hakim, one of our most regularly attending residents from our classes brought us coffee. We sat and shared a conversation as he tried in broken English to tell us about his life, experiences, and the difficult circumstances he has (and continues to) endure. Slowly, we learned that he had been living alone without his wife, children, and grandchildren (all of whom are in the United States) for over 15 years before the war in Afghanistan forced him to leave his home for Greece. As he told us about his family in the United States and his hope to reunite with them, he became very emotional. Sitting with him, I could see the pain he was feeling in his eyes. I can only imagine how his family must be feeling, knowing that their father or grandfather is safe from war, but is alone in a foreign country, with no definitive date as to when they can be reunited.
As difficult as it was to hear Hakim’s story, it was heartwarming hearing from other residents about his kindness and generosity. He regularly donates money and communicates with people in need who are unable to leave Afghanistan, all while he is still unable to reunite with his family. Every time we would see him, he would always greet us with a big, genuine smile on his face. After coffee, Hakim showed us another one of his pastimes- music. He brought a bouzouki which he had bought while in Greece and was playing for us a couple of songs he had learned. Several of the volunteers (myself included) also play music as a hobby, which gave us something to relate personally with Hakim in a way that we could not do from his life experiences. Oftentimes, refugees are only thought of in terms of statistics, especially on the news. But behind every number in a statistic is someone like Hakim, a person with a unique story, family, character, personality, and most importantly, a person who is created in the image and likeness of God.
In the afternoons, our group would split up to collect food at various different λαϊκές (farmers markets) all over Thessaloniki with staff from Boroume or their local sister organization, Praxis Agapes. As every market would be wrapping up for the day, we would walk with shopping carts past all the vendors asking for any food they were able to offer us or any leftover produce they were unable to sell that would otherwise be thrown away. Yes, there were several vendors who did not give anything, but it was amazing to see how generously many vendors would donate food. At every location, we would have to empty full shopping carts multiple times. Sometimes, single vendors would donate multiple shopping carts worth of produce. By the end of each day, an entire van or truckload would be full of fresh produce ready to be delivered to food banks and other philanthropic organizations. Though Boroume and Praxis Agapes are not tied to any church, several of the people I interacted with expressed to me their own motivations for their service that stem from their desire to live the Gospels and practice what Christ preached.