Greetings and Happy Thanksgiving! We hope this finds everyone blessed in the grace of our Lord this holiday season.
We wanted to catch you up on our comings and goings, and talk a bit about our work closer to home as well.
This past Summer, our family had the great gift of visiting some of our old homes and churches and places of service in Europe. For three weeks, we visited Estonia, Italy, Romania and Ukraine. There were more than a few tears shed as we re-visited some of the kids’ old schools, playgrounds where we used to catch our breath, and congregations where we used to serve and learn.
While our primary goal for our visit was continuing ministry efforts, we had a secondary goal for our family: Our transition from Estonia to Italy to (unexpectedly) the USA was such a whirlwind, and this trip served as a great way for our kids to obtain closure from that hectic time. This was their first return to Europe since our move stateside.
Chernivtsi
We also had the privilege of visiting a couple of new places during our trip, as we spent a few nights near Siret, Romania, along the border with Ukraine. During our time in Romania, we made a quick visit across the border to visit Chernivtsi, Ukraine – one of the westernmost cities in the besieged country. At its peak, this city took in 80,000 additional displaced Ukrainians from the east, where fighting forced them from their homes.
Charlie had already visited Chernivtsi during a solo trip in April, and it was great for us to be able to “follow-up” with our partners as a family in July. While we were there, we were very encouraged to see the familiar Remar S.O.S. green, and to have time to catch up with some old friends. At that time, the Remar staff was blessed with several volunteers to help prepare and serve meals to around 1,200 people twice a day, but they graciously made space for us so that we could join in the service and connect a little with the people there.

When comparing the situation in July to what he saw in April, Charlie noticed a change in the upward mobility of the people we were serving. In April, many of the folks we were helping were in Chernivtsi short-term with intentions of moving into Europe. The folks in July were people who did not have the means to move to Europe, and were simply needing a safe place to stay in Ukraine. As a result, aid orgs in the region have shifted to more long term care: lots of temporary housing is being erected, bunk beds and shower facilities are in short supply. The education system in the region is strapped given all the new Ukrainian children from the East who will need to continue school.
Of the 7 million internally displaced Ukrainians in the country, estimates are that between 50,000 – 80,000 of them are in Chernivtsi. These are folks who really can’t leave, but who want to be near the European border as a last resort in case Russia makes it into the western region of the country.
When asked about the Fall season, Remar plainly stated that the volunteer numbers are really low. Like in Greece, when that happens, the full-time aid workers risk burn out because the work still has to be done, whether or not volunteers are available. Additionally, they told us that 5 European organizations that they partnered with in the city were pulling out at the end of August due to low funding and volunteer shortage. This is, unfortunately, to be expected. Compassion fatigue and the war falling out of the daily news cycle does this every time. So we left Ukraine a bit discouraged knowing the Fall and Winter may be difficult for our friends. It was good, however, to better understand how we can be helping in near future.
Looking Forward
The whirlwind trip we made this Summer was enriching and overwhelming. We were blessed to reconnect with dear and wise friends, many of whom are doing incredibly faithful and often sacrificial work of service for the most vulnerable, in their desire to honor Christ Jesus.
At the same time, each of us was keenly reminded of the deep ache and grief that naturally accompanies work in this sort of context – sort of like being unexpectedly washed in the familiar scent of pines and honeysuckle when we visit South Georgia. In the noise and busy-ness of our lives in Athens, we’d almost forgotten what it felt like, what it smelled and tasted like.
But the familiarity of that tall and relentless shadow of trauma; the saving grace of a little laughter and silliness on the edge of a vast canyon of hopelessness; the leering, soaring mountain of the needs of people who have lost almost everything; these things washed over us like a wave. And we realized that we’d not been nearly as far away from it all living back in Georgia these past few years as we’d believed.
Our trip this past Summer also confirmed for us what we’d already come to suspect, which is that the work of refugee/migrant support and advocacy will likely always be a part of who we are and what we do; for as long as we are able. We have come to the view that – whether they are sleeping in a refugee camp among thousands of other families, or living “out-of-sight” along the edges of our communities – migrant and refugee families are among the most vulnerable in our society. Surely these were the sort of neighbors Jesus had in mind when He said, “As you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, so you did it to Me.”
It is with this awareness that we have gradually begun to “re-construct” this migrant/refugee work while we have been settling into the Athens area these past couple of years. Surprisingly, in some ways this process hasn’t been unlike the process of moving into a foreign culture. While we have enjoyed the ease of the English language, we have still needed some time to learn the local systems and dialect – especially for our kids.
Obviously, we have learned that the context for refugee families here is also very different than that of a war zone or refugee camp. In some ways, providing support to a family in need in our area is clearly easier. For example, we can communicate more easily with local schools, administrators, and landlords; we know where to go find food and other hygienic items that families may need; we know better how to read people’s “non-verbal” communication (ie body language, humor, sarcasm, etc.).
In other ways, however, we have found that certain challenges to this work seem more pervasive here than in the refugee camp context. For example, when serving in non-U.S. contexts, this work can be more easily segmented or distinguished from “normal life,” so that it can be approached from a short-term, project-based perspective. This is particularly true in circumstances where refugee families are only staying temporarily before moving onward in their journey.
However, much of the needed work locally involves long-term resettlement and establishment of families within the local community. Not only does this require longer, more consistent provision of support and resources, but it also means that we must navigate the often challenging local systems – including the education, healthcare, transportation, and housing systems. Resources for these families are generally not accessible in a centralized location, but in fact can be very difficult to find and secure.
Finally, this work is further complicated by what often feels like a constant stream of misinformation, ignorance, and apathy around who these families are and the significant challenges they face. Even in some of the more “welcoming” communities, there seems to persist this pervasive gap so that refugee and migrant families often remain fairly segregated from the rest of society. Opportunities for meaningful relationship and community building through the sharing of stories, culture, and work also remain few and far between.
So we’ve also come to recognize that our work to support these families must also include opportunities for education, advocacy, and community building, so that we can work to address some of the “deeper,” underlying root causes of the challenges these families face. Through these conversations and connections, we want to consider root issues such as our unsustainable consumption practices, our tendency towards isolation and segregation, and our hesitancy to step into the real, often complex issues that these communities face. We hope to discuss these topics and more in this blog on future posts.
This Thanksgiving we are so grateful for each of you, your support, your prayers, and your friendship! We’d love to chat more with you as we continue to walk forward through this season.
Love and blessings from Charlie, Miki, and the Chastain kids!