On the move.

In 2017, I started traveling to Greece at the invitation of a friend. She was interested in working with some of the NGOs working with asylum seekers that were arriving on the Greek Islands. I had a contact through another friend.

Since 2015, the situation in that area has been critical. We decided that beyond a vacation we would volunteer with one of the organizations. That trip ultimately became the stepping off point for my genuine desire to look further, know more, and help in a direct contact way. Having had a fairly nomadic existence myself, I understand the pain of leaving and re-starting. But for the people that I was meeting in Greece, they were coming from war-torn, economically distressed situations and were facing a whole new world.

That was the onset of several trips to Greece and an up-close view of what is happening at that particular geographic juncture, the changing demographics, and the reasons for people’s flights from their homelands throughout Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.

I began offering my time with Echo100Plus an organization based in Athens and the island of Leros.

photograph © caterinaverde