You know when you hear that on the subway, some obnoxious person is going to come through, asking for money.
Well, I sure am.
I don’t ask much of you, gentle reader. But why not give a little money to help feed hungry people? And it will actually go to buying food to put in hungry bellies.
https://www.gofundme.com/dx4293xg.
My wife is one of the people behind this, so I guarantee it ain’t no scam.
But first read this, by our friend Annia Ciezadlo. Yes, this is what I (but mostly they) did on our summer vacation.
But you may ask why I care. I ain’t no bleeding-heart do-gooder. But I do have a soft-spot for Syrians. See I’ve been there. Twice. For vacation. Aleppo was wonderful. A lot of people don’t realize that most refugees from Syria are educated middle-class people. They had lives and jobs and dropped their kids off at school got stuck in traffic and lived in nice apartment buildings. Until the war. And now their neighborhood might look like this:
That was Aleppo back in 2007. At the juice stand by the park. We ordered a tamarind drink and the kid gave us a drink and then wouldn’t take our money. Why? Because we were Americans from far away. And he was very sweet. Today he might be marching across Europe today, cursing the Hungarians.
You can even look at the rest of my vacation pictures if it will help you give.
So how does this relate to the Greek island of Mytilene (AKA Lesbos)? It just so happens I’ve been going there with my family for a long time. And it just so happens that this year a massive humanitarian crisis is literally washing up on the island’s shores. And many of these refugees are the same damn people who were so nice to us back in Syria!
My wife and her friend speak Arabic. So they went off to see how they could help. Mostly I hung out at the beach guarding this octopus to make sure nobody else ate it before they got back for dinner.
I didn’t want to take up room in the little rent-a-car, which they were filling up with people walking across the island in the heat. Plus, it was vacation. Anyway, I did go one time with them across the island to help out with my limited Greek. See, here’s Kara Tepe, the refugee camp, a few weeks ago.
And here’s my wife taking and giving polaroid-like pictures to cute orphan refugees. Oh, did I just play the cute hungry orphan card? Gosh, I guess I did. (This is a different camp, just FYI.)
So give a bit to help feed hungry people who are being forced into a trial by ordeal across Europe. They’re nice people. Really. And if there’s a chance, put “cop in the hood” or something in a message. I’m curious if anybody reading this will be inspired to give money.
Here’s the link again: https://www.gofundme.com/dx4293xg.
