Greek couple offers Syrian refugees sanctuary

[unhappycamper]

http://www.dw.com/en/greek-couple-offers-syrian-refugees-sanctuary/a-19121106

Not far from the camp in Idomeni, a Greek couple is hosting 18 refugees. Although they cannot break down the physical borders along the Balkan route, they are overcoming a cultural barrier, as Hang-Shuen Lee discovered.

Greek couple offers Syrian refugees sanctuary
Hang-Shuen Lee
18.03.2016

Despina Tombulidis is busy preparing a big banquet in her kitchen. A Greek salad, pita, and sausages: For herself, her husband Alessandro and a group of unexpected guests.

Despina has been doing this for three days, several times a day. And she is still enjoying it. Her husband, Alessandro, sits in the living room with 18 refugees, young and old from babies to their grandparents. Although they are not talking much, their faces show a sense of satisfaction. In fact, they barely know each other. And they do not speak the same language. The Tombulidis are Greek, their guests came all the way from Syria. They survived the journey across the Mediterranean and arrived at the border between Greece and Macedonia three weeks ago.

Sitting in small and flimsy tents in cold and rainy weather, the refugee family had been waiting expectantly for the border to be reopened so they could reunite with other family members in Germany. A few days later, Alessandro met them at the refugee camp in Idomeni. The retired couple's house is only about 20 kilometers from the border. Watching the suffering of the refugees on TV, they decided to act.

"I really feel that we are making people happy here. I can feel the happiness. These people hadn't taken a shower for 18 days," Despina told DW. "I did laundry 27 times and I still have two more. Everything was full of mud. And if you look at the design and pattern of their clothes, you'll realize that they are actually from the middle class."