Refugees

We have a few major themes running through our trip. We tend to find ourselves forever in the weirdest situations. Yesterday was the strangest yet. Nana invited us to his FCR (Fellowship of Christian Refugees) meeting. So at 7:00 pm we piled into a red minivan...all 9 of us, Daniel, David, me, Nana and his wife and two kids and a guy from Nigeria with Michael at the wheel and crazy Bohemian rap music playing. I just sat in the back with Daniel and we snickered at our situation.
The FCR was a different kind of crazy experience. It is sponsered by a ministry called the Oasis. Every year thousands of refugees from hundreds of different countries travel along the refugee highway that goes around the world in hopes of escaping war, famine and persecution. Vienna, Austria is an off ramp for this highway because it houses a refugee camp. Thousands are smuggled out of their countries and promised work by people who then cheat them and leave them in far off countries with no hope of getting jobs or money back to their families. This ministry provides meals, clothing drives, computer classes, support and fellowship. The service we attended was a worship service. People of all ethnicities filed in to hear Nana speak. 3 differnet people were translating in other languages all at one time. It was like the Tower of Bable all over again. About 20 muslim men from Kosovo sat to the right of us. They had fled because their country has been devastated by war with the Serbians for nearly 9 years and there country is destroyed. It was an unbelievable ministry to get to watch and participate in. On a lighter note if you have no idea what it is like to be the only young American female in a room where about 25 pairs of foreign males eyes staring at you, I can now fill you in on what that experience is like. I got proposed to a lot last night. It was both flatering and incredibly uncomfortable. The guys had a great time laughing at my situation.