Filling Up My Life By Filling Up My Journal

In one week, I’ll be moving to Chalkida, Greece for three months to volunteer with Cross-Cultural Solutions and a local NGO called Lighthouse Relief, which provides immediate crisis response, as well as long term relief, to refugees arriving in Greece. I have little experience volunteering beyond a few hours here and there at a local soup kitchen, I don’t speak Arabic, I’m not a doctor who can save lives.

So, why am I going?

This is the question that I’ve been asking myself for the last few months while confirming travel plans, taking the required disaster training courses, and trying (emphasis on trying) to learn some basic phrases in Greek and Levantine Arabic . I’m sure it’s the question people want to ask me when I tell them what I’ll be doing, and their response is “Wow, that’s great” followed by silence.

I can trace my global perspective back to my undergraduate studies in International Relations, my short-lived humanitarian efforts to the time I didn’t eat chocolate for nearly a year to protest the child labor practices in the cocoa plantations in West Africa, my interest in international development to when I came this close to joining the Peace Corps but decided business school was more practical.

I can tell you about the articles I’ve read on the violent civil war in Syria and about the refugees who are fleeing almost certain death. I can point you to powerful documentaries such as Oscar award winning White Helmets, Oscar nominee 4.1 Miles, and 50 Feet from Syria in which a brave cinematographer I know crossed into Syria to get the needed shots for this acclaimed short documentary.

I can thank my company for the opportunity to take this sabbatical through an official program that encourages employees to rejuvenate themselves and develop their careers by exploring beyond their current job responsibilities.

All these pieces have come together like a jigsaw puzzle, but it’s the constructed image that completes the puzzle. I’ve come to a point in my life where I’m looking for meaning and purpose. I know there's something bigger outside this microcosm of me. I'm so blessed to have a privileged and happy life, but I’ve had to admit to myself that my Instagram-filtered existence is feeling a little empty and unfulfilled.

So, I want to fill it up by playing soccer with kids who are still laughing despite living in a refugee camp and talking with women who have led their families across land and sea with dreams for a safer future. And I hope to give a little back by raising the awareness of this massive humanitarian crisis by capturing and sharing the stories of the people I meet.

I’ll share my life in Greece on this blog which I’ve named The Tattered Journal because I will carry my pretty, new journal around with me for the three months I’m there. I’ll jot down notes about the laughing smile of a little Syrian girl, the tears of a mother recalling her long journey to the camp, the determined eyes of a Greek boat captain turned rescuer, or the welcoming greeting at my favorite local restaurant. I’ll share a glimpse into the lives of refugee families who have fled their war-torn homelands and the lives of the Greek people trying their best to support them – all through the lens of my experiences. At the end of my time in Greece, I expect my journal to be worn and tattered and full of the stories of others intertwined with my own.

I hope you'll come along with me.