Wandering in Athens

I am from Afghanistan. For the reasons, I can’t use my real name as you know that. I named myself Fidel H.

To be an asylum seeker is tough and the last option for survival in this world and most of the experiences and adventures are unpleasant from an asylum seeker’s viewpoint but besides all those hard situations for an asylum seeker; there would always be hope. The hope from our Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father

“What shall we then say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8: 31 )

For almost three months in 2019 in Greece, I was in a detention center called Drama, and all the residents of Drama Detention Center were starving and we were suffering from the terrible condition of the detention center and the rude behavior of the Greece police officers. After three months I was released from the detention center, I have traveled to Athens without enough money in my pocket and nor any clean clothes and shoes. I was wandering in Athen city with an empty pocket and stomach.

Like other asylum seekers, I was living and sleeping on the streets. For surviving, we were going to different charity centers to have food, for instance, the Caritas. My life and days were dull and hopeless same as every other day as I had in Athen. After a few months, I found a Church named “Hari Church” and I started participating in Hari Church services and got involved to serve the other refugees in Athen.

Being Christian and serving the Muslim refugees is somehow dangerous. From viewpoint of my Muslim brothers and sisters, I was apostate and ruining their honor but serving our Lor Jesus Christ and sharing the love of God with the others was joyful for me.

God’s Mercy

During my serving period in Hari Church, God showed His mercy through brother Fred Shin to me. With his support and encouragement, I got the chance to study Christian Theology academically online at GMU in California. Thank God, I am growing up in my faith(Fidel in Italian, also my name), God’s love, and a better understanding of God’s word by being a GMU Theology student.