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Doro Blancke and a friend, supporters of Team Gabitz Helps, preparing food for distribution to the community in Kara Tepe camp, Lesbos, Greece. December 2020. Photo courtesy of Doro Blancke.
Panchen Losang Chogyen Gelugzentrum, the FPMT center in Vienna, Austria, has raised awareness and support for the thousands of people living in Kara Tepe camp by collecting financial contributions for Gablitz hilft (Gablitz helps.) Kara Tepe is a camp for refugees and asylum seekers—the majority from Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan— on Lebos, a Greek island in the northern Aegean Sea off the coast of Turkey. Moria, another camp on the island, experienced a devastating fire in September 2020. Gablitz hilft is an all-volunteer organization in Gablitz, Niederösterreich, Austria, that has been accompanying persecuted and refugee people through everyday life since 2015. Community service is one of FPMT’s Five Pillars of Service. Maragarete (Margit) Sinabell, spiritual program coordinator at Panchen Losang Chogyen Gelugzentrum, shares the story.
On October 20, 2020, I saw a media report with the headline “Refugees on Lesbos: ‘Even in Moria it was better.'” This report touched me very much. Due to the COVID situation, knowledge of the refugees’ suffering has moved into the background. It is very important to me to stand up for them. Refugees on Lesbos are starving and freezing. They lack winterproof tents, sources of heat, and access to sanitary facilities for daily toilet needs. Without these things, it is hard to keep children safe and warm.
Gablitz hilft has been involved in refugee aid for years. Two Gablitz hilf volunteers, Doro and Helga work with the nonprofit organization Home for All. Founded by Greek locals Nikos and Katherina, Home for All is a social charity kitchen supporting the refugee community. They provide food to 1,200 people every day. On December 4, 2020, Helga journaled, “It keeps raining! From dawn to dusk we are busy supporting Nikos and Katherina with shopping, packing, and delivering the Home-for-All-meals.” They also purchase clothing, firewood, and other necessities such as children’s shoes, sanitary products, and latrines. There are additional 6,800 people in the refugee camp who lack even the most basic necessities.
Kara Tepe camp, Lesbos, Greece, December 2020. Photo courtesy of Doro Blancke.
I personally know a member of the Gablitz hilf board of directors. Karin is a doctor who drives to Greece as often as she can to provide medical care to the refugees. She is a Christian, but as a Buddhist I see her as a great bodhisattva. I’ve worked with Karin several times on different projects. I have been helping and supporting Gablitz hilf for years. However, we can achieve even more if we all join together.
I created a proposal for our center’s board of directors to review at their November 4 meeting, encouraging our center to get involved and financially support Gablitz hilf’s work. Our board of directors decided to appeal to our members and interested parties for donations. (No one from our center is traveling to Lesbos to help.) As a Dharma center, it’s important for us to help others as best as we can. Financial donations are the best way we can help right now. The transport of goods across borders has become difficult due to COVID.
A person cooking a hot meal for the community in Kara Tepe camp, Lesbos, Greece, December 2020. Photo courtesy of Doro Blancke.
Our fundraising campaign led to a pleasant snowball effect and was even picked up and spread by partners in Belgium. The result far exceeded our expectations and touched our hearts deeply. By January 25, we had collected a total of € 8,729 (US$10,514.) Since Gablitz hilf is an all-volunteer organization, all of the donations we sent went to the refugees in Kara Tepe camp on Lesbos for food, care, hygiene items, and a permanent living space. The refugees and everyone involved are very happy.
Alice Grundboeck, the previous center director, shared some thoughts about community service. Alice said, “It allows students to practice Dharma in daily life, and it empowers students. Non-Buddhists can get an impression of what Buddhism means. When we do community service we meet people of different faiths. This can blossom into further cooperation regarding community service. We just began another project, supporting Tierparadies Schabenreith (Schabenreith animal paradise), a sanctuary in Austria that prevents animals from being killed too.”
For more information about Panchen Losang Chogyen Gelugzentrum, visit their website:
https://gelugwien.at/
For more information about Kara Tepe camp, visit the International Refugee Committee (IRC) website. IRC is one of the organizations running services in the camp:
https://www.rescue.org/country/greece
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