To Be Heard is to Unbury Your Own Empowerment

This is my third trip to Greece with iACT. Each trip our intention is to listen to refugee and asylum-seeking community members, to see them and to walk beside them at this moment in their journey. As Abdarahim shared with us, “We do not get our time here back.” My hope is that the time we spend working together toward a common goal—a better future for all of our children and community—will also create peace and joy in their hearts and daily lives.

Eight people have surfaced as part of a team of Lead Teachers here in camp Katsikas, outside the quiet mountain town of Ioannina, Greece. They completed Little Ripples Teacher Training I in August with Joslyn Hitter, Deb Senior, and me, and have been with us each and every moment of learning, sharing, and expressing for the past three days. We also have seven new Assistant Teachers who have been participating in the program who wanted to become Little Ripples certified.

The last several months have been a challenge. The program moved from an outside playground area where it was well attended, to an indoor space in a large, clunky, metal and pretty much u