Elder Ballard visits refugee camps in Germany, Greece as LDS Church delivers aid

(Mormon Newsroom)


Save Story
Leer en español

Estimated read time: 6-7 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

SALT LAKE CITY — LDS Church leadership has sent one of its own to Europe to inspect conditions in refugee camps and report firsthand on the problems caused by what the European Commission has dubbed the world's largest humanitarian crisis since World War II.

Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles visited a large refugee shelter in Germany on Nov. 16 and two camps in Greece on Friday to provide support and observe the combined humanitarian efforts of the church and its international aid partners. He called helping refugees a responsibility and praised Germany for setting an example to the world.

"We've seen the great, wonderful open hearts of the German people," he said. "I love that the first words they said to us were, 'These are our guests.' That's a great message for the whole world."

On Friday, Elder Ballard visited two camps on the Greek island of Lesbos, one with refugees from Syria and another with displaced families from Afghanistan and Pakistan, with the church's Europe Area president, Elder Patrick Kearon of the Seventy.

Nearly 400,000 refugees have arrived at the camps by boat, up to 7,000 per day, Elder Ballard said. After they set foot in Europe for the first time, many come in contact with an LDS Church-supported project of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, which offers refugees information about their rights and provides food, water, shelter and medical care.

"It's overwhelming to see the magnitude of the size of this problem," Elder Ballard said. "I think what surprised me the most was the size of it. We saw a lot of pictures, we've heard a lot of reports, but it's different when you come here on the ground and you walk through the camps and you see the faces."

Alleviate suffering

On Nov. 16, Elder Ballard visited a shelter in Berlin, with refugees from 15 nations.

"The scale of this human tide has to be seen to be believed," Elder Ballard said. "I have seen our people working alongside new friends of all faiths and nationalities to relieve the suffering of those who have been driven from their homes and countries. I am so grateful for the dedicated service of all involved to bring relief to those who need it most."

The church released a video of Elder Ballard visiting the camps and the shelter. The video is available on mormonnewsroom.com. At the Berlin shelter, he was present as Mormon volunteers prepared hygiene kits and passed out pallets of toys to children.

The LDS Church made an initial $5 million commitment in September to help alleviate suffering among refugees, and Elder Ballard delivered some of the money in a check to Malteser Germany, a Catholic Church order.

Malteser Germany operates several shelters, including the one in Berlin, an exhibition center converted in October to a temporary shelter for 1,000 refugees.

"When they come here, they do not have any luggage at all," one of the organization's leaders, Baroness Marie-Catherine Heereman, said of the refugees. "They have just what they are (wearing), which is frequently dirty and wet."

Elder Ballard reported hearing heartbreaking stories. He said he met a 9-year-old boy at the Cara Tepe refugee camp in Greece. The boy and his family had nothing but their clothes and hope.

"It was an honor for me to watch as the relief organizations we have partnered with gave this boy not just the basic necessities, but even a soccer ball," Elder Ballard said in a Facebook post.

Last week I had the unique privilege of visiting with individuals at the Cara Tepe refugee camp on the island of Lesbos,...

Posted by M Russell Ballard on Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Important partners

"The resources that we're putting over here are helping with blankets and food and tents," he said, "to try to bring a little bit of dignity, a little bit of peace, a little bit of reassurance to people who have made this brave journey across this water not knowing at all what they were going to be faced with. And now the (relief workers) here, not knowing what they were going to be faced with, are performing miracles."

Elder Ballard said the church's relief efforts must be made through partners.

"The church can very wisely work with partners, and the area presidency, Patrick Kearon and his counselors, are right on top of this. They are carefully determining, along with the help of the welfare department in Salt Lake, who are the right partners for us to assist.

"We've met several of these partners since we've been here," he added, "and I'm very pleased with everyone that I've met. They're wonderful people, they're dedicated, they're wise, they're using the resources properly to relieve suffering."

The church has partnered for decades with international humanitarian organizations to help refugees fleeing to Europe, providing food, shelter, clothing and medical supplies. Today, the church is working with multiple groups, including the Crisis Management Center of the Republic of Macedonia, Catholic Relief Services, Medici per i Diritti Umani (MEDU) and the International Medical Corps.

The LDS Church also is supporting a project by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) to provide food, clothing, blankets and toys in Italy to 225,000 children from refugee families.

Looking ahead

"We are pleased to work with such compassionate and experienced partners," said Elder Kearon, a Briton. He expressed confidence that the joint efforts will make a difference in the lives of people fleeing war and misery.

"What I've observed this week is all sorts of people from all kinds of organizations, some of them faith-based, some of the charities, some of them parts of government, all in this together," he said.

Elder Kearon also said European Mormons continue to mobilize "to step up our response across Europe ... I see opportunities for us to continue with the partnerships that we've had and forge new ones too."

Last month, the church's First Presidency encouraged Mormons to assist refugees, including through donations to the church's Humanitarian Fund. Elder Ballard said newly arrived refugees wonder what's going to happen to them next, and where they will end up.

"The Lord has made it clear," he said, "that one of the great responsibilities of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is that we're to feed the hungry and the poor. We're to reach out and take care of them."

The sheer size of the problem is immense — 860,000 displaced people have sought shelter in the European Union this year, 337,000 of them since the beginning of October.

"It's going to take all of us," Elder Ballard said, "everybody who cares about Heavenly Father's children, it's going to take everybody being as generous and as involved and helpful as we possibly can."

Most recent Features stories

Tad Walch

    STAY IN THE KNOW

    Get informative articles and interesting stories delivered to your inbox weekly. Subscribe to the KSL.com Trending 5.
    By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

    KSL Weather Forecast