The Supreme Master Ching Hai
By News Team (Originally in English)
On Friday, December 11, 2015 a local Greece media outlet Proini News published an article with an acknowledgment of groups and organizations involved in refugee relief efforts. The article, “Two Palestinians Ride Free to Thessaloniki,” (See translated article below; originally in Greek) reports of the situation of 1,000 refugees who arrived at the port of Kavala on Wednesday, December 9. The article details how local authorities facilitated the travels of each refugee, and then mentions the humanitarian aid given upon arrival by volunteering students and the Loving Hut Austria relief team of The Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association.
Our sincere appreciation to Proini News and all media outlets that are keeping the world informed about the situation of the refugees so that global citizens may know where help is most urgently needed.
Our Association members are forever grateful to Supreme Master Ching Hai for giving us the opportunity and means to express true love in action by serving our friends, the refugees, in their time of need.
We also give many thanks to the volunteers and organizations who have helped and continue to provide loving assistance to the refugees. We pray that all the refugees soon find peace and comfort in new homes.
Two Palestinians Ride Free to Thessaloniki
(Originally in Greek)
December 11, 2015, 7:51 a.m.
About 1,000 refugees came to the port of Kavala on Wednesday afternoon from the ship Island Mykonos. The scenes that unfolded at the harbor are now a common occurrence. We refer to the Greek police checking passports and documentation of the refugees as they board the bus to continue their journey.
At the entrance of each bus, a policeman stands checking the documentation of every refugee. Only refugees from Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria are allowed travel to Idomeni. The same checks also occurred at the port from which the refugees departed.
For example, on Wednesday about 1,000 refugees were checked. Only two were found to be from Palestine. They were escorted by the police patrol to the Kavala bus station and traveled free on the bus to Thessaloniki, because they will not be allowed to enter Skopje [in Macedonia] even if they do make it to Idomeni.
The Kavala traffic police were present and helped facilitate the departure of about 20 tourist coaches that evening from the main port.
Meanwhile, humanitarian assistance is offered with the arrival of each vessel by the usual organizations, sometimes they are the established well-known organizations and sometimes they are new.
On Wednesday, there were secondary high school students at the port, as well as a humanitarian organization from Austria. The name of the organization is “The Supreme Master Ching Hai.” The ladies came to Kavala from Skopje with plenty of food, and in cooperation with local associations, distributed the food to refugees.