A group of students walk into Spar, a grocery store in Vienna, Austria. They take time to scan the store to find out what they need for their mission of mercy: Rice, potatoes, onions, tomatoes, peas, carrots and so on, ingredients for the meal they are going to cook that evening for the thousands of refugees huddled in Vienna’s central train station. After paying for the groceries, it’s time to get to the station.
Lipscomb students spending the semester in Vienna, Austria, aren’t blind to the suffering of what surely is one of the largest humanitarian crises of all time: The thousands upon thousands of Syrians who are fleeing their strife-torn homeland.
The students studying abroad spend some weekends exploring Europe, but they are also spending other time doing what they can to help the men, women and children who are flooding into Austria in pursuit of sanctuary and peace.
Students from Lipscomb and Oklahoma Christian universities have formed the Refugee Aid Committee. They are actively working with Train of Hope, an association made up of volunteers who provide food, clothes and more to the refugees at the station.
“There were several of us who went to Frau Swann, our director, and told her we wanted to be involved,” said Morgan DeLong, a sophomore at Oklahoma Christian. “We wanted to help the refugees. Seeing it first-hand kind of motivated a lot of that.”
Every day, thousands of refugees come through Vienna’s central station, Hauptbahnhof. Some stay overnight, waiting for family members or for paperwork before continuing the journey. Rather than staying afraid for their lives in their homeland, they are leaving it all behind to come to Europe, with literally the clothes on their backs. This very real human catastrope is not just an Austrian problem, but one that is shared by entire European Union, with countries all trying to absorb some of the hundreds of thousands — a large portion Christians — who seek peace. Even the United States is involved in this multi-nationalmission by committing to take 10,000 of the refugees.
Study abroad students, not blind to the problem, decided it was time to help.
“It just opened our eyes to the fact that they’re normal people just like us, and this could happen to anyone,” DeLong said.
“It’s been really powerful, both in negative and positive ways,” said Lipscomb junior Zack Eccelston. “I’ve seen a lot of what you might consider poor living conditions in the train station. People are piling up on cots; there are tents outside in this very cold weather. I’ve also been struck by how they’re still positive; they’re laughing, they’re still enjoying life, because they’re in a place where they can finally feel safe.”
And while they don’t have the dollars or the power of the nations that are trying to handle this human crisis, they are doing what they can. So far the students have raised about $80 from other students and faculty in Vienna and have also collected personal hygiene items such as deodorant, toothpaste and toothbrushes and other necessities for the Syrians.
“I think service is a major part of being a Christian,” Eccelston said. “I think getting the opportunity to help this vastly displaced group of people while we’re over here is just a really awesome way to reach out and make it about something more than traveling on the weekends.”
The students who purchased the ingredients at Spar did make it to the station, where they cooked meals for 50 refugees.
“We have an incredible opportunity while we’re here to be able to help,” DeLong said. “It would just be a shame, I think, to look back on this time that we were here and look back on history and what a huge deal the refugee crisis was and is in Europe right now and to say ‘Oh, I was in Vienna and I didn’t do anything.’ That, just to me, is a terrible thought.”