March 16, 2022: Our morning started with the normal routine: temperature check and breakfast. After a full breakfast of authentic Greek yogurt, bacon, ham, and fresh fruit, we headed into the city to explore the upbringing of the Greek Freak, Giannis Antetokounmpo.
First, we played basketball on a court in Giannis’ neighborhood. The 20 boys who wanted to play split off into four teams of five and competed in a “winner-stays-on” style of games. In total, the four teams played about 15 games as the dream team of Kayman, Connor, Owen, Hayden, and Nate won about 9 total games with their highest streak standing at 6 consecutive games won. The group decided on Andrew Smith and Josh Roberts as co-MVPs, Global Brigades Team Leader Mike as the 6th Man of the Day, and Fletcher Robinson as Defensive MVP. Overall, everyone had a great day playing together in the best weather we have had the whole trip.
After rehydrating and taking a team picture, we walked down to Giannis’ home court, where he played and trained as a kid. The court had a beautiful mural of the hometown hero. Mike and our other leader from Global Brigades, Tasos, told the story of how Giannis would go to that court and put on a show everyday after school. They told the story of how he and his brothers sold CDs just to make a living and how a generous owner of a local mini market would give them free sandwiches every day to support them on their way to the NBA. Mike explained that Giannis came back to that neighborhood and funded reconstruction projects to the surrounding buildings that desperately needed the upgrades. We could hear the pride in Mike’s voice as he recounted the tale of a local Greek who worked to become successful, fulfilled his dreams across the Atlantic, but never forgot where he came from and who helped him get to where he is now. If there was a team member who didn’t like Giannis before this trip, they do now because he is not only a tremendous basketball player but also a humble and thoughtful human being as well.
Following the compelling experience at the court, it was finally lunch time. The group walked through the streets of Athens until we reached the restaurant. The meal started off with a mixed salad of lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, cabbage, and pomegranate seeds. Next, the bread was brought out and served with a side of authentic tzatziki sauce. Later, the chefs brought out a series of entrees including pork skewers, chicken skewers, and Turkish kabobs. The hungry boys devoured everything that was brought out. If you go to @mbaserviceclub on Instagram, you can see how much the boys truly liked the Greek cuisine.
After lunch, we divided into our two groups and went to the service homes for our final day of work with the refugees. We also split the gifts that we brought into two and bestowed them to the homes before our departure. I am in the B group at the house in Sepolia. There, we finished painting some rooms, varnished a bench and table we had built in the previous days, and built a multipurpose shelf from IKEA with great help from many of the refugee boys.
To sum up the week in the service homes, many of us highlight the word “circumstance” as the word of the week. These refugees have been forced to leave their home country and move to a whole new home without any parental guidance. There is one boy at the Sepolia home that I became fond of on this trip. He is extremely smart and very good with his hands. He could have built the bench and shelves without any of our help. The first time he used a drill gun, he was already better than most of the MBA boys on the trip. It makes us think how lucky we are to be at a place like MBA, in a city like Nashville, and in a country like the USA. We left for the final time and we truly hope and pray that those boys are able to get on their feet in their new lives in Greece and can start to make a future for themselves and the generations to come.
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