Returning to his home country to help with the refugee crisis was a special task for one Dunedin priest.
Ivica Gregurec, who is a priest at the Anglican Parish of Dunedin North, returned to his home country of Croatia for a week last year to assist at a refugee camp.
Fr Gregurec said even though he was there on a ‘‘slow week'', the volunteers helped about 1000 refugees per night.
He said the refugees arriving at the Slavonski Brod transit and registry camp, in eastern Croatia, were focused on reaching Sweden or Germany, and sometimes Austria.
All the other countries they travelled through were just ‘‘transit countries''.
Fr Gregurec was appalled by the measures some countries were going to to stop the refugees from entering their countries, with many nations stretching out rows of coiled razor wire to construct border fences.
‘‘Europe is turning into a fortress - Fortress EU,'' he said.‘‘[The] problem [of arriving refugees] can't be solved with restrictive policies, by the wire, putting up walls.''
While at the camp, Fr Gregurec assisted with the transiting process of the refugees, handing out toothpaste and toothbrushes to the swarms of people arriving.
He said he had briefly talked to a man who had left Syria who just wanted to get to safety and return to his teaching job once again. Though he had no idea how the man's life would turn out, he told him he wished him ‘‘all the best''.
To help the refugees with their journeys, Fr Gregurec's Dunedin parish had raised enough money to buy more than 150 pairs of shoes, caps and gloves to take over to the camp.
He said though he was originally from Croatia, he told people he came from New Zealand and that New Zealanders cared about what was happening.
‘‘Their gratitude, in [their] eyes and smile ... is something that will stay with me for my whole life.''
Ivica Gregurec will present a talk about his week at the Slavonski Brod transit and registry camp on Monday, February 8 at St Martin's Church, 194 North Rd, starting at 7pm.
- by Greta Yeoman
