Sadly this time it was nothing human but something very inhuman about the treatment of refugees in Hungary. Hungary was the first country to close the border with fences and police action. A public post from a man in Munich, who I now call my deep friend, immediately brought tears to my eyes: Teargas, Rubber bullets and massive water canon vehicles were treating humans worse than animals.

Tom Geisbuesch :: Age 54 ::  Professional Photographer

I was never an activist, but these days I call my earlier self a „couch potato“.

While my Mom raised me with a heart for „others“, I would take care of people who are suffering in my own world – but I did little more. Things changed ever since I jumped into the so called „Refugee crisis“, (which I prefer to name as a „political failure crisis“) more than 1.5 years ago. First, I just started to collect donations to support the Refugee camp in my city. For example, I started fundraising at my 53rd birthday in February 2015 and brought all the stuff and the money I collected to a former furniture building where up to 4000 Refugees initially stay when they arrive.

In September 2015 I collected some goods again and it was then that I realized, that donations were only accepted for 2 hours a week. People in Germany were giving so much, that the store was filled up to the roof. So on the 16th of September I went to the donations centre. As I was a little late, (I arrived 5 minutes after the store opened) I was totally surprised and impressed that I could not find a place to park in this huge parking lot. It brought tears to my eyes to see all the people running, with huge smiles on their face, to the place to give their items to the organization. Little kids and grannies in their hundreds were crowding the place, which touched my heart very deeply.

When I returned back home with my heart filled to the top because of this huge human expression from the people in my city, I opened up my laptop to see what the current situation is about. There I found my second “trigger” by pure chance!

Sadly this time it was nothing human but something very inhuman about the treatment of refugees in Hungary. Hungary was the first country to close the border with fences and police action. A public post from a man in Munich, who I now call my deep friend, immediately brought tears to my eyes: Teargas, Rubber bullets and massive water canon vehicles were treating humans worse than animals.

These two things triggered me to just stand up and do something in a way that I have never done before. What I do now. (as a human„activist“) First, I was afraid and really worried about what I was going to see and feel when I hit the ground. My trip took me to Tovarnik/Croatia, where up to 5000 people where stuck in the fields.

It was there, that my live changed forever. Without any skills in this area, all the hundreds of volunteers and I showed up over the first 5 days, we were able to provide food and clothes. We also had about 50 little tents to give a little shelter for the women with babies.

For me the action of all these hundreds of Volunteers at all ages returned my belief in humanity. When I started I sent out a post on Facebook and asked for donations of money to be able to buy food in the fields. Within 12 hours I’d raised 1500,00 € and was able to spend all the money for things that were needed so very much.

When I returned back to Germany I created a „Fanpage“ and named it www.frankenkonvoi.de because the region I live is called Frankonia. So today, in May 2016, my page has about 1240 followers and I have done 9 trips to camps along the route.

Tovarnik/Croatia, Bapska/Croatia, Opatovac/Croatia, Slavonski.Brod/Croatia and 3 times to Dunkirk/France, (which was the worst I and many others have ever seen!!!).

My last trip went to Greece where I had the chance to help a little in Idomeni but most of all I was able to establish a kitchen at the EKO-Station close to Polikastro. About 2500 people are stuck there and the happy thing about the kitchen is, it was build to stay and it still does.

A dear friend took over the kitchen in managing everything until I can return. In this kitchen, where we provide food 2 times a day, there are volunteer refugee chefs cooking the meals for their friends and a staff of refugees also work hard with them.

So the Frankenkonvoi was able to establish something like a permanent thing which really makes me very very happy.

I have already returned to Greece and I was so deeply impressed about the development of the kitchen. Quentin, my friend who is taking care of everything now, has connections to many helpers and the kitchen is meant to stay as long as needed

My heart is dancing and I will go on spreading the love forever!