Efi Latsoudi

Presbyterian Peacemakers, delegation visit border ministry to collaborate on migration

In October, a PC(USA) delegation that included three international peacemakers from the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program journeyed together to Frontera de Cristo, located in the twin cities of Agua Prieta, Mexico, and Douglas, Arizona, for four days of interconnected collaboration on the dynamics of people on the move.

Despite a fire and a government shutdown, Lesvos Solidarity’s work continues, its founder says during the PC(USA)’s ‘Between Two Pulpits’ broadcast

More than 15 years ago, Efi Latsoudi moved from Athens, Greece, to Lesvos Island when she realized “there are refugees suffering and local society didn’t know much about it. No one was taking care of them. I wanted to know what was happening to them.” She founded Lesvos Solidarity, an organization that serves refugees and others and is supported in part by gifts to the Peace & Global Witness Offering, which many Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) congregations received Sunday as part of World Communion Sunday.

Peace & Global Witness Offering benefits Lesvos Solidarity in its mission to promote dignity and protect the human rights of refugees and migrants

Wandering the streets of Athens with two small children in tow, Fatima had nowhere to turn. Left homeless following a massive fire that closed the Moria Refugee Camp in 2020, the native Afghani was arrested and imprisoned after unknowingly becoming involved with drug dealers. Devastated and alone in a Greek prison — her two little ones sent off to a shelter for unaccompanied children ­— Fatima may as well have been invisible, until her case was supported by a refugees legal aid organization, which referred her cause to Lesvos Solidarity.

International Peacemakers to return in 2021

Continuing a nearly 40-year tradition, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is once again hosting individuals from around the globe who will serve as International Peacemakers.

Global partners working to help Mediterranean refugees

On October 3, 2013, the world watched in horror as photos emerged of a boat full of migrants from the horn of Africa, seeking refuge on the Italian island of Lampedusa, sank, killing more than 350 people.