crisis . “ These were the organizations whose mission it was to respond to human tragedy , and to actually see them letting people drown , to see them letting babies freeze to death , to see them letting people starve , when it was so easy to fix , was absolutely shocking ,” she says emphatically .
There were thousands needing help day and night . Most nights an hour of sleep for the volunteers was generous . One night heading to bed four people showed up to tell Zoë they had been robbed at the Turkish border and their baby had the flu . “ So what are you going to do ? Tell them you ’ re tired and have a cough ?” says Zoë .
At one point Zoë had a profound revelation . Her own grandparents escaped from Nazi Germany . “ I can ’ t tell you when that occurred to me what it felt like . What I was able to do for the refuges had been done for my family decades ago . I wouldn ’ t even exist if people hadn ’ t broken laws to help my grandparents . My grandfather was a Jewish doctor living in Austria . One afternoon a patient who was a Nazi officer came to his office and said ‘ they are coming for you right now .’ He met his mother at the train station , and never saw her again . He hid in the train car bathroom , and when the ticket taker found him without a ticket , he decided to let him continue on to Switzerland and to safety .
“ Another lesson I got for my time in Lesvos is that it really , really takes a village . Each person brings a gift . One woman turns discarded boats and life jackets into backpacks . Another who is a lifeguard pulls drowning babies out of the water and a doctor revives them . Another is distributing food and clothing , and still another is building infrastructure in the camps .
It takes everybody , and no gift is too small ,” she asserts .
With the thousands of dollars Zoë raised she began spending it . She took people to hotels ; she bought them food and clothing , tents , and airline tickets to other countries . If they needed something , she got it for them . She was a one-woman , guerilla humanitarian force backed by friends in Sedona and beyond who kept sending her funds . “ I became known as someone who could help . And every time I did something for anyone , I said , ‘ This is not from me ; it ’ s from my friends in America .’ You could see their surprise and 90 percent of the time , they would cry and thank me over and over .” Zoë got a message from some refugees she helped to get to Germany : “ It was just a small tent and just a little warmth , but it was your smile that gave us what we needed to continue .”
“ I think one of the things that people don ’ t always know about empathy is that when you get over the fear and show up , even though you don ’ t know what to do , the payoff is tenthousand fold . For me there is so much richness in my life when I show up ,” reflects Zoë . Was she able to process her ordeal to recognize that she too was suffering from PTSD ? Was her PTSD training and work as a caregiver working ? Now back in Sedona that ’ s mostly a yes . However , some searing images and words will never fade . “ In Lesvos I heard stories that took me three days to wrap my mind around . I literally couldn ’ t make my lips form the words to retell them . I have never experienced that before in my life .”
Mostly Zoë is left with questions . How did there come to be such a breakdown in humanity ? Besides the corruption , the greed , the rip-offs , where were the governments and global institutions geared for this level of suffering ? And there are much deeper questions that all of us need to confront . “ If we are born empathetic what is it that happens that causes some people to become the kind of person that would sell a fake lifejacket to a child ? Or take a suffering family ’ s entire savings to put them in a ‘ lifeboat ’ that could easily end up killing them ? If we don ’ t look at those things , we won ’ t get anywhere and nothing changes .”
Zoë got to spend time with her mother after more than five weeks in Lesvos . They went together to Trinidad for what would be her mom ’ s last compassionate adventure for Habitat for Humanity . It was deeply moving and a special time for both . Shortly after the trip , Zoë was boarding a plane to Boston , her mom in failing health . Within days , Zoë ’ s mother — her mentor , role model , co-adventurer , and lifelong friend ... compassionate and concerned for others to the end — with a well-prepared and serene mind passed peacefully .
* * * As a result of her experience in Greece , Zoë is founding an NGO , One Light Global ( www . onelightglobal . org ) and devoting her life to humanitarian work around the globe . The organization will initially support refugee children , many of whom have lost both parents . Please kindly consider supporting her work by donating to her tax exempt organization . “ I was one light on the beach in the dark , shining so they could find their way . One light , that ’ s sometimes all we can do .”
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