What do you think?
Rate this book
A Country Within: A Journey of Love and Hope During the Refugee Crisis in Greece
A Country Within shares a professional woman's life-changing journey to Greece to work with refugees arriving from the Middle East and Asia.
The story begins on the island of Lesvos where overloaded boats of refugees landed on local beaches, and moves to Athens where the author unexpectedly becomes a member of a family of refugees from four countries.
This timely portrayal describes the effects of geopolitics on people escaping war, the generosity of the people of Lesvos and how love transcends culture, religion and experience.
The story begins on the island of Lesvos where overloaded boats of refugees landed on local beaches, and moves to Athens where the author unexpectedly becomes a member of a family of refugees from four countries.
This timely portrayal describes the effects of geopolitics on people escaping war, the generosity of the people of Lesvos and how love transcends culture, religion and experience.
356 pages, Paperback
Published February 17, 2018
3 people are currently reading
17 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
September 5, 2019
This powerful memoir details the author’s life-changing work with refugees arriving in Greece from war-torn Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan from 2015 to 2017. At the age of 62, when many Americans are looking forward to a comfortable retirement, Kim Malcolm made a courageous decision to leave a life of privilege and professional success, compelled by a desire to “explore the world beyond the one that rewarded my powers of analysis—and muted the power of my heart.”
With deep humanity and a journalistic clarity, Malcolm writes about not only her own journey, but a multitude of journeys, by the many individuals making the perilous trek across international borders. She defines refugees as those who are unable to provide the most basic human needs to their children, and who are forced to risk their lives to escape their homelands.
Much of the story takes place on the Greek island of Lesvos, a tiny place that geographically hugs the shores of Turkey, but which became the first stop of hundreds of thousands of refugees arriving in rubber rafts and small boats to enter Greece – a possible first step on a journey to other European destinations. We meet heroic hotel owners who risked their own livelihoods to provide comfort to strangers arriving by the hundreds and even thousands every day on their beaches, offering food, clothing, towels and blankets, often at their own expense. We meet volunteers from a spectrum of nations who became friends and family to the author. We trace the harrowing 3,000-mile journey of one Afghan refugee family from Kabul to the Greek islands. And further enriching our understanding of the author’s motivations, we learn about her Armenian grandfather, fleeing the genocide in Turkey in 1913.
While her story is laden with carefully documented facts and historic context, Malcolm’s greatest gift to the reader is giving a name and a human face to the refugee, showing us individuals with humanity and dignity, with family bonds, with dreams and aspirations, and everything in common with our own families.
What I especially appreciate is that the book is utterly devoid of self congratulation. The author is not the hero. She paints herself as just one among many, a small army of blue-jeaned volunteers, eyes and hearts wide open, just wanting to make a difference. And like the extremely complex geo-political climate that forms the backdrop to this story, we learn there are no easy answers to the global refugee and immigrant crisis. As Malcolm writes, “there are no endings – just changes and complications.”
With deep humanity and a journalistic clarity, Malcolm writes about not only her own journey, but a multitude of journeys, by the many individuals making the perilous trek across international borders. She defines refugees as those who are unable to provide the most basic human needs to their children, and who are forced to risk their lives to escape their homelands.
Much of the story takes place on the Greek island of Lesvos, a tiny place that geographically hugs the shores of Turkey, but which became the first stop of hundreds of thousands of refugees arriving in rubber rafts and small boats to enter Greece – a possible first step on a journey to other European destinations. We meet heroic hotel owners who risked their own livelihoods to provide comfort to strangers arriving by the hundreds and even thousands every day on their beaches, offering food, clothing, towels and blankets, often at their own expense. We meet volunteers from a spectrum of nations who became friends and family to the author. We trace the harrowing 3,000-mile journey of one Afghan refugee family from Kabul to the Greek islands. And further enriching our understanding of the author’s motivations, we learn about her Armenian grandfather, fleeing the genocide in Turkey in 1913.
While her story is laden with carefully documented facts and historic context, Malcolm’s greatest gift to the reader is giving a name and a human face to the refugee, showing us individuals with humanity and dignity, with family bonds, with dreams and aspirations, and everything in common with our own families.
What I especially appreciate is that the book is utterly devoid of self congratulation. The author is not the hero. She paints herself as just one among many, a small army of blue-jeaned volunteers, eyes and hearts wide open, just wanting to make a difference. And like the extremely complex geo-political climate that forms the backdrop to this story, we learn there are no easy answers to the global refugee and immigrant crisis. As Malcolm writes, “there are no endings – just changes and complications.”
March 5, 2018
Kim Malcolm's deeply moving account of her experiences helping refugees on Lesvos and in Athens is truly a journey of love and hope. Her story is intensely personal. After a career as a judge and executive director of non-profits, she became a world traveler. And then when thousands of refugees began arriving on Greek islands, she went to help. By now, perhaps a million refugees have funneled through Lesvos. In her time in Greece, Malcolm fills many gaps and needs in the lives of refugees from Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan. She plays many roles, from fruit deliverer to English teacher. Malcolm writes vignettes about the courageous refugees, the generous Greek islanders, the multinational volunteers, while articulating the injustices she witnesses. She also writes about what touched her heart-- realizing that her own grandfather, who fled atrocities in Armenia, may have arrived as a refugee on the same island. And she describes her poignant friendship with young Afghan refugees in Athens as they struggle to survive the despair and frustrations when the EU no longer welcomes refugees. As I read this book, I felt tremendous pride in Kim Malcolm for representing Americans with her dedication as a volunteer. And I felt privileged to read her honest, analytic, and kind personal odyssey.
May 16, 2018
Kim Malcolm's memoir, A Country Within, details struggles Syrian, Iraqi, Afghani and other refugees experienced after fleeing to Greece in dangerously overcrowded boats. It also introduces people on the Greek island of Lesvos who used their own resources to provide migrants with food, water, dry clothes, blankets, diapers and more. Malcolm arrived in Lesvos during the early days of refugee boat arrivals. She left the San Francisco Bay Area in 2015, in part to find answers to questions she had about her grandfather's migration from Armenia more than 100 years ago. Many of the refugees Malcolm encountered had arrived with young children. She used her skills as an attorney to demand legal rights for refugees, helping them to complete government documents, and gain access to such things as medical care and public education for their children. She also found ways to provide them with everyday needs. Kim worked closely with refugees, and was considered family by some. As a result, her book presents an intimate portrayal of refugee life and of the economically and socially diverse people who helped these migrants. I highly recommend this book.
April 28, 2018
Even the title of her book, A Country Within – a Journey of Love and Hope During the Refugee Crisis in Greece, suggests that author Kim Malcolm has spanned two realities – the humanitarian crisis of Syrians and others fleeing their war-torn lands, and her own internal reaction to that calamity – in this recently self-published book.
Ms. Malcolm’s physical journey takes her to the Greek island she refers to as Lesvos (Lesbos in English), ground zero of the refugee disaster, a place where large camps have sprung up, filled with asylum seekers not taken up by European and other countries (the U.S. has taken a miniscule share of refugees). In Lesvos, amidst the desperation, misery and chaos, she comes to understand the Greek value of philotimo, literally, “friend of honor.” She befriends a family of refugees, lives with them, and quickly becomes enmeshed in their struggle, and at the same time in a web of human warmth and intimacy. I found myself thinking of Rebecca Solnit’s description of the kindness and beloved community sometimes briefly kindled to life in times of disaster – earthquakes, explosions, wars and other crises – in her book A Paradise Built in Hell.
Malcolm introduces us to this community - the Greeks who met the challenge of wave after wave of humanity fleeing war and terrorism, the foreigners who like Malcolm travelled to Greece to offer what assistance they could, and – most of all – the refugees themselves. After meeting them in her narrative – Arian, his wife Rana, and their three kids Shayan, Jamal, and Ara from Afghanistan, their Afghani camp neighbor Farshad, as well as Kurdish refugees Marzia and Loren, and Hashem from Syria – the denominator “refugee” fades and they become for us, indelibly, the complex persons they are, caught in extremis by the tides of an international disaster. One can only measure the horrors they seek to escape by understanding the danger, misery and uncertainty into which they have thrown themselves in their attempt to flee the place where they were born.
The fleeting kinship founded in disaster is, by definition, short lived. Malcolm describes how some of the familial and quasi familial relationships frayed, how some Greeks withdrew from active engagement as the crisis wore on, how relief efforts were stymied by bureaucratic infighting. More recently, there have been reports of right-wing Greeks attacking refugees, on Lesvos and elsewhere. The international community keeps hoping the crisis will go away, but it persists.
In writing about her experience on Lesvos, Malcolm also traces her own life’s trajectory, from bureaucrat in a government agency (where we were colleagues) -- “I began my career in government in 1982, motivated by my belief in the good government can do. It ended 33 years later in surrender” – to some “higher purpose and inner sense of duty to community and humanity.” She learns from the generosity of the Greeks and the foreigners working for NGOs, and from the refugees themselves.
Her story is familial in another sense. Her grandfather was a refugee, indeed one from this part of the world. His experience fleeing the Armenian genocide is recounted, throwing her report of the failure of the EU-Turkey refugee agreement into sharper relief. Malcolm draws in some of the larger historical and geographic context, recounting the Pope’s visit to the camps as a public relations exercise, and describing Chancellor Merkel’s retreat from Germany’s initial open arms policy, but I found myself wanting more. In October 2015, I was in Berlin, and there was a sense on the street that Merkel’s initial openness (affirmed across large parts of the political spectrum) was a sort of historical recompense for Germany’s Nazi past. Someone had written REFUGEES WELCOME in large letters on the concrete banks of the Spree River. How this idealistic impulse was eventually blunted by the logistical quagmire of assimilating a million refugees, by internal politics, and by right wing revanchism is, perhaps, a subject for another day.
Malcolm doggedly centers her narrative on the personal. She remembers, for instance, a day after her return to California when, in the women’s bathroom at Macy’s, she found herself “calculating how many refugees could live comfortably in its two very large ante-rooms,” and hypothesizing how many “beds and dishes and blankets and couches and warm jackets” would be available to the refugees “if the people in my life would just give up the things they never used.”
Malcolm’s ability to “bring it all back home” in this way is what is most valuable here. Malcolm notes that, at the time of her writing, the United Nations estimated more than 65 million people have been forced from their communities, mostly in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. After finishing the story of Arian, Rana, their children, like Ara, Farshad, Marzia, Loren, and Hashem, these people can no longer remain a number or abstraction. The lasting impressions are of specific emotions and moments Malcolm shared with them - meals, journeys, and late-night phone calls. These are the people washed up on the beaches, stranded in camps, struggling with new ways, new languages and old memories, isolated, fearing hostility, not knowing what the future may hold, unable to plan.
Malcolm observes that most of us are the progeny of refugees and immigrants, and concludes with the wisdom she often heard while on Lesvos: “I honor my refugee grandfather when I welcome my neighbors who are running from trouble.”
Ms. Malcolm’s physical journey takes her to the Greek island she refers to as Lesvos (Lesbos in English), ground zero of the refugee disaster, a place where large camps have sprung up, filled with asylum seekers not taken up by European and other countries (the U.S. has taken a miniscule share of refugees). In Lesvos, amidst the desperation, misery and chaos, she comes to understand the Greek value of philotimo, literally, “friend of honor.” She befriends a family of refugees, lives with them, and quickly becomes enmeshed in their struggle, and at the same time in a web of human warmth and intimacy. I found myself thinking of Rebecca Solnit’s description of the kindness and beloved community sometimes briefly kindled to life in times of disaster – earthquakes, explosions, wars and other crises – in her book A Paradise Built in Hell.
Malcolm introduces us to this community - the Greeks who met the challenge of wave after wave of humanity fleeing war and terrorism, the foreigners who like Malcolm travelled to Greece to offer what assistance they could, and – most of all – the refugees themselves. After meeting them in her narrative – Arian, his wife Rana, and their three kids Shayan, Jamal, and Ara from Afghanistan, their Afghani camp neighbor Farshad, as well as Kurdish refugees Marzia and Loren, and Hashem from Syria – the denominator “refugee” fades and they become for us, indelibly, the complex persons they are, caught in extremis by the tides of an international disaster. One can only measure the horrors they seek to escape by understanding the danger, misery and uncertainty into which they have thrown themselves in their attempt to flee the place where they were born.
The fleeting kinship founded in disaster is, by definition, short lived. Malcolm describes how some of the familial and quasi familial relationships frayed, how some Greeks withdrew from active engagement as the crisis wore on, how relief efforts were stymied by bureaucratic infighting. More recently, there have been reports of right-wing Greeks attacking refugees, on Lesvos and elsewhere. The international community keeps hoping the crisis will go away, but it persists.
In writing about her experience on Lesvos, Malcolm also traces her own life’s trajectory, from bureaucrat in a government agency (where we were colleagues) -- “I began my career in government in 1982, motivated by my belief in the good government can do. It ended 33 years later in surrender” – to some “higher purpose and inner sense of duty to community and humanity.” She learns from the generosity of the Greeks and the foreigners working for NGOs, and from the refugees themselves.
Her story is familial in another sense. Her grandfather was a refugee, indeed one from this part of the world. His experience fleeing the Armenian genocide is recounted, throwing her report of the failure of the EU-Turkey refugee agreement into sharper relief. Malcolm draws in some of the larger historical and geographic context, recounting the Pope’s visit to the camps as a public relations exercise, and describing Chancellor Merkel’s retreat from Germany’s initial open arms policy, but I found myself wanting more. In October 2015, I was in Berlin, and there was a sense on the street that Merkel’s initial openness (affirmed across large parts of the political spectrum) was a sort of historical recompense for Germany’s Nazi past. Someone had written REFUGEES WELCOME in large letters on the concrete banks of the Spree River. How this idealistic impulse was eventually blunted by the logistical quagmire of assimilating a million refugees, by internal politics, and by right wing revanchism is, perhaps, a subject for another day.
Malcolm doggedly centers her narrative on the personal. She remembers, for instance, a day after her return to California when, in the women’s bathroom at Macy’s, she found herself “calculating how many refugees could live comfortably in its two very large ante-rooms,” and hypothesizing how many “beds and dishes and blankets and couches and warm jackets” would be available to the refugees “if the people in my life would just give up the things they never used.”
Malcolm’s ability to “bring it all back home” in this way is what is most valuable here. Malcolm notes that, at the time of her writing, the United Nations estimated more than 65 million people have been forced from their communities, mostly in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. After finishing the story of Arian, Rana, their children, like Ara, Farshad, Marzia, Loren, and Hashem, these people can no longer remain a number or abstraction. The lasting impressions are of specific emotions and moments Malcolm shared with them - meals, journeys, and late-night phone calls. These are the people washed up on the beaches, stranded in camps, struggling with new ways, new languages and old memories, isolated, fearing hostility, not knowing what the future may hold, unable to plan.
Malcolm observes that most of us are the progeny of refugees and immigrants, and concludes with the wisdom she often heard while on Lesvos: “I honor my refugee grandfather when I welcome my neighbors who are running from trouble.”
May 21, 2018
Disclosure up front: I was given a copy of this book by the author.
It's impossible to escape news stories about the refugees from various countries these days. Most of us, though, can view those stories at a comfortable remove. Not Kim Malcolm, though; she chose to confront the matter head-on by heading to the island of Lesvos to volunteer with locals who were assisting those boat-borne arrivals in crisis.
Malcolm not only gives us an inside look at working with independents and NGOs (non-government organizations, like the UN Humanitarian Crisis group), but also gives voice to fellow volunteers and the refugees they serve.
Malcolm also speaks frankly of the strain her decision to spend so much time in Greece put on her family, especially after she essentially adopts a refugee family. The dynamics of that particular situation are laid out in frank detail and can serve as a cautionary tale about becoming too deeply involved out of compassion fatigue at times rather than stepping back and exercising some self-care.
Malcolm's authorial voice is honest, direct, and eloquent. I enjoyed reading this work and highly recommend it.
It's impossible to escape news stories about the refugees from various countries these days. Most of us, though, can view those stories at a comfortable remove. Not Kim Malcolm, though; she chose to confront the matter head-on by heading to the island of Lesvos to volunteer with locals who were assisting those boat-borne arrivals in crisis.
Malcolm not only gives us an inside look at working with independents and NGOs (non-government organizations, like the UN Humanitarian Crisis group), but also gives voice to fellow volunteers and the refugees they serve.
Malcolm also speaks frankly of the strain her decision to spend so much time in Greece put on her family, especially after she essentially adopts a refugee family. The dynamics of that particular situation are laid out in frank detail and can serve as a cautionary tale about becoming too deeply involved out of compassion fatigue at times rather than stepping back and exercising some self-care.
Malcolm's authorial voice is honest, direct, and eloquent. I enjoyed reading this work and highly recommend it.
October 30, 2020
A COUNTRY WITHIN is truly a journey of love and hope. It is also a testament to Kim Malcolm’s courage, boldly choosing to show up on the front lines of the refugee crisis with her eyes and heart wide open. We have all watched the news, the barrage of heart breaking reports concerning the human exodus from war torn countries. We are spectators, feeling empathy but helpless to know how to make a difference.
The author removes the miles and barriers as we meet refugees, real people with their families and stories. What should be a simple wish is met by so many obstacles. I am reminded of the words inscribed on the Statue of Liberty, “Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free...”
I would like to thank Kim Malcolm for her courage and giving the gift of hope to so many.
The author removes the miles and barriers as we meet refugees, real people with their families and stories. What should be a simple wish is met by so many obstacles. I am reminded of the words inscribed on the Statue of Liberty, “Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free...”
I would like to thank Kim Malcolm for her courage and giving the gift of hope to so many.
April 21, 2018
An excellent book about the refugee crisis as it unfolded in Greece,especially on the island of Lesbos.I could really relate to the writer's American point of view since some of us went through similar experiences in Hungary in the summer of 2015.Sadly,many of the problems are still with us although the media mostly ignores them.
Photographs would have made a good book even better.
Photographs would have made a good book even better.
October 12, 2024
I spent a summer interning in Europe and working with Middle Eastern refugees in Greece. It was a deeply impactful time for me hearing their stories and just being a friend to them. That is why I was so drawn to this book, and it did not disappoint. It paints a real picture of the refugee crisis in Greece, highs and lows.
December 31, 2024
A country within offers a personal story and reflection of Kim Malcolm of the Refugee crisis in Greece. I enjoyed the personal stories and explanation of feelings while in those moments. At times, I would have enjoyed a less personal explanation of certain events in her story, but it offered for room to consider what the reader could experience if they welcomed their neighbors well.
April 29, 2019
About half the book is really good.
x-toread-but-can-t-find
April 9, 2022as of 4/9/22:
Amazon
Amazon
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews