Efforts to meet growing needs in Iraq and Syria
As Christians around the world celebrate the holidays, Christian aid organizations are stepping up their efforts to help refugees from Iraq and Syria.
“We are distributing mattresses to those fleeing from Mosul (in Iraq) and helping to feed refugees in Syria,” Steve Van Valkenburg, the Middle East Area Director for Christian Aid Mission told The Media Line. “We care for their personal and emotional needs. If you have seen your husband or child killed before your eyes, along with financial support you need emotional support.”
Christian Aid Mission assists more than 500 indigenous ministries in 100 countries. Work in the Middle East is dangerous, they say, but growing more necessary.
“We are reaching out in the name of Jesus,” Amie Cotton, PR Director of Christian Aid Mission told The Media Line. “The ministries have decided to stay even though it is dangerous. “Many of these people don’t know where their next meal is coming from, and when one of our partners has a Christmas celebration with a meal and gifts, they want to know more about the people helping them.
Several organizations are focusing on Iraq this year, as thousands of families in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq are in desperate need of food, water and medicine, according to World Vision, an organization that provides aid around the world. More than 1.2 million Iraqis – including Christians, Yazidis and other religious and ethnic minorities have been displaced since the beginning of the year.
As the battle to retake Mosul from Islamic State intensifies, the Iraqi refugee crisis is likely to get worse.
“We are gravely concerned about increasing violence in the Middle East and its effects on children,” said Wynn Flaten, World Vision’s response director in Iraq. “It’s especially concerning that this most recent wave has targeted Christians and other minorities. We know that when religious freedom is crushed, so are many of the rights that allow children and communities to flourish.
He said that thousands of families in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq are in desperate need of food, water and medicine. Displaced families are seeking shelter in abandoned buildings, schools and churches.
The Christians in Iraq are one of the oldest continuous Christian communities in the world. Recent estimates say there are just 275,000 Christians in Iraq, down from 1.4 million in 2003.
Many Christian groups have focused efforts on Iraq, as this year has brought new challenges. Along with supporting refugees in Iraq, the Foundation for Relief and Reconciliation in the Middle East also supports 500 Iraqi refugee families in Jordan.
The Jordanian government does not allow refugees to work, so the Foundation provides shelter, food (by giving weekly vouchers to grocery stores) and free health care, including prescriptions. The group also founed a school in Marka, a suburb of Amman, which educates 175 students.
Throughout the Middle East Christians are believed to make up about five percent of the population of the Middle East, down from 20 percent at the beginning of the 20th century. The two countries with the largest population of Christians are Lebanon, where about 40 percent of the population of four million are Christian, and Egypt, where Copts make up ten percent of the population.
Earlier this month, an explosion at a Coptic cathedral killed at least 25 and wounded dozens of others.