Posts Tagged ‘Middle East’
Neema’s Plight
In an area known as Mile 46 in the Kajiado District of Kenya, the Elangata Wuas Primary School sits beside a grove of trees. On a seemingly ordinary Friday in July, the whole school — boys and girls, teachers and the headmaster — leave their lessons and gather to welcome visitors outside in the schoolyard. The students, dressed in blue uniforms, fill rows of wooden chairs; girls on the left, and boys on the right.
After a warm welcome and a short introduction, the students stand in groups to present short speeches, dances and poems they had prepared for the visitors. A group of girls perform a traditional dance, some students sing a song, and then Ann Wanjiku stands to present an original poem.
Her words are powerful, her cry sincere. May her voice ring in your ears and move your heart. May you, like me, be changed.
Neema’s Plight
by Ann Wanjiku
In front of you is Ann Wanjiku,
ready to present a poem entitled, Neema’s Plight.
Sit back, relax and enjoy
Birth of a baby, must be a blessing event,
But hers was nothing short of a curse,
Culture, gender, count them all.
A girl is not as welcome as a baby boy,
at thirteen she has to face the worst.
A knife cut across her genital,
a midwife circumcised and stitched her,
she now has a black scar.
Why is it this kind of pain?
This pain of primitive culture?
Dear mankind!
wherever you are!
is she not a human being? (sobs)
As if that is not enough
“14 years is perfect real wife,”
her father said,
As he expected cold cash,
from a 40-year old man,
Killing her dreams, education and childhood,
But marriage was done,
the dowry was paid,
Injecting the title of wife into her bloodstream.
Dear mankind!
wherever you are!
is she not a human being? (sobs)
Thank you.
Today, in honor of International Day of the Girl Child, we celebrate millions of girls like Ann, boldly speaking up and advocating for a future where they have the agency and opportunity to reach their God given potential.
Will you join with us and stand for the rights of girls around the world today? Together, we can help build bright futures for girls for generations to come.
$35 Sends a displaced girl in South Sudan to school.
$80 Teaches five girls how to protect themselves from human trafficking in Cambodia.
$150 Provides a safe place for a refugee girl in Jordan to receive basic education, process trauma and experience Christ’s love through the local church.
$250 Reduces early marriage of young girls in Malawi through weekly clubs that teach girls about their worth and promote future success through education.
Dana North serves as the Marketing Manager at World Relief. With a background in graphic design and advertising and experiences in community development and transformation, Dana seeks to use the power of words and action to help create a better world. Dana is especially passionate about seeking justice for women and girls around the world.
Refugees and Displaced People Around the World
For over 75 years, we’ve been coming alongside families displaced by violence, poverty and injustice — both in the U.S. and across the world.
Today, more than 70 million people have been displaced from their home due to war, persecution or violence. That’s one man, woman or child every 2 seconds. This global crisis is the worst its been since World War II, and continues to worsen.
But with your help, we have been able to serve thousands around the world.
Frontline Report: International Day of the Girl Child
Frontline Reports is a series written entirely by program experts and local staff on the ground where World Relief works – updating on the countries, contexts, and situations, as they evolve.
I grew up in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where at the time, my parents were serving as missionaries. My best friends were girls from local families. We sang in the church choir, had sleepovers, played soccer, and did our homework together. It was a sweet and simple time, where the different color of our skin and cultural backgrounds was forgotten. In those moments, we were just kids playing games and growing up together.
As we grew older, however, things began to change. At age 13, I continued with school, while my girlfriends began staying home to take care of their siblings, and cook and clean the house. Now considered mature adults at the tender age of 13, they were expected to shoulder the majority of household responsibilities. If their parents could not afford to pay their school fees, or if there was too much to do at home, they would miss school.
Then, at eighteen, when I was preparing to move to the US for college, one of my friends looked at me and said, “You are lucky. You can do anything you want. Please, don’t forget about us.” It was in that moment that it dawned on me that while I was looking ahead to a bright future with countless opportunities; most of my friends would stay behind, lucky if they could afford to complete secondary school in a war-torn, poverty-stricken country.
The Challenge
Today, there are over 1.1 billion girls in the world—girls with hopes, goals and dreams for their future. And while every girl deserves equal opportunity to build her future, there are still significant challenges and barriers that stand in the way for girls all over the world. Conflict, poverty, access to education, cultural and religious norms, and social conditions are all factors that today limit girls’ access to equal opportunity.
A recent report by UNESCO found there are 31 million girls of primary school age who are not in school [1], and adolescent girls in conflict zones and 90% more likely to drop out of school as compared to girls in conflict-free countries [2], which has significant impacts for their futures. Additionally, as families are displaced, the risk of sexual violence against girls and women increases drastically and families are forced to rely on negative coping mechanisms like early marriage and child labor.
Poverty is also a significant barrier for girls, as their educational future is often dictated by the economic position of the family. When families cannot afford to send both children to school, they will almost always choose to send the male child, as girls are seen as less valuable than boys. This also leaves girls at increased risk for early child marriage. Many cultures today still believe that a girl is ready for marriage upon reaching puberty, meaning girls are dropping out of school to get married. Each year, over 12 million girls are married before they reach 18 years old, compromising their future prospects for both work and financial security. Oftentimes, girls are married off to older men so that the bride price can support her family. Isolated and with limited freedom, these girls are deprived of their rights to health, education and safety.
The Opportunity
“So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” (Gen 1:27, NIV).
At World Relief, we believe that girls and women are made in the image of God. By working alongside local churches and community members, we work to empower girls around the world as they strive to build bolder, brighter futures. Here are some of the ways in which we are responding:
In Malawi, a girl is 50 times more likely to be married before age 18 than to enter university by age 18. 42% of girls have experience physical violence in childhood, and 22% of girls have experienced sexual violence in childhood [3]. Since 2016, World Relief has implemented girl’s groups reaching over 4,000 adolescent girls and young women in Malawi. In partnership with UNICEF, we’ve formed groups for adolescent mothers to learn more about early childhood development, nutrition, protection from HIV/AIDS and other relevant subjects. In an effort to prevent school dropout, we also bring together additional groups of girls aged 13-17 years old who provide support and encouragement to one another as they learn essential life skills during a 10-month curriculum.
In South Sudan, the world’s newest nation, millions struggle as a result of extreme poverty and poor access to food and health care. Civil war and escalating rates of violence have caused many humanitarian organizations to withdraw from the fledgling nation. Here, World Relief is reaching children whose schooling has been interrupted by conflict through our Education in Emergencies programming. This program supports primary schools to reopen, as well as providing child friendly spaces that offer primary school lessons in the absence of formal schools. Children receive school supplies to support their lessons, and teachers receive capacity-building and professional development training. To date, World Relief has enrolled 23,605 children, about 37% of whom are girls, and supported 315 teachers.
In Jordan,World Relief has developed a gender equality through sports program, using soccer as a tool to empower women and girls in vulnerable communities. In more traditional areas of Jordan, girls have very limited opportunities to exercise or play sports. Our sports program has fostered self-esteem, empowerment and self-advocacy for girls from all backgrounds by challenging harmful gender norms and providing opportunities for leadership. The program has also brought both Jordanians and Syrian refugees together and provided an avenue for dialogue and violence prevention. Since 2016, nearly 300 girls have been reached through the soccer program. The change has been incredible. Teachers have transformed into coaches, students have transformed into athletes, and loosely held hopes have transformed into bold and vibrant dreams.
Call to Action
Today, on International Day of the Girl Child, I am reminded of the words of Malala Yousfzai (Pakistani education activist) who said, “We cannot all succeed when half of us are held back.” So let us strive forward and continue to be advocates and champions for girls. Let us bring gender injustice and inequality to light so that girls may be protected, celebrated for their gifts and talents, and given equal opportunities to pursue their dreams. And let us imagine the impact across nations when we invest in young girls, realizing their unique value as girls who have been beautifully and wonderfully made in the image of God.
[1] UNESCO: Girls’ education – the facts, October 2013
[2] Education for All Global Monitoring Report, 2015
[3] Together for girls: Malawi
Laura Mouanoutoua joined World Relief in 2015 and currently serves as Program Officer for Disaster Response and Middle East programs. Laura grew up in the DR Congo, where her parents served as missionaries, and has witnessed first-hand the difficulties that internally displaced peoples and refugees face. Laura is passionate about engaging against social injustices, with a strong spiritual conviction and desire to work with the church at large for the support and success of refugee and conflict-affected populations.
Frontline Report: Jordan
This year, we will be launching a new Perspectives series called Frontline Reports. This series is intended to provide updates on the countries, contexts, and situations in which we work as they continue to evolve. The reports will be written entirely by program experts and local staff on the ground.
This past March marked the 7-year anniversary of the war in Syria. It is a grim anniversary, marking seven years of loss, suffering and displacement for millions of people across the Middle East. Each month, the world’s attention to the war in Syria ebbs and flows, usually dictated by a surge of media coverage in response to a specific event. But between the intermittent spikes of media attention, millions of people continually endure the consequences of violence and displacement across the Middle East
Seven years into the crisis, the massive needs of displaced populations continue to grow. Families have now mostly depleted whatever resources they managed to flee with at the start of the crisis. They face increased debt, financial pressure, shrinking resources and limited opportunities for generating income. Many are struggling to survive and meet basic needs, which sadly results in an increased reliance on negative coping mechanisms, like early or forced marriage, child labor, domestic violence and exploitative labor. Facing similarly dire circumstances, countries hosting refugees are experiencing increased pressure on already overburdened social, economic and political systems, resulting in a scarcity of resources and growing tensions between the diverse communities residing within Jordan and other countries in the Middle East.
The consequences of displacement are long-term and generational. Recognizing this complexity, World Relief come alongside these communities to build their capacity to find practical and sustainable solutions to their needs; solutions which address the root causes of the issues affecting their communities, not just the consequences.
The foundation of all of World Relief’s work in the Middle East is the belief that affected communities are in the best position to strategize and implement effective and relevant solutions that will endure for generations. Together with the community, World Relief has developed a unique framework that seeks to engage and strengthen the whole family, both as individuals and as a family unit. By targeting entire families through both individual and joint programs, World Relief desires to see vulnerable refugee families and receiving communities healed, safe and thriving, despite the incredible pressures they face.
World Relief’s programs target women, men, boys and girls in a diversity of programs, designed to help promote safe, healthy and thriving families. This has proven an effective strategy in meeting the diverse needs of vulnerable families, but also in protecting women and children, who are disproportionately endangered by violence and displacement.
World Relief’s family strengthening approach in Jordan, for example, includes the following programs, which all use uniquely designed curricula developed together with the affected community:
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Child Friendly Spaces: World Relief provides designated safe spaces where displaced children can come to play, learn and recover some of the essential developmental activities of childhood, with the support of trained facilitators. Sessions include exercise, health, school skills and life-skills.
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Literacy Support: The diverse and significant barriers that children and adults face when they flee their homes as refugees contribute to significant literacy gaps, poor motivation, and an increased risk of negative coping mechanisms. Recognizing this threat, World Relief provides Arabic and English literacy support to illiterate adults and children who are struggling to keep up in school.
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Girls’ Empowerment through Sports: In partnership with the Ministry of Education, this program provides vulnerable Jordanian and Syrian girls with access to sports. Teachers in local schools are equipped to be coaches and provide practical soccer skills as well as life-skills training to girls in the program.
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Caregiver Support Groups: Psychosocial counseling and support groups are made available to displaced women, particularly focused on mothers or caregivers.
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Positive Parenting: Our parenting group uses a curriculum that promotes positive parenting skills to promote healthy and supportive family environments. This curriculum is designed for use with both men and women, emphasizing the need for men to also engage in positive parenting.
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Marriage Strengthening: Refugee couples often face significant marital challenges catalyzed by the extreme pressure and trauma of displacement. Early marriages as well as sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) still exists in many places. World Relief has therefore developed a curricula for men and women on important marriage topics, and is piloting this with both men and women. This is often the first time men are learning and listening to the women’s perspective on important family related topics.
We are so encouraged to see how our staff and volunteers are leading these programs and seeing transformation take place in individuals, within families, and in entire communities. While the needs are many, we have great hope when we see the resolve and commitment of the communities we serve. Healthy families create healthy communities, which in turn form nations. We continue to believe in restoration, healing and thriving futures for families and communities across the Middle East!
Maggie Konstanski has been a part of the World Relief team for over 4 years, and currently serves at the Middle East Programs Technical and Operations Coordinator. With a passion for international human rights, Maggie often uses work-related travel as a platform to tell the powerful stories of the vulnerable families and communities we serve.
Love Hopes All Things
What happens when an affluent, conservative, and mostly white church’s neighborhood is suddenly inundated with hundreds of international people?
That’s what happened to us.
In May of 2016, I was called as senior pastor of South Tulsa Baptist Church, a prominent Oklahoma church with strong denominational ties to the Southern Baptist Convention. South Tulsa is well-known among the one million people in our metro area as the destination for Tulsa’s “white flight.” It is a relatively homogenous area, and our community boasts dozens of gated neighborhoods filled with luxurious homes. We are adjacent to the most popular retail stores, desirable restaurants and high-end gyms.
In the last few years South Tulsa has also become the temporary home of nearly 10,000 resettled refugees and immigrants. Families from all over the world now reside within blocks of our well-manicured church campus and first-generation children have begun attending our very best schools. Our community is no longer homogeneous.
And there is no doubt in my mind that we are better off because of it.
An Opportunity to Love
As I began to examine our changing community, it was obvious that there would be significant needs, as well as missional opportunities amidst the newly arrived families. Here in South Tulsa, God was bringing the nations to us, and the prospects of serving people from at least five different continents were promising.
The most glaring needs were among adult refugees and immigrants. At the time, new families were arriving weekly. Their children were thriving in South Tulsa’s local schools. Yet for many adults, integration was far more difficult. These families provided us with a unique opportunity to love and serve our most vulnerable neighbors, and to direct hope toward them in expectation and trust of God’s plan.
Our church is constantly looking for ways to improve our ministries. Initially, I pursued help from many organizations who were ahead of us in the field, but ran into several roadblocks. That’s when I reached out to World Relief. Even though they have no office in our city, they graciously jumped into the fray with us and began to share information, strategies, personal support, invitations to refugee events, advocacy support and even overseas training to help us become educated and equipped for the growing challenges we were facing.
Soon after our relationship with World Relief began, however, our most formidable obstacle emerged.
Internal Conflict
As the presidential election was heating up last year, so was the topic of refugees. The rhetoric on both sides grew quickly intolerable, and any space for reasonable dialogue fell by the wayside. When the executive travel ban was announced in February, we went through several weeks of conflict and distraction. I heard phrases like, “we are voting on whether or not ISIS gets a free pass into our country,” and I saw the difficult impact of those opinions on our ministry. One family organization who had been using our facility terminated the relationship with less than a week’s notice because they felt we were putting children in danger by holding English classes and serving Muslim people in the building.
Of course with several families from the Middle East now connected to our church, tension was building rapidly inside our walls. It was in the midst of this that I chose to advocate for welcoming refugees publicly.
One Sunday morning, I asked the congregation to affirm with me, out loud, that we would not let this one issue distract us from our call to the Great Commission. I also asked them to agree that we not allow the current political climate to infect our congregational unity. In both services, there was a hearty “Amen.”
Becoming A Congregation of Hope
As more members of the congregation stepped out in faith and began to welcome refugee and immigrant families, loving relationships began to form. Our congregation and these families realized they could learn a lot from one other, that each of them had something unique to give. The depth of those connections surprised them. And we were reminded once again that God is constantly at work in changing all of us. After six weeks of very intentional reconciliation of church members, we emerged stronger than ever.
Today we are becoming a multi-cultural church. Our international families are involved in nearly every part of our church life. We translate sermon notes into four languages and our Scripture reading is done regularly in multiple languages. Several international adults and children have been baptized or have dedicated their families to the Lord. And the surprise exodus of that family organization mentioned earlier? Well, it opened up rooms for us to serve even more refugee and immigrant families in our church.
Through God’s grace, hope is alive in South Tulsa. Our prayer is that God will continue working in and through us, and pull us forward, so that we might demonstrate His love and the hope of Jesus to those from the nations who are coming to us.
As I reflect on the changes in our church, I am amazed that all this has happened in less than a year. It is a testament to the fact that love always hopes, in all things.
For those who would prayerfully seek to take on similar endeavors in their own churches, I hope our story provides encouragement to you.
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Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. – Romans 15:13
Through the end of the year, we’ll be featuring stories of individuals and communities putting Love in Action—bringing hope to the hurting and shining light in the darkest hours.
Learn more and put your Love in Action today.
Eric Costanzo has served as Pastor at South Tulsa Baptist Church since May 2016. Eric has a B.A. in Bible from Oklahoma Baptist University, and both a Master of Divinity and Ph.D. from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. In 2013, he published his first book entitled Harbor for the Poor. Eric is married to Rebecca (2001) and they have four incredible children—\Adin, Noah, Abigail, and Kynzleigh. In his spare time he enjoys being run ragged by his four children and all of their activities (which includes coaching), traveling, reading, and collecting antique books.
Agents of Peace Amid Despair
by Maggie Konstanski
World Relief Middle East Programs Technical and Operations Coordinator
Last month, I stood in Iraq while looking out over Syria. My heart was heavy. New challenges emerged by the hour and all of our efforts felt insufficient when compared to the immense and ever-growing needs. As I stood in one land and looked out over another—both of which are entrenched in horrific conflicts, my frustration grew. I was overwhelmed by the news cycle that day: violence, terror, hate, persecution and unimaginable atrocities perpetrated against children. And, as violence continues to cause mass displacement around the world, this same news cycle showed many countries adopting increasingly restrictive policies that result in closed doors, preventing the persecuted from finding refuge.
At the end of most days, I find myself crying out questions of why and how long people must be left to languish in such circumstances. I struggle with the knowledge that we’re too often paralyzed when confronted with suffering at such magnitude—oftentimes believing there is no hope, that there is only darkness and that the dawn will never come. Today, too many of us have come to believe that the darkness is impenetrable, the conflicts too entrenched and that our resources are too small to make a difference.
But there is another story. It is the story of a small but persistent church body, isolated and under-resourced, yet powerfully engaged. It is a story of hope and light amidst the darkness.
The Middle Eastern conflict and disruption has been devastating for millions of men, women and children. Yet, this terrible struggle has also given the church an unparallelled opportunity to reach out to their vulnerable neighbors. Though these churches are usually small and often face significant challenges, their leaders deeply desire to serve faithfully and extend love, compassion and refuge to the thousands of suffering around them.
Today—perhaps more than ever—the church in the Middle East has the opportunity to break down damaging historical perceptions and cultural stereotypes, and foster restored relationships in their communities. And as the world looks to see how the global church responds to this conflict, its legacy will be one of love and welcome. It will be a “light for the world.” A town built upon a hill that gives light to everyone and shines a path forward, one of hope and of peace.
I have seen enough to believe that there is no place secluded enough, no place dark enough and no place disguised enough to keep the oppressed hidden from a God who hears their cries. I have seen the church reaching the furthest corners of the most vulnerable communities, identifying the neediest for emergency assistance and connecting them to the services and resources they need. I have seen them reaching the unreached in fearless and compassionate service.
This is a place where I know morning will come. The dawn will break upon us. The sun will rise. Darkness will be vanquished. This is a place where the church is truly stepping out in faith as the hope and light of the world. And I have already seen this light.
I see it in the faces of children who laugh, play and show compassion to others in our kids clubs and safe spaces programs. I see it in the displaced community as they seek to serve one another and make sacrifices for others. I see it in parents here who give up their own lives and comfort in hopes of providing a different future to their children. I see it in families who welcome the refugee, the stranger and share their homes and dinner tables. I see it in the person who forgives words said in anger and frustration, and extends undeserved grace. I see it in the grace, forgiveness and kindness that have been extended to me by so many.
And above all, I see it in the church that chooses to boldly and compassionately reach out, even when they themselves are under pressure and persecution.
We may not be able to end all conflicts. We may not be able to meet all the needs on our doorstep, but we can answer God’s calling and follow the church’s lead to love those in front of us. We can work through the church to push back the darkness in our own spheres of influence. We can advocate for more action. We can show compassion. And we can be peacemakers.
Across the Middle East, the church is bringing light to places of great darkness. In the valley of the shadow of death, churches are agents of peace, light and reconciliation in communities entrenched in conflict. To witness their love in action and commitment to guiding the region towards a path of peace inspires me with renewed hope each day.
Maggie Konstanski has been a part of the World Relief team for over 4 years, and currently serves at the Middle East Programs Technical and Operations Coordinator. With a passion for international human rights, Maggie often uses work-related travel as a platform to tell the powerful stories of the vulnerable families and communities we serve.
Thank God for Women — Defiant Love
*Some information has been changed to protect the individual’s identity.
Thank God for Women is a blog series rooted in gratitude for the strength, courage, and incredible capacity women demonstrate.
Six years ago, I was sitting at a small, unsteady table, in a room that was oppressively hot. Aamiina, a young refugee woman sat across from me. A few months prior to that, the word “refugee” had not really been part of my vernacular, but it was now an everyday term.
We opened the room’s small window to try to let in a breeze, and the cacophony of the streets soon invaded any sense of peace and quiet. Aamiina began to share her refugee journey—a story of sorrow, suffering, and loss.
To this day, I have never been able to repeat what I heard, though I can still remember every detail. I still think of the two daughters Aamiina lost—one to death, and one to kidnapping. I wonder if her daughter is still alive somewhere, and if she knows how her mother longs to find her.
When Aamiina finished her story, she said something that I will never forget: “All the people that did these things to me, they want me to hate. But my act of defiance is to love.”
Amiina’s love and gentleness defied all odds. Despite such loss, Aamiina later took young women under her wing and loved them as if they were her own daughters. Her love changed these women. Her love changed me.
Since that day, I have met many women like Aamiina in some of the most violent corners of this earth. I have connected with mothers from Syria, who have made dangerous journeys across deserts and seas to seek refuge for their children. I have cried with women who have pulled their children from beneath the rubble of destroyed homes, schools, and hospitals. I have witnessed young women who have had to discontinue their education because of conflict, and instead have chosen to invest in the education of children in their communities. I have seen young women return to their destroyed homes, and begin the courageous work of rebuilding, even in the midst of uncertainty. I have seen women volunteer long hours to serve others, even when their own needs were profound. I have watched my friend—after ISIS killed everyone in her family except for her younger sister—work long hours to pay for her sister’s education.
These women inspire and fuel much World Relief’s work in the Middle East. We work with Syrian women who volunteer in Child Friendly Spaces, providing psychosocial, education, and health support to children. We partner with women in Iraq who provide support to children and youth in their communities. We stand with women that are working to rebuild their communities and restore livelihoods to their families as they return to cities in Iraq.
Women are leading, creating, and defining the work that we do across the Middle East. I am profoundly grateful to know these women and to witness the work that they are doing.
The women World Relief partners with and serve have taught me to love courageously. Love is not weakness in the wake of hatred and violence. Love is not passive. Love—like my friend Aamiina shared—is an act of defiance. The love of women across the Middle East is driving out darkness, and making the way for peace.
I thank God for women because women defy the darkness.
I thank God for women because in places of destruction, women rebuild, restore and reclaim peace.
Give to World Relief today.
Together, we can create a better world for women like Aamiina.
Maggie Konstanski has been a part of the World Relief team for over 4 years, and currently serves at the Middle East Programs Technical and Operations Coordinator. With a passion for international human rights, Maggie often uses work-related travel as a platform to tell the powerful stories of the vulnerable families and communities we serve.
In Remembrance of Alan Kurdi
[WARNING: The blog post below contains images that some readers may find disturbing.]
Alan Kurdi died one year ago today.
On September 2, 2015, three year old Alan’s lifeless body washed up on a beach in Turkey. The photo of Alan appeared on the homepage of just about every media outlet in the Western world. And perhaps for many, that day marked the first time we collectively mourned the senseless loss of a Syrian refugee’s life.
But, is the option any better for those who choose not to flee, who make the difficult decision to stay in their homes?
Just two weeks ago, the world was stunned as the photo of young Omran Daqneesh showed up on our computer and phone screens. We were forced to confront again that the Syrian civil war— and the refugee crisis in the Middle East—is far from over.
Photos courtesy European Pressphoto Agency
For Syrian families, it seems there are no good options. If you flee, your child’s life is at risk. If you stay, the bombs continuously move closer until one day they drop on your family.
Above all else, we continue to mourn Alan Kurdi on the anniversary of his death. We mourn for Omran,his family, and for the loss of Omran’s older brother, Ali.
As we mourn, we also double down on our commitment to stand with the vulnerable, in Syria and throughout the Middle East. Since there is often no good choice for these vulnerable families, World Relief has chosen to stand with those who stay, and those who flee. We’re providing immediate aid, resettlement assistance, long-term economic development, and advocacy on behalf of those affected by war and violence.
We’re tired of seeing pictures that break our hearts. We know you are too. But we must continue to let our hearts be broken and be moved to act, until the day that pictures like Alan’s and Omran’s no longer appear on our screens.
The (Bloody) Face of Violence in Syria
If you haven’t already, take a moment and watch the video below. It’s not easy to watch. It shouldn’t be. It’s horrific, startling and heartbreaking.
It feels all too familiar. We are two weeks away from the one year anniversary of young Alan Kurdi’s death. Seeing the photo of Aylan’s lifeless body washed up on a beach in Turkey was—for many—the first realization that something truly horrific was happening in Syria, and for those fleeing Syria.
This morning, these images of Omran feels like a second realization—that the Syrian conflict is far from over. That countless lives are being lost and destroyed by the civil war there. That children are literally being bombed out of their homes. While it’s not clear yet about the full circumstances of this incident in Aleppo, what is clear is that no child should be made to suffer in this way. Instead of finishing their summers wiping water from their faces after swimming practice, children are wiping blood from their faces. Instead of wearing smiles on their faces while playing with Legos, there are vacant looks of shock, as their homes and family members are lost.
Watching the video of Omran, it’s so easy to feel helpless. But each of us can help. YOU can help.
Donating to World Relief is not the solution to the Syrian civil war. We get that. But we truly believe that we can all offset human suffering, as we become change-makers. Your donation to World Relief allows us to continue investing in the lives of refugee children, like providing child-friendly spaces where kids like Omran can once again play, learn and grow.
Because this crisis continues every day, our commitment to Syrian refugees and others displaced in the Middle East MUST continue. We can not—must not—”grow weary in doing good.” (Galatians 6:9)
VITAL STATS:
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More than 300 people killed in and around Aleppo in the last two weeks. (source: ICRC, 8/18/16)
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One out three killed were women and children. (source: ICRC, 8/18/16)
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Currently 4,812,278 registered Syrian Refugees. (source: UNHCR, Government of Turkey, 8/16/16)
How You Stand with the Vulnerable
Photo courtesy Preemptive Love Coalition
Because of the generosity of donors, World Relief was able to help Preemptive Love provide food and other essential items to 500 families in Fallujah.
Two weeks ago, Iraqi military forces began ground operations around the city of Fallujah to reclaim it from ISIS. Within the first week, 500 families were liberated but left without food, water, or shelter. However, because of your support, that quickly changed. Here’s how:
Our partners at Preemptive Love Coalition provide aid and relief on the front lines of the war against ISIS. They operate behind enemy lines in some of the most dangerous and heavily militarized zones of the Middle East. As ISIS cuts through the region, leaving death and destruction in its path, Preemptive Love follows behind, giving food, shelter, and essential non-food items to families affected by the conflict.
Two weeks ago, as the Iraqi-led military operation against ISIS drew closer to Fallujah, Preemptive Love anticipated the humanitarian crisis that would unfold as the conflict reached the city. In need of immediate funds to supply aid for thousands of people, Preemptive Love reached out to a number of its partners, including World Relief.
Thanks to the donations many of you regularly make to World Relief, we were able to quickly give Preemptive Love $20,000 to provide food, mattresses, medicine, and hygiene products to the families of Fallujah. Because of your support, 500 families in Fallujah have food! That’s no small accomplishment.
When you make a donation to World Relief, you make it possible for us to fulfill our calling to stand with the vulnerable—both by expanding our operations, and by allowing us to give to organizations like Preemptive Love.
Consider making a one time donation today, or commit to showing your continued care for the vulnerable by committing to give $29 per month.
Thank you for your commitment to the vulnerable, and your trust in World Relief. Your support for our organization and organizations like Preemptive Love means the difference between life and death, and between hope and despair for so many around the world.