ChristianToday, UK
Aug 4 2007
New Church Appeal to Support Displaced Iraqis
A new $900,000 apppeal has been launched by Action by Churches
Together International to alleviate the suffering of displaced
Iraqis.
by Maria Mackay
Posted: Saturday, August 4, 2007, 13:36
The global church coalition Action by Churches Together (ACT)
International is appealing to Christians and Christian organisations
worldwide to donate to its new $900,000 appeal to bring vital support
to displaced Iraqis.
The announcement of the appeal comes not long after Baghdad’s
Armenian Archbishop Avak Asadourian spoke of a `bungled war with
tragic results’ in Iraq.
The funds will go towards meeting the urgent needs of the estimated
2.2 million Iraqis who have fled to neighbouring Syria and Jordan in
the last four years, as well as those displaced internally within
Iraq.
An estimated 2,000 Iraqis are fleeing the violence each day because
of sectarian conflict and clashes with foreign troops.
According to Wafa Goussous, who works for local ACT member Middle
East Council of Churches (MECC) in Jordan, Iraqi refugees in Jordan
are being denied the right to work.
`It means that the majority of the Iraqi refugees depend on support
from aid agencies and relatives living abroad,’ he said.
The estimated 1.5 million Iraqis who have sought shelter in Syria
face similar hardships. Samer Lahham, who heads up the Damascus MECC
office said, `Many families have been affected by the war in Iraq. It
is important that we show solidarity with the people in addressing
the situation in Syria.’
ACT members the International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC),
which has supported Iraqis since 2003,and Norwegian Church Aid (NCA),
in Iraq for a decade, are also hard at work in the troubled region.
The IOCC’s regional director, George Antoon, said that the situation
for Iraqis displaced within Iraq is equally desperate.
`Families inside Iraq do not have anything to live on. They are stuck
in Iraq, (often) with no relatives abroad to help and support them,’
he said.
The NCA’s support has included providing access to safe water through
water and sanitation programmes, and school work with Iraqi youth in
NCA-run youth centres – or `safe havens’ as the NCA’s acting
representative in the region Heidi Thorstensen calls them.
`We have activities for both boys and girls, regardless of their
faith background … Muslims and Christians attend school together. The
centres are seen as a source of hope for unity in a country,’ she
said.
The MECC, meanwhile, is distributing clothes, toys, blankets and
education items to Iraqi refugees in Jordan in partnership with the
US-based ACT member Church World Service.
The `Assistance to refugees and internally displaced persons in Iraq,
Jordan and Syria’ appeal will run over ten months.