Last week I referred to WER’s partnership with a Christian organisation which works in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria among Iraqi refugees.
One of the challenges in international relief is staying focused on areas of great need which do not fit in with media news priorities, or even with government and international agency funding agendas. I believe that the situation with Iraqi refugees and displaced people is a prime example.Keeping it in our focus is difficult when many people in the UK just want Iraq to be off the agenda, often because we are so frustrated by all the events there and simply tired of what is regarded by many as a very painful failure.
The challenge is increased for us as a relief agency by the fact that we can’t publicise specific details of who we are working with because of wider ‘faith’ issues. Because our partner is a Christian-based organisation and there are religious and spiritual tensions in the region, it is not possible to publicise the organisation or refugee group leaders’ names due to a very real risk of discrimination, attack or persecution. Many of the refugees fled Iraq for their lives and leaders are on hit lists. In Iraq, Christians are being specifically attacked under the cover of the wider insurgency and unrest.
So we share what information we can about Christians being persecuted and even murdered. We talk about the tragedies of refugees in Jordan and Syria, where many Iraqi families are living illegally and simply having no where else to go. And we pray.
The donations coming in for this cause are few, even from our most stalwart supporters, but we can’t ignore the children and families who desperately need help. We have gone into our reserves to fund and send 60 tons of aid to Jordan in the past year, and recently another 12 tons of aid to Mosul in Iraq. WER has been trying to get funding from the UK government to help, but whilst it is positive about what we are seeking to do, apart from a grant to the UN all other UK funding for people affected by the Iraq war is being directed to work inside of Iraq.
I do believe that the Iraqi refugees are a neglected people. I can hear it said. ‘Well, there are so many crises, how can we help everyone?’
My response is that we as a nation do carry responsibility for what has happened in Iraq, and we as Christians need to keep philanthropy and charity at the core of our individual faith. We need to be concerned for all those now existing in poverty and fear because of the war.
There are people of all faiths suffering due to the Iraq conflict, but many Christians are being targeted because of their faith in the midst of the wider conflict. Let us hope and pray their faith holds strong and that we, as fellow Christians, can help assuage their suffering.
