Iraq: Bravery and beauty in the midst of disruption

In today’s world there are almost 60 million refugees. One in every 122 people is a refugee, internally displaced, or seeking asylum. But these people are more than just numbers. They are some of the most incredible people on earth, as World Vision writer Kari Costanza found in Iraq.

Meet Ibtihal, Huda, and May. They are artists. In the summer of 2014, armed groups drove them from Mosul. They joined 3.4 million Iraqis who have had to flee their homes, often leaving everything behind – 120,000 of them Christians. These women now live with 5,500 others in a camp in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

May joined the group of women at the camp with her daughters Rita, 20, and Sally, 17. Being forced from her home wasn’t her first loss. May lost two brothers in a 2010 church bombing in Mosul. Four years later, she lost her home and her every possession. Her acceptance of such tragedy is dumbfounding. “It is written that we will be displaced,” says May. “This is our faith.” The women say the mosaic “N” symbolizes their unshakeable faith. “They could destroy our church,” says May’s friend, Gaydaa, “but they can’t destroy the small church inside us.”

‘A cross amid the rubble, which leads to a place of peace, brotherhood and comfort.’

Ibrahim is a painter. His family escaped from Mosul on August 6, 2014. Ibrahim had just built a beautiful home for his family. He had a good job with the government. His wife was a nurse and his children were in school. Overnight, they became homeless in their own country – internally displaced people unable to go home.

Another painting shows a man lying in the street. Ibrahim says the man is disheartened and displaced, hoping to return home, but not knowing when. He worked in blues to create a stormy sea. “Looking at the sea gives you mixed feelings of beauty and fear for the people who want to travel outside, seeking a better future,” he says. But this sea is deadly. Ibrahim knew of two families from a nearby village who drowned like so many others, trying to escape.

‘When Jesus comes I will be happy to translate for the rest of us.’

Father Daniel is a Chaldean priest. Old beyond his years, he turned 26 this week. With another priest, Father Douglas, Father Daniel oversees a camp for more than 700 Iraqi Christians, most who fled their villages on August 6, 2014.

Father Daniel is faithful and funny. Before becoming a priest, he studied to become a doctor with Muslim classmates in Ukraine. His classmates bombarded him with questions about his faith. To answer them thoughtfully and thoroughly, Daniel took online courses in theology. Through that study he decided, “to become a spiritual doctor instead of a regular doctor.”

Father Daniel knows every child in the camp – all 200 – by name. When he walks through the camp, they gravitate toward him, holding his hand, basking in his smile. He preaches in Aramaic, the language Jesus spoke. Father Daniel says when Jesus comes, he will be happy to translate for the rest of us. “When I am with him, I feel there is no place I’d rather be on that glorious day,” says Costanza.

‘Now draw your dream, I said. I saw pictures of doctors, teachers, singers, and dancers.’

Father Daniel’s new congregation is hungry for healing. “What happened to them was a big trauma,” he says. “They need to be educated on how to deal with this loss. It’s really big. They worked for so many years. They have nothing.” But they need more than just handouts, he says. They need hope. “We are trying to help them be creative,” he says. “Iraqi Christians – when they are persecuted, they become creative. We opened a Child-Friendly Space. We did classes in music, flute, guitar, violin, dancing, drama, and drawing.”

When the children first came to the camp, Father Daniel had them draw their feelings. They drew guns and bombs and war.  “I hosted the same drawing exercise after six months,” he says “‘Now draw your dream,’ I said. I saw pictures of doctors, teachers, singers, and dancers.”

“I came home from Iraq feeling ashamed but inspired,” says Costanza. “Would my faith be so strong under so much pressure? Would I still write and take pictures? Would I still appreciate beauty – in people, in music, in art, and in nature? Would persecution pique my creativity? I hope so. When that day comes, I hope I can be like an Iraqi Christian, finding beauty and bravery, being my best – God’s best version of me – in the very worst of times.”

Source: Kari Costanza, World Vision

PS: One way you can make a difference is to support a refugee project with an end of year donation.

Donate to World Vision here or to Syrious Love here.

Joel News – # 1020 , December 20, 2016

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