October 11, 2014
Which one is the refugee? These blue eyed girls ‐‐ Robina and Rita ‐‐ could be my daughters...their stories are the same as all the others: middle‐class Christian families from the Mosul area who had to flee with almost no notice as ISIS took their town or village...now they live in a tent in the middle of Irbil...remember these two as you remember all those who suffer in His Name... October 11, 2014 With Bishop Warda of Irbil: "For the first time in 1600 years, mass is not being celebrated in Mosul...Will we speak of Christianity as a chapter in a history book?"
October 11, 2014 Christians are living in abandoned buildings and malls and tents with no hot water and sometimes no food...their children are not in school and some, as one man told us, would prefer their own house under the the threat of ISIS than this...one elderly woman said "we are living but we are dead"...will dignity hard to find, there is depression and despondency, manifested in arguments among them over the simplest things... October 11, 2014
But there is also hope...the family of baby Matthew (one month old) brought him out for a picture even as another family ‐‐ a former neighbor of our translator, John, a university professor from Mosul ‐‐ gathered for a picture...with nothing left but the Cross, there is a resiliency that defies words...John 6:68
October 11, 2014 With Foreign Minister Bakir: "We are the frontline against ISIS fighting with old Soviet weapons against captured American weapons. Winter is coming: Shelter is our #1 priority. And the people are suffering from trauma, having seen things that no one should see: beheadings, murders, and women sold in the open market. We have taken in 1.5 million people and winter is coming." October 11, 2014 Amel (which means "hope"): "We are praying all the time to return home." October 11, 2014 With her permission, Zena, a 20 year old chemical‐engineering student from the Mosul area: "They took our future. They destroyed our church. They took everything from our homes. We ran from our homes at 1am in the morning, only with the clothes on our back. We thank Jesus one‐thousand times for life. Our Lord Jesus saved us from death. But maybe this is the beginning of our story..."
October 11, 2014 With Johnnie Moore, Chief of Staff to Mark Burnett, and Sister Diana, who fled the Mosul area: "If we had stayed they would have done to us what they have done everywhere else: bury women alive, or sell them into slavery, while taking the young boys to the madrassas. We feel like we are living a nightmare. We wake up every morning and wonder if this is true?" October 12, 2014
With the Kakai, a religious minority. Below, with permission, Iad (blue‐eyed lad) and Majid, who said: "When ISIS came, my family of seven fled Mosul at 3am with nothing but the clothes on our back...why did America leave?"
October 12, 2014 With permission from Hasan, a Sunni Muslim Police Captain who fled Mosul: "I thank American soldiers because they came to help. My hand was shot in 2006 and I lost my eye in 2008 to an IED. American soldiers took me to Dohuk for treatment. I am ready to lose my other eye. In Mosul my friends are waiting and praying, ready to fight ISIS. I thank ISIS for uniting Shia, Sunni and Christian against them as Iraqis. We want the Americans back. Why did you stop the agreement between our countries?" October 12, 2014
With permission, Kemal and his son, Malo, a Yezidi (religious minority) family living in an abandoned house. They were on Sinjar Mountain, where unspeakable things took place. Before that, ISIS kidnapped 5000 Yezidi women...whereabouts still unknown. After, Kemal showed us to the door that wasn't there of a house he didn't own.
October 12, 2014 With Dr. Ali Al‐bayati, Head of the Turkmen Rescue Foundation. Ali is a neurologist and very wise man who created this foundation for Iraq's 3 million Turkmen. He pointed out the terrorist tactic to commit genocide against the Shia, Yezedi, Christian, and Turkmen (a "multicide" if you will). He told us the story of the 83 day siege of the Turkmen town Amerli by ISIS, which I had not heard about...fortunately he has documented it ‐‐ we are holding the report ‐‐ which is a first for the Turkmen. His website is iraqiturkmen.com and you can follow him on twitter @doctoraaz October 12, 2014 With the KRG Minister of Interior, Karim Sinjari: "We are the frontline against the terrorists. We will fight them if we have help or not. They are global so we have to fight them globally. The international community has a responsibility...or you will be fighting them in London & Washington. Our need is fivefold: 1) security; 2) water; 3) food; 4) medicine; and, most of all, because winter is coming, 5) shelter. We want to be a place where everyone with problems can come. We want to continue being an example of tolerance for the entire region. Help us keep that example. We are not going to stop. We want Salam for everyone. We will be a place of tolerance, freedom and forgiveness. We don't want the Christians to leave. We want them to stay: they've been here since the roots of the country and we encourage them to stay."
October 12, 2014 With Sister Diana and the Syrian Catholic Archbishop of Mosul, Yohanna Petros Mouche, a holy and gentle man who has spent his entire life as a priest on the Nineveh Plains: "If you cannot help us go home, help us to live with dignity. We need help so people can have honor. Winter is coming. Today's liturgy was from Luke 14. I told my flock that we too have given up everything ‐‐ fleeing with nothing but the clothes on our back ‐‐ to follow Him. Jonah is our calling to repent. When the Arabs came in the 8th century, they built a mosque over the church at Jonah's tomb. When ISIS came, they bombed the mosque and Muslim graveyard, destroying it, since they regard any image or structure as pagan. With the mosque destroyed, we can now see again the original Assyrian church." October 13, 2014 Sunset over Jericho looking west toward Jerusalem...
October 13, 2014 With Andrew Harper, UNHCR Director for Jordan, visiting Christian refugees from Mosul at a Caritas site in Amman. The same story: with no warning they fled with the clothes on their back to Irbil (with Royal Jordanian Airlines later flying them to Amman). "We have no hope. Winter is coming." October 13, 2014 Above old town Amman... There are 15,000 years of continuous habitation behind me and Johnnie, with the Roman ruins on the hill behind us among the new kids on the block...
October 14, 2014 With Nicodemus Daoud Matti Sharaf, Metropolitan of the Syriac Orthodox Church (from Mosul): "Winter is coming. We need shelter. Not tents but houses and 'caravans' [winterized 'tents' with flooring]. We have no hope. Only God. We will not return to Mosul unless there is international protection. [People in the West] say they do not know. How can you not know? You either support ISIS or you have turned off all of the satellites. I am sorry to say this but my pain is big. I am an Archbishop and I have no churches. I am not afraid of anything. I have lost everything." October 14, 2014
Convened by his majesty, Jordan's King Abdullah II, we met with the Patriarchs from Jordan, Syria, and Iraq to listen and learn from them about how best to help them rescue, restore, and return their people. Winter is coming...urgent action is needed...a plan soon to follow.