UPDATE FROM THE FOUNDATION FOR RELIEF AND RECONCILIATION IN THE MIDDLE EAST

Greetings once again from Baghdad

I must start with an apology. There are so many emails I have not been able to answer. So many prayers and kind words - it has been quite moving. Thank you all so much.

 

We are delighted that Brian, our friend from Portsmouth, has joined us in Baghdad for a short time. He works very closely with Kurds in the UK and he came down from Erbil to be with us.

 

Life goes on - but things have changed

Life has been different since the massacre. Life has been crazy. Today we visited a home for children with severe congenital abnormalities. We were able to them bracelets made by our friends in the USA, for which they were very grateful.

 

Yasser, a young boy with no legs, said to me "we don't need anything, G-d is everything to us we just want you." It was such a wonderful meeting.

From there we visited the Syrian Catholic Church at the heart of last weekend's atrocity. We met with Matica Toka, the Archbishop, and waited with the other church leaders for Prime Minister Al Maliki to arrive. We had a solemn moment together in building where so many people lost their lives. The building still carries the scars of that terrible day.

Strategising for security

We then returned to the church before meeting with HE John Jenkins, the British Ambassador. We talked in depth about what can be done to support the security of the Christians in Iraq. One of the key things is to reestablish the High Council of Religious Leaders in Iraq. The ambassador will try to get other countries on board also. The other great news is that we Ward Scott, Director of FRRME USA also with us, hard at work as usual.

So life does continue here, but with an overwhelming heaviness and anxiety. The pain is still great, but all things are possible through Christ who strengthens us.

 

Blessings, please pray.

The Rev'd Canon Andrew White