Learning A miracle in the making to forgive Thanks to you, Iraq’s Christians are at last going home Displaced Christian family Camala (left), her daughter, Bushra (centre), and grandchildren Mariam, aged 16, and Adel, nine. THANKS to you, ACN has provided food Ashti 2 displacement camp in Erbil, Camala able to take with them. baskets for 12,000 families living in shares her three-room caravan with her Looking at them, Camala said, her voice displacement, mostly in Kurdish daughter, Bushra, and grandchildren breaking with emotion: “When Jesus was northern Iraq. Ragheed, 21, Mariam, 16, nine-year-old on the Cross, he forgave those who put Since they fl ed Daesh (ISIS) in August Adel and Milad, eight. him there. 2014, they have been entirely dependent Recalling that terrible night in 2014 “If Christ can say that on the Cross, on ACN for their daily needs. when the family fl ed their home in Nineveh why can’t I say that about Daesh even Many of them cannot go home because as Daesh advanced, Camala pointed to aft er all they have done to us?” they are from Mosul where security issues three tapestries behind her. Thanking ACN for your support, and widespread damage mean that – for The tapestries, which depict Our Lord Camala said: “Words don’t come close most people – it is impossible to go home. Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary, were to expressing our gratitude for what you One such person is Camala. Living in about the only things the family were have done for us.” Just back home to the Nineveh village of Teleskof: Samer Issa, 39, his wife Najeeba, 26, and their daughters Mariam, eight and seven-year-old Gazal. Across Iraq’s ancient Nineveh Plains, And yet, there is still so much to do. had ACN not helped Your help thousands upon thousands of Christians With so many families returning, it is when it did the are making the long-awaited return to diff icult to keep pace with the demand very survival of their beloved towns and villages. for vital repairs to homes and churches Iraq’s Christian Daesh (ISIS) militants had so ransacked and burnt by Daesh. community would in action comprehensively expelled Christians from Add to that the emergency help that have been in doubt. the region that barely a year ago it was we have been giving – food and shelter, And in a recent With your help, we are able to: almost impossible to imagine what we warmth and clothing, medicine and address at the Supply 10,000 litres of fuel for homes of Christians Determined: Archbishop are seeing now – families bundling their trauma counselling. UN Headquarters returning to Teleskof village, Nineveh Bashar Warda of Erbil, belongings into their cars and resettling Drawing on a fresh fact-fi nding visit in New York and northern Iraq Repair St Reginald’s Convent for Dominican Sisters back into their homes. to northern Iraq by ACN’s John Pontifex elsewhere he has in Bashiqa village, Nineveh A miracle is in the making. – and the latest facts and fi gures from said: “Our people, whose Install school desks and chairs for Our Lady of Within just eight months, more than ACN’s projects department – this report roots in Iraq go back 2,000 years have Succour parish school, Baghdad 6,700 families – more than 30,000 people celebrates progress to date and sets suff ered genocide. Rebuild St Shmuni Church, Bartela village, Nineveh, – have already gone back. out the many diff icult challenges that “We are determined now to build a new Repair homes of families in Qaraqosh town, Nineveh None of this would have been possible lie ahead. future back in the ancient heartlands but Distribute food baskets for 12,000 displaced Iraqi families without you, the benefactors of Aid to the Chaldean Catholic Archbishop Bashar to do so we need your continuing prayers, Provide 5,000 Christmas gift s for children living in Church in Need. Warda of Erbil has repeatedly said that your help and your support.” displacement in Kurdistan. Grandmother Imama, her daughter, Sanare, and grandson Miguel, aged seven months. ACN repaired their home in the Nineveh town of Qaraqosh. Aid to the Aid to the 12-14 Benhill Avenue, Sutton, Surrey SM1 4DA Reports and photographs by John Pontifex Helping the suff ering Church today Church in Need Aid to the Church in Need is a Pontifi cal Foundation of the Catholic Church unless otherwise stated. © Aid to the Church in Need Church in Need and a registered charity in England and Wales (1097984) and Scotland (SC040748) (February 2018) www.acnuk.org www.acnuk.org Mass returns Home is where Little Majed’s to Mosul the heart is homecoming FAMILY aft er family has turned to While waiting for repairs to be ACN, begging the charity to repair completed, they are staying with their homes in Nineveh. friends and relations, oft en in very ACN has so far renovated more than cramped conditions. 2,000 homes but more than 7,000 others ACN Middle East projects coordinator have been registered for restoration. Father Andrzej Halemba said: “The Although ACN benefactors have window of opportunity to return to been very generous, there are just not their Nineveh homelands is small. enough funds to repair all of them. “We need to send a clear signal to the ACN has just announced plans to people that concrete steps are being restore a further 2,000 homes – 1,500 taken to help them.” Mass is back: At St Paul’s Church, Mosul, Chaldean Patriarch Louis Raphael I Sako of Baghdad in the major town of Qaraqosh and a presides at a packed service held under tight security. further 500 each in the nearby towns and villages of Bartella, Father Najeeb Michaeel said: “Let Mass had been held in Iraq’s second Bahzani and Bashiqa. city every Sunday for nearly 1,800 us hope that the light of Jesus may In most cases, home repairs years… but when Daesh (ISIS) came, shine in the people’s hearts and cost between £1,000 (US$1,500) the bells fell silent. bring light to our wounded world.” and £20,000 (US$28,300) on The faithful fl ed for their lives, At least 60 Christian families average and include new lighting their homes were seized and their – 300 people – have returned and redecoration, electricity and churches desecrated. to Mosul. repairs to windows and doors. So imagine the people’s delight when Please pray that security Many families are returning – amid tight security – St Paul’s church improves and many more are even though their homes The courage to come back home: Athar and her son, Majed, aged three. in Mosul opened its doors for Mass. able to go back home. are uninhabitable. Rami Esa in the charred remains of his home in the Renewing the roads in the Nineveh village of Teleskof. Nineveh town of Qaraqosh, set ablaze by Daesh (ISIS). MAJED’S mother, Athar, feared her three- year-old son would never be able to go back to the town where he was born. Just a month aft er his birth in Qaraqosh, to Nineveh Daesh invaded and the family fl ed to safety. Christians go back For more than three years, you, the WITH their olive branches and crosses Until Daesh invaded, it was the largest As we stepped inside, it was diff icult benefactors of ACN, provided them with held aloft , the crowds set off through Christian town in the Nineveh Plains. to conceal my shock at the pock-marked food and shelter in a displacement camp in the town singing their ancient But now the Christians were back, walls, peppered by gunfi re, the mutilated Kurdish northern Iraq. liturgical chant in a language close making their way to the Syriac Catholic statues and crosses. But now, the family are back home. to that of Christ himself. Church of the Immaculate Conception. And everywhere the stench of chemicals, The smell of paint was overwhelming as Here I was among them, processing An iconic building, the tower still stands used to set the interior ablaze and blacken we stepped through their front door. through the streets of Qaraqosh. tall over Qaraqosh despite the eff orts of the walls with smoke. The house had been badly damaged Daesh to pull it down. As the pews fi lled with people, a liturgy by Daesh. of thanksgiving got underway. But, thanks to you, rooms had been Aid to the Church in Need has promised redecorated, new lighting fi tted, windows the people of Qaraqosh that they will repair replaced and electricity wiring renewed. their beloved church. Athar said: “My husband, Ashour, and As he showed me round the church, I came back because we wanted to stay parish priest Father George Jahola pointed in Iraq. The support for my sick mother is out off ensive graff iti left on the walls by better here. I have a job as an administrator Daesh and said: “Our dearest wish is to in a government off ice and you can fi nd cleanse this church of these symbols of anything you want in the shops.” hatred and desecration. Majed is now going to a kindergarten in “We want the church to be a place fi t for Qaraqosh run by Dominican Sisters funded the worship of God and the fellowship of by ACN. his people.” Athar said: “Without faith, we wouldn’t Please help ACN restore Fr George’s have had the courage to come back. church, parish halls, convents and other “Please help more families to return by Christians process through the Nineveh town of Qaraqosh.