Thirteen years ago, a plane flew across a clear blue sky and crashed into the World Trade Center.
Word quickly spread and millions of Americans turned on the news just as the second plane hit the twin towers. An hour later, the country watched helplessly as the towers fell from the skyline — shaking the island of Manhattan and the entire nation.
This act of terrorism brought grief and confusion, which quickly gave way to fear and panic. Many people demanded action. Most of America believed that retaliation was the answer. But Brock and Sarah Snow didn’t agree.
“Unlike many Americans, I believed the answer wasn’t in fighting back, but in the hope and peace offered by Jesus Christ,” said Brock.
Brock and Sarah first felt God calling them to serve internationally when they were in high school, and after September 11, Brock began reading more about Islam and life in the Arab world. Then one day in 2004, they clearly heard their call when an ABWE spokesperson came to their church. He talked about a new team they were starting in the Middle East and said they needed people. People just like the Snows.
Today, Brock and Sarah are two of 15 ABWE workers ministering to Syrian refugees. Each one has their own story and journey to the Middle East, but they all have one thing in common: when others only saw the things that separate us, they saw the hope of Who can unite us.
The Seeds of Unrest
Syria has struggled with peace since European powers’ artificially drew its borders after the First World War, forcing together a jumble of diverse religious and ethnic groups. The country finally came under the rule of the al-Assad family after a 1970 coup. Despite being Alawite, a Shiite Muslim offshoot that makes up just 12 percent of Syria’s population, the al-Assads have maintained power for more than four decades.
In 2011, their rule was tested when the Arab Spring stirred up rebellion in countries throughout the region that, like Syria, were experiencing high unemployment, corruption and political repression under dictatorial leaders. Syria’s unrest ignited in March 2011 after a group of teenagers were arrested for writing political graffiti in the city of Daraa. Violence broke out and Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, sent security forces in to quell protesters. Dozens were killed.
Enraged demonstrators demanded Bashar leave office, like Egypt’s and Tunisia’s leaders had already done. Bashar refused and sent thousands of troops to stop anti-government street protests. However, his tactics only fortified the opposition against him, and armed civilians quickly organized into rebel groups. For the last three years, the conflict has spread throughout the country and become a full-fledged civil war between al-Assad’s regime and an armed resistance.
“When the war started, there was a tremendous threat to our home and our lives. Every night while we tried to sleep, we could hear shooting and bombing all around us,” says Um Ahmad, a widowed mother of five whom ABWE workers John and Holly Myers have been helping for the past 10 months. She and her teenage daughter both wear traditional hijabs as they sit on a thin mattress in her family’s small, bare-walled apartment. “Finally, some people in our neighborhood helped us escape at night, and as soon as we left, our house was bombed and burned down.”
It is estimated that more than 120,000 Syrians have been killed and millions more have fled their homes as a result of the war. Today, there are more than 2.5 million registered Syrian refugees living in other countries. The United Nations, however, predicts that is only about one-third of the total people affected by the conflict. Worse still, those numbers are growing every day, creating refugee camps the size of cities, where hundreds of thousands struggle to scrape by on relief aid.
“For a year and a half, we were refugees inside Syria, moving from place to place. Guys in the street threatened to rape my girls. We weren’t safe,” says Um Ahmad whose husband died of cancer, leaving her and her family without support or protection. She eventually took her family to a neighboring country that was offering asylum for refugees. They lived in a refugee camp for a month, but recently moved to a nearby city. They had hoped to find more opportunities, but with high rent costs and little work, they are still completely reliant on the help they receive from aid organizations.
“When we moved to this apartment, it was completely empty. We didn’t bring clothes or anything, just us. But I heard about a church offering help. That was new for me. The church came and supplied everything we needed for our house. We thank God for all that we received from the church. The emotional support I received helped me to feel accepted and come out of the depression and loneliness I was feeling,” Um Ahmad says.
Despite all she has been through, her brown eyes have light in them. “I now have hope that my life and my family’s life will continue to get better.”
Finding Relief
For the last 12 months, John and Holly have been working with refugees, just like Um Ahmad, in a desert town near the border. Abuse and trauma is commonplace here. The Myers befriended a man who had been chained and tortured for 19 days in Syria before being released and fleeing the country. They met a six-year-old boy who pulled up his shirt to reveal two bullet wounds in his abdomen.
While these hurting families have found protection from the war in neighboring countries, they haven’t found much else. In the Myers’ border town, the population has tripled over the last three years — further straining the area’s already limited resources. Many refugees came with nothing but the clothes on their backs and are heavily dependent on international aid.
“They’re just living where they can afford to stay,” said Holly. “People throw a tarp over an unfinished or broken down house and live in that. There are some who are in regular apartments, but they have little or no furniture. Many are just living in tents with nothing to keep out the cold nights that can dip down into the 30s.”
ABWE, through the contributions of generous supporters, sent more than $120,000 dollars to the region last year to provide refugees with basic necessities, like food, heaters, clothing and education. These small offerings in a sea of desperation have made a huge impact. One older Muslim man was brought to tears when the Myers brought him a gas heater. He said, with some difficulty, that he was extremely grateful for the aid Christians were giving him and his family.
John says he is thankful that people are seeing the love they have for them, but building relationships with these wounded people who were taught not to trust Americans and Christians is a slow process. The Myers have invested months in simply spending time with refugee families and caring for them. This has been the key to forming friendships that allow them to share the root of their kindness.
“Showing the love of Christ in practical ways has opened doors to share the story of hope — doors that would never have been opened were it not for this horrible tragedy,” said Holly. “They are sensing the love we have for them and our genuine desire to get to know them and care for them. We have been told, ‘I would not have let you in my home before, but because you’re bringing us this assistance, because you’re praying for us, and because you’re spending time with us, we know you care.’”
A Lost Generation
Along with helping to meet basic survival needs, the Myers are also addressing another major concern: education.
According to the United Nation’s refugee agency, seven out of 10 refugee children in Jordan, Turkey, Iraq, Lebanon, and Egypt are not in school. While some public schools do allow refugees, most are already bursting at the seams. The few Syrian children fortunate enough to enroll in school still face obstacles, like discrimination, curriculum and language differences, lack of transportation and their families’ need for them to help make money. In total, nearly 3 million Syrian children have been forced to quit their education since fighting broke out in 2011, destroying classrooms and forcing thousands of families to flee the country. As a result, the British government’s Department for International Development says there is a threat of an entire generation becoming lost.
“Some of these kids have been out of school for three years,” said Holly. “That’s one of the biggest needs here.”
To address this need and help build in-roads in their communities, the Myers have partnered with local churches to start two informal schools for refugee children. Three days a week, 80 kindergarten-through-fourth-grade students come to learn math, science and two languages from passionate local Christians.
“The children are eager to learn and the parents are thrilled to see them making academic progress once again,” said John.
Fighting to Provide
But even with the hope found in education, families are still struggling. There is just not enough money to sustain this vast out-of-work population. And work is hard to come by, as thousands of refugees continue to flood into neighboring countries with already high unemployment rates. Countries' governments favor giving the few available jobs to citizens, forcing refugees, like Eyman Kazmi, to take off-the-books jobs that pay a fraction of what a national would make.
Eyman works 10 hours a day, six days a week to earn a little over $200 a month, which doesn’t even cover the rent for his family’s small apartment. He lives in fear that he won’t be able to provide shelter for his wife and two children — let alone put food on the table, provide clothing, and cover his family’s medical expenses. As a non-citizen, he accepts whatever pay he can get, knowing his employer could easily replace him with someone else equally desperate for income. The strain shows in his eyes and is echoed by thousands of other families in the same predicament.
“There’s no way of saying how long this war will last. Even if it ended tomorrow, so much of the country has been completely destroyed,” said Holly. “Homes have been decimated. Infrastructure is completely wiped out. Hospitals. Schools. Public services. There’s no way to say how long it will be until these people can return to their homes or if they even have homes to return to.”
For this reason, our workers are trying to plan for a better future. They are looking at possibly developing employment strategies and long-term business opportunities for refugees. But these plans are in their infancy and the needs are immediate and ongoing. “The media attention is no longer here, but Syrians are still going through this crisis,” said Holly. “It’s easy to forget because it’s not in the forefront of the news anymore. But the need is just as desperate now as it was three years ago.”
Opening Doors
One ABWE partner serving in another neighboring country has stepped up to help meet these immediate needs by assembling a network of local churches to bring aid to refugees in one of the poorest regions of his country. Committed teams of local believers have volunteered to spend five days a week going door-to-door and tent-to-tent capturing families' needs, taking down their information and praying with them. With the support of the local church, ABWE, and other organizations, they have supplied more than 400 families with heaters, blankets, food and an opportunity to hear the gospel.
Recently, one relief team went to visit a community of refugees they had been working in for a few months. At first glance, the area just looked like a cluster of abandoned buildings, but as their familiar car came to a stop, people began to emerge from cracks and crevices. They stared at the car with watchful and attentive eyes.
“Look, everyone’s watching because they recognize this car,” a team member said.
Once they got out, a man pulled back a plastic sheet covering the entry to their shelter and motioned for them to come inside. They obeyed and stepped into a dark, cold room. The smell of mildew hung thick in the air of the cramped one-room dwelling. Winter winds forced their way in through gaping holes haphazardly covered by shabby blankets. In one corner, a lone bulb strained to light the room, and in another corner, a four-year-old boy struggled to keep warm next to the heater that the team had given to them a few weeks earlier.
The team took a seat on a carpet that covered two-thirds of the floor and watched as a steady stream of dark figures wordlessly entered. While the silence may have made a blind man think the room was empty, it was completely filled with men, women and children who had heard about the team’s aid.
Breaking the silence, a team member named Samir explained who they were and what the project was about. Samir said they were Christians who love Jesus and that they represented many Christians involved in this aid effort.
The people listened intently, and when he finished, Samir opened the conversation to let the refugees express their needs. “It seems that life is very difficult for you here, what do you think?”
Immediately, the mood in the room relaxed, and one of the men spoke up.
“No, it is not difficult,” he replied. “No one is trying to kill us here.”
This man was not the dissenting optimist of the group. His answer was met with approving nods around the room.
But once this positive view was stated, they admitted that life wasn’t perfect. People began discussing lack of work, high rent by local landlords exploiting the refugees, limited access to medical care and the need for shoes and diapers.
“No one sees us. But you did. You cared and gave us this heater. Without this we would have nothing,” one man said, pointing to the lone heater in the corner.
After more discussion, Samir asked the refugees what they thought the main obstacle to peace in Syria was. He expected a political and complicated answer, but one man simply said, “We do not forgive or forget.”
Others nodded in agreement, and Samir saw an opening.
“Do you know what Christmas is about?” Samir asked. Most people averted eyes and some shrugged their shoulders. “Christmas is about peace.”
The room sat up.
“Jesus was born to take your sin and give you peace with God. Jesus died for this and forgiveness is a free gift for all those who repent and love Jesus. When we know God has forgiven us for our wrongs, we know we can forgive others, and we can be at peace.” Over the next few hours, Samir and his team discussed and answered questions.
This is how doors are slowly opening all over this hard-to-reach part of the world — kindness leading to meaningful conversation. Showing, once again, that God truly does work all things for good.
Learn more about how you can helps show Christ's love by providing relief and hope to Syrian refugees here.