The exodus of an ancient community

The Rev Rory Macleod describes a twinning trip to Jordan, where churches are working with Christian refugees from Iraq and Syria.

IN June, Armadale-based TV engineer and church youth leader, Archie MacCalman, and I went to Jordan to establish a twinning between Strath & Sleat Parish Church on Skye and St Paul’s, an Arabic-speaking congregation belonging to the Anglican diocese of Jerusalem.

It all started with the eruption of the refugee crisis in 2015, precipitated by the civil war in Syria and the repercussions of the “Arab Spring”. Like many community groups, the elders of Strath & Sleat were anxious to help. A visit from the newlyappointed co-ordinator for Scottish Faiths Action for Refugees led to our seeking involvement at the sharp end.

At about the same time I was approached by the brother of a school friend, who was looking for a Scottish church willing to partner with a Middle Eastern congregation pioneering respite camps. The idea is that Iraqi refugees are taken into the desert by Sunni Bedouins, in order to work through their experiences, facilitated by Jordanian Christians.

According to UN estimates, over 750,000 of Jordan’s population of 10 million are refugees, making it second only to Lebanon in density of refugees to general population. An even more harrowing statistic is that of Iraq’s Christian population of 1.5million (or 4% of the total population) only 250,000 remain and most of them are expected to leave over the next few years. For almost all, the route out is via Jordan.

Not that they have an easy time of it. Officially they are guests in Jordan and so do not qualify for the emergency relief accorded to refugees. Yet nor are they allowed to work. Exiled and without status, they lodge where they can in the growing urban sprawl of Jordan’s capital, Amman. And here is where Archie and I met some of them.

It quickly became apparent that we were witnessing the exodus of an ancient community. Christians in Iraq go all the way back to the 1st century AD and the missionary endeavours of Thomas and Thaddeus, two of Jesus’ original apostles. To this day, many even speak Aramaic, the language of Jesus himself.

Formerly, as director of a human rights organisation, I met refugees from Colombia to Burma and in just about every case their dream was eventually to return home. What struck us in Jordan was that none of the refugees we spoke to wanted anything other than repatriation to a third country. The hopelessness of their predicament in Jordan and the trauma they had experienced in Iraq had sealed their resolve.

In Jordan we were amazed by the response across the spectrum of Jordanian churches. From independent Evangelicals to Eastern Orthodox and Chaldean Catholics, media savvy clerics are mobilising their flocks to care for their desperate fellow believers. We met a diminutive Catholic priest who serves four congregations in diff erent parts of Amman and gathers 100 children for Sunday School on borrowed premises every week.

A Protestant pastor showed us around a school he had established for traumatised and disabled children, a network of workshops for wood-turning, soap making, mosaic art and many other trades and a health clinic with barbershop, beautician and dental surgery. During Ramadan, the same church distributed thousands of gift boxes to their Muslim neighbours on their way home from work to break their fast.

Archie and I were bowled over by the welcome and hospitality we received all over this extraordinary country, but we were also stung by what we heard of the fall-out from the West’s interference in the Middle East. Syrian Christians were especially frustrated by eff orts to oust President Assad whom, they maintain, is the only leader capable and willing to maintain an environment in which religious minorities co-exist.

In terms of our own intentions, the next step is to host a return trip for the officebearers of St Paul’s Church in Amman. In the meantime, there will be opportunities for volunteers to serve in the various refugee support initiatives we visited and participate in new educational exchanges. 

CHILDREN HIV TARGET MISSED

The World Council of Churches (WCC) has criticised global treatment eff orts for children with HIV, after new figures showed that targets for 2018 had been missed by a wide margin.

A report issued by UNAIDS on July 16 estimated that 940,000 0-14-year-olds worldwide were receiving HIV treatment in 2018, double the number in 2010 but far short of the target of 1.6 million, set in 2016. That means that only 54 per cent of children living with HIV were in treatment, compared with 62 per cent of adults. UNAIDS also announced that there had been 160,000 new infections among children in 2018, a major decrease from 2010 but four times the target figure.

“The failure to reach the 2018 targets to reduce new HIV infections among children and adolescents and to widen access to life-saving treatment is both disappointing and frustrating,” said Gunilla Carlsson, UNAIDS Executive Director. “We need to act quickly to turn this situation around and honour the commitment to end the AIDS epidemic for the next generation.”

“These statistics are shocking because these deaths could have been prevented if the children living with HIV had been identified and placed on treatment,” said Francesca Merico, coordinator of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance HIV Campaign.

“However, without treatment, half of them will die by their second birthday which means that currently more than 270 children are dying unnecessarily every day due to AIDS-related causes.”

Advocates are urging that the next global milestone is to reach the target to get 1.4 million children living with HIV on treatment by 2020. They cite an urgent need to improve the delivery of services for these children, especially to: improve retention and treatment in care for mothers and infants, to rapidly scale-up early infant diagnosis, implement approaches for finding children living with HIV and to reduce levels of stigma.

To achieve the 2020 target religious leaders, the WCC and other faith-based organisations are urging people to become champions for children living with HIV and inspire political change, speaking to local and national government officials, parliamentarians and pharmaceutical companies about the 300 children who die daily of AIDS-related causes. (UNAIDS/WCC)

WEEK FOR PEACE

The World Week for Peace in Palestine and Israel takes place from September 15-22.

During this week which includes the International Day of Prayer for Peace on September 21, church organisations, congregations, and people of faith are encouraged to bear a common witness by participating in worship services, educational events, and acts of support in favour of peace and justice for Israelis and Palestinians.

“The situation in Palestine and Israel is unchanged and people continue to suff er. It aff ects the future of everyone in the region, denies the equal human dignity of all people, and in all aspects of God’s creation. Though we are all created equally in God’s image, the military occupation and its discriminatory practices are obstacles to the fullness of life for all in God’s creation”, says World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary the Rev Dr Olav Fykse Tveit.

This year’s theme has been chosen to challenge racism, xenophobia, stigmatisation, exclusion driven by populist policies and other growing trends. The aim is to inspire and revive concern for the human dignity of all people equally, regardless of ethnic, religious or political diff erences, and the struggle for the realisation of the equal and inalienable human rights of all.

Resources for the week are available on the WCC website, www.oikoumene.org (WCC)

KOREA PEACE FORUM

The Ecumenical Forum for Peace, Reunification and Development Cooperation on the Korean Peninsula (EFK) met 10-12 July in Bangkok, Thailand. Among the 46 participants from 11 countries were members of the World Communion of Reformed Churches, including General Secretary Chris Ferguson and Hong Jung Lee, WCRC Executive Committee member and general secretary of the National Council of Churches in the Republic of Korea.

The EFK issued a communiqué, expressing concern at the lack of progress since the positive events of 2018, but acknowledging ‘important steps’ including the ending of hostile acts between North and South Korea.

In a statement, the WCRC commended the EFK Communiqué to its members for consideration and action, especially to ‘uphold in prayer and to accompany in solidarity Korean Christians, and actively seek alliances with all organizations and people of good will who seek peace on the Korean Peninsula, in the region, and the world’. (WCRC)

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