Report from BHW Field Director Following Visit 16-22 March

Key person:  Isam Ghattas 

Recent Events

October 2015 Visit

There is always a lot going on at Manara. In October 2015 the BHW Field Director visited and spent time at the Good Bookshop, visiting Camp Gilead, attending a food distribution for Iraqui refugees at the Syrian Orthodox Church, visiting the storage facility, and visiting the apartments being built for refugee families. 

We also attended an end of year thank you dinner for the camp volunteers. It was a very impressive group of people who gathered that evening. Around 100 vibrant young people. They celebrated a successful summer of camping with more than 800 campers attending. We received a briefing about their vision for the camp and for extending the youth work out from the camp using social media and other events.  It’s great to hear their vision and passion. 

March 2016 Visit

In March 2016 the Field Director was back to visit with a donor church from the USA to see if they would be interested in supporting this ministry. While here we visited a food distribution evening and meal for 300 people and 150 families at the same Syrian Orthodox church. We also visited a distribution programme at the Greek Catholic church at which about 250 people came, the storage facility which has been expanded since the visit in 2015, and the preschool and sewing and embroidery run by Nihad.  

Camp Gilead

The first training weekends and days for the leaders for the upcoming summer camps were held in March 2016 with about 20 new leaders being inducted. 

Apartments for Refugees

The 10 apartments Manara has built under the Free Evangelical Church building are almost ready for habitation. This will happen in the next few weeks. They look great and will be a real help for some families. 

It’s important to understand that the refugee work here is largely focused on Iraqui Christian refugees as opposed to Syrian refugees. Of course no one would be turned away but as they deliver the care through local churches, the chances of getting help to the Moslem community is limited. However, Moslem refugees are not a minority here and have more access to mainstream assistance.  

Personal Stories

Feraz and his family escaped from Mosul when ISIS came through. He was an IT specialist with the Ministry of Education and is married with two children. He’s been in Amman for 18 months and is growing very frustrated. He sees no future here for himself or his family. He is losing hope. 

His dream is to leave and get to Europe, Canada or the USA. But this dream is fading as well and there have been many promises made but not fulfilled. He’s not allowed to work. He’s thankful for the assistance given through the church but it’s only survival. Such a sad young man!

Khalid and Alice are nice people, I guess in their mid 40's. He’s tired, weary of waiting and afraid for his family. They came out of Ninevah when ISIS swept through the area. He’ll never be able to return to his home. They left their home early in 2014 and shifted to Irbil. The cost of an apartment was around $US1,000 / month. They could not keep that up so had to shift into a large building that housed 200 people. There were just internal curtains for privacy. 

He worked for the Department of Education as a sports teacher. While in the large building he received some back pay. With that he bought a ticket to Amman and moved out of the building into a rented place until their daughter got married. As soon as possible after that they left.

His elderly mother is still there and his brother and family who are living with a 1,000 families in a caravan park. Their daughter and her new husband are there as well. It’s extremely hot in the summer and cold and leaky in the winter. It’s a desperate situation. They are finding it hard in Amman but not as bad as those left behind. 

They arrived in Amman in January 2016 and are using the rest of their money on an apartment for $US250 / month. They are about to run out of money and then don’t know what they will do. Alice is a sweet woman and has two sisters in Melbourne, Australia. They hope to get there and have applied to Australian Immigration. 

Partnership's Influence within the Community

It would be hard to know how many people are being helped through Manara. Currently about 700 families are directly being affected by the support offered to refugees through the network of six churches. Most are Iraqui refugees and are selected by the churches. Feedback from the churches is that people really appreciate the assistance they get but are hoping to leave for somewhere else. The two church pastors I talked to on the latest trip are very appreciative of the support they get from Manara to their people.  

Plans for the Future

There are three major aspects to the work: 

1) Literature – Maher is in charge of this with the Christian Book Shop and the Good Book Shop. They would like to open another in West Amman and one in Dubai as well eventually. The Good Bookshop is going well.

2) Youth Ministry overseen by Suhail. This has a number of components including the camp work at Gilead camp and the development of a wide network based around social media and training. They get around 800 children every year and 90 leaders. It’s a dynamic ministry that is growing and that has many opportunities for development. 

3) Relief – Isam is leading this. It involves the receipt of containers from offshore. Sorting, packing and storing which is quite a time consuming business. Regular distribution of food parcels and meals for people are initiated. They also have a number of children and women they are caring for in preschool, sewing and embroidery and financial support for families. There is a lot more opportunity to grow this as refugees are arriving every day and the churches have few resources. 

Chase Oaks Church, USA, may become involved in the youth ministry in the future however this report is primarily about the relief work which is what BHW has been contributing to in the past two years. 

Current Issues and Challenges

Not being able to support as many people as they would like to. Isam wants to help as many as possible. 

Having enough personnel available to help is a struggle. There are few volunteers available. 

The beneficiaries are struggling with depression and loss of hope. 

More refugees are arriving from Iraq every day and are trying to find a way to a better life. They get stalled here and put further pressure on the system.  

Prayer and Praise Points

1) That they are able to help so many. But there are thousands more families that could be assisted. 
2) For the refugee families that they will be able to retain hope, that their applications for refugee status and emigration to somewhere else will be processed in good time. 
3) For more partners to give towards the assistance of refugees. They need funds as well as goods in kind from outside the country. 
4) That the crisis that is causing this crisis will be able to be solved. 

Comments

The refugee work is going pretty well although they would like to help more. Their intention is to continue this work and to try and grow it a little. There are some other things they want to provide as they are able. This would include medicine, maintenance on some of the houses people are living in, clothes (although they do get them in containers), transport to get kids to school, assistance for some to be able to leave for other countries, medical assistance and more training for some who are capable. 

Their future plans include:
1) building more studio apartments for medium term accommodation 
2) running seminars to assist people deal with trauma, abuse, grief etc
3) tutoring for students especially English conversation 
4) teaching and preserving their cultures 
5) obtaining more space for the storage and processing of goods in kind 
6) building training and seminar rooms atop the Good Bookshop 
7) providing heaters, mattresses and blankets for refugee families  

Isam has a number of part-timers and volunteers helping with the storage and sorting of containers. They get a 40’ container every few week so it’s quite a large task for some skilled people. 

Of course there are many aspects of development in the Youth and Literature area that are not currently part of BHW's involvement.