Refugee Life Takes Psychological Toll
May 26, 2016
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The landscape for Middle Eastern war refugees is dank and dark.
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Ministry workers in Jordan, Turkey, Lebanon and Syria note that people displaced by war in Syria, some of them highly educated, cannot find steady work or are underemployed at best. Many refugees have lost husbands or wives; one native Christian leader in Turkey estimated 25 percent of refugees are widowed.
"Widows cannot work even if they find a job, because they have nowhere safe to leave their children," he said. "There are also many orphaned children."
Rebel forces backed by the United States are fighting to unseat Russian-backed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in a conflict with no end in sight. Caught in the cross-fire and trying to evade atrocities of Islamic extremist groups such as the Islamic State (ISIS) and Al-Nusra, the refugees have suffered the loss of their homes, livelihood and loved ones. At makeshift refugee camps outside Adana, Turkey, they are far from jobs in the city, and farm labor is irregular and grueling.
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Syrian refugees in Lebanon benefit from critical supplies.
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With limited financial resources, the ministry faces the daunting challenge of providing most of their daily needs for baby formula, diapers, medical care, clean water, shoes, clothes, mattresses and the Word of God, he said.
"We can see on their faces that there is no hope," he said. "But whoever hears the Word of God has hope in their life. We tell the people that the Lord Jesus will never leave you alone; He will never turn His face from you. Whoever accepts Jesus has hope."
Most of the more than 2.7 million Syrian refugees in Turkey do not enjoy the benefits of the government's official camps. At the makeshift camps outside Adana, indigenous ministry workers can see on refugee faces that there is no hope, he said.
"Our daily goal is to provide their basic needs to survive – when we can provide for these needs, they do not have to worry about their kids, so they will have time to think about the Word of God," the ministry director said. "Our weekly goals are to preach the gospel and explain the Word of God."
In Jordan, where registered Syrian refugees number more than 651,000 and the total Syrian population tops 1.3 million, it was illegal for them to work until the government recently allowed them to take jobs in agriculture, construction and basic services. Jordan also plans to establish industrial zones employing Syrians to produce goods for export to Europe under an agreement with the European Union. An indigenous ministry leader said they long for jobs.
"It's a different feeling when a man comes home and he has some food in his hand, some bread for his children, chocolate or chips – that feeling is missing; their life has changed with this new status," he said. "They say, 'We're like prisoners. We want to feel like we're human. We'll work at whatever we can get.'"
It is still difficult for Syrians to find work in Jordan, which has 14 percent unemployment (30 percent among youth), and the indigenous ministry plans to help churches establish cottage businesses on their premises marketing consumer items such as women's scarves – and employ Syrian refugees to help produce and sell them.
The dignity of work would help heal their traumatized souls, which would complement the counseling that indigenous ministry workers provide, he said. Refugees tend to store feelings inside that they're not even aware they're concealing, the ministry leader said. One day something may trigger release of the pent-up trauma, and they won't know why they feel no control over what is happening to them psychologically, he said.
Though the ministry is short on trained counselors, ministry workers do what they can to address refugees' emotional wounds, he said. The ministry offers individual counseling, group therapy, music therapy and play therapy at available venues but seeks a central facility for such services.
"It's especially important for children," he said. "It's heart breaking – there's bedwetting, nightmares. One of the important things is to have a center for them and have some game therapy and play therapy. The family can bring them and have counseling as the kids play."
In spite of dire prospects for peace, most Syrian refugees do not want to talk of the impossibility of returning to their country one day, he said.
"They still have hope to go back," he said. "Some people are still thinking, 'Maybe tomorrow I'll be back, maybe next week.' They're not realistic. They're upside down. When we tell them the Good News in Arabic, they get new breath, new hope. That's why they keep calling, wanting us to come and visit and talk with them about Jesus. They say, 'There's peace when you visit us. We feel peace and hope when we hear your stories.'"
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So
said the British Pakistani Christian Association (BPCA), who went on to
say, “The Anti- Terrorism (amendment) Act 2013 also amends the
definition of terrorism under section 6 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997,
by including threats and acts of terrorism against a ‘foreign
government or population or an international organization.’
Police
officers reported that they arrested the men for “undertaking wheelies”
on the road, while the two men said this was not true and allege that
they intervened when the police officers “ogled and harassed women”
entering the church for Thursday evening prayers.
“Thus
far, implementation of the new laws has impacted negatively on
Christians. A review on anti-terrorism laws should be initiated with
immediate effect so that other Christians are not persecuted in similar
fashion.”
About
the writer: Dan Wooding, 75, is an award-winning winning author,
broadcaster and journalist who was born in Nigeria of British missionary
parents, and is now living in Southern California with his wife Norma,
to whom he has been married for nearly 53 years. They have two sons,
Andrew and Peter, and six grandchildren, who all live in the UK. Dan is
the founder and international director of the ASSIST News Service (ANS),
and the author or co-author of some 45 books. He has one radio show and
two TV programs all based in Southern California. Dan has received a
special award from the BPCA for his reporting on the persecution of
Pakistani Christians.
They
say a candle flickers most violently just before it goes out. Could
that be what we're seeing with ISIS in Iraq? Or is the recent onslaught
of suicide bombings, with more than two hundred killed in the last week,
a sign of something else? The terrorist group has lost roughly 45% of
the territory it once controlled in Iraq, to go along with 20% of their
Syrian holdings, and appears to be increasingly incapable of waging the
kind of war that won them so much of the region back in 2014. 
RASHT, IRAN (ANS – May 16 2016)
-- Yousef Nadarkhani, the Church of Iran pastor acquitted of apostasy
in 2012, and re-arrested along with his wife, Tina Pasandide Nadarkhani,
in Iran on Friday, May 13, 2016, have both now been released.
He
was charged with apostasy and sentenced to death in 2010, a decision
that was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2011. On 8 September 2012, he
was released from prison following his acquittal on apostasy charges,
but was found guilty on charges of evangelizing. The pastor was recalled
to prison on Christmas Day in 2012 to complete the remainder of his
three-year sentence, and was released once again on December 7, 2013.
About
the writer: Dan Wooding, 75, is an award-winning winning author,
broadcaster and journalist who was born in Nigeria of British missionary
parents, and is now living in Southern California with his wife Norma,
to whom he has been married for nearly 53 years. They have two sons,
Andrew and Peter, and six grandchildren, who all live in the UK. Dan is
the founder and international director of the ASSIST News Service (ANS),
and the author or co-author of some 45 books. Dan has a radio show and
two TV shows, all based in Southern California. He has traveled widely
in the Middle East and his last reporting trip to the region for ANS was
to Kurdistan, Northern Iraq, including its capital city of Erbil.
AUSTRALIA (ANS – May 16, 2016)
-- The Primate of Australia, Archbishop Philip Freier, has increased
the pressure on Pakistan over their continued detention of Pakistan
Christian mother, Asia Bibi, under the country’s much criticized
blasphemy laws, by writing to Pakistan’s High Commissioner to Australia,
Naela Chohan, and Australia’s Foreign Minister, Julie Bishop, about the
case.
The
Muslim women began to beat Asia. Then some men took her and locked her
in a room. They announced from mosque loudspeakers that she would be
punished by having her face blackened and being paraded through the
village on a donkey.
*
On Jan. 4, 2011, the governor of Punjab province, where Asia lives, was
assassinated by a member of his security team. Though a Muslim, Salmaan
Taseer had spoken out repeatedly in favor of a pardon for Asia Bibi and
for a reexamination of Pakistan’s blasphemy laws. Governor Taseer also
met with Asia in prison.
About
the writer: Dan Wooding, 75, is an award-winning winning author,
broadcaster and journalist who was born in Nigeria of British missionary
parents, and is now living in Southern California with his wife Norma,
to whom he has been married for nearly 53 years. They have two sons,
Andrew and Peter, and six grandchildren, who all live in the UK. Dan is
the founder and international director of the ASSIST News Service (ANS),
and the author or co-author of some 45 books. Dan has a radio show and
two TV shows, all based in Southern California.