Soul Craft for the Grief-Stricken in Iraq

Soul Craft for the Grief-Stricken in Iraq   In October a woman from Qaraqosh, which was home to the highest number of Christians in Iraq before Islamic State militants drove them out in August, left the refugee tent area in Erbil where most arrivals languished and sat down against this church wall. There she knit for hours, intermittently weeping, as she mourned the loss of her previous life at home. She was just one soul among 6,377 families who left their homes in Qaraqosh, rather than accept the Islamic State options to convert to Islam, remain non-Muslim and pay the (often exorbitant) Islamic jizya tax or be killed. A locally-based ministry assisted by Christian Aid Mission is providing such displaced people in Erbil with blankets and food, among other aid, along with the message of God’s love.

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