After escaping the October blizzard of 2013, I was finally able to cross the state of South Dakota and catch the first of three flights to Amman, Jordan. When I landed, I traveled by taxi to Mafraq as the sun set. My whole body was ready for sleep, but an opportunity to do what I came here to do, was available.
Pastor Nour, the man leading his congregation and outside groups in loving their refugee neighbors, asked me,
Pastor Nour, the man leading his congregation and outside groups in loving their refugee neighbors, asked me,
"Would you like to go with the group to do a home visit?"
As quickly as my sleep deprived mind could respond, I eagerly said yes. Soon I joined the students from Bethlehem Bible College, and we went and visited a home where three Syrian families were living together.
Once inside the home, we sat on thin mattresses and conversed with each other. The moment that hit me hardest occurred as we listened to two teenage boys share with us that their father had been arrested and was in jail. He was not able to flee the country with his family.
My heart sank as my mind recalled the numerous reports of Syrian prisoners being beat and tortured. Was their father still alive? How much abuse had he endured? Would this family ever be reunited? The statistics on arrests were no longer numbers in an article;
this was a real family torn apart by war.
On a large scale leve, there is very little any persons can do to make these types of situations better. We cannot undo the past and we cannot fix the present, but we can be there for people, and we can stand with people. Egab, the church member who accompanied us, shared with the families our reason for being there: to listen, to be present, and to share God's love.
And as insignificant as solidarity can seem in the midst of a horrific humanitarian disaster, it is a powerful light piercing through the darkness of the Syrian crisis.
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