On Thursday Fr. Allen, Karen and I met with Jordie and family to speak with Fr. Bassam in Syria. Fr. Allen and Fr. Bassam prayed for each other and Fr. Bassam updated us on the situation in Rablah.
There are around 2000 Christians living in the city: ca. 1100 Maronites, 800 Catholics and 100 Orthodox. The majority of people in Syria are Sunni Muslims. With the recent bombings in Lebanon, because of Israel’s attacks on Hezbollah, bombing is occurring close to Rablah. There are no government supports available, so Mar Elias is called to follow Jesus’ commandment to care for the poor.
Mar Elias is engaged in several activities to try to help the people of Rablah, including
1) a food kitchen that prepares and distributes food to the hungry, including many Shi’ite refugees arriving from Lebanon.
2) a church committee called “Faith and Light” that oversees the care of the church’s physically and mentally disabled and poor. There are also many widows with children who need support. Numbers of disabled people and widows are high because of the Syrian civil war (since 2011). Food is distributed as well as medicine and transportation to the hospital in the next city.
3) Recently the church was given several acres of land, and they are planning how to use this land to help decrease hunger in the community. Ideally people can be provided with land and/or livestock so that they can become self-supporting.
4) Fr. Bassam is planning to build a center for Christian teaching for the children. Mar Elias has about 500 children, so the current teaching space is not sufficient.
While learning about the difficult situation in Rablah, it was encouraging to hear how the Mar Elias community is being moved by the Spirit to provide for God’s children. It is wonderful that St. Philip – though so far away – has also been moved by the Spirit to support their good works.
Thank you everyone for your prayers and donations to support our sister church in Syria! On Sunday we hope to show some pictures that Fr. Bassam sent.
- Jackie Prowse, on behalf of the Missions Committee