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Severe desert heat ravaged Iraq in October, reaching more than 110 degrees. But the team from Manara Ministries in Amman spent a week in several Iraqi cities and towns. They consolidated work done during previous visits and started some new work.
Being Jordanians, they were able to enter Iraq without difficulties. Having established the fact of food shortages, they carried out their mission of mercy by distributing food parcels to 1,850 families in Baghdad, Mosul and Karkuk.
Manara’s director said, “This trip was a blessing for our team members, since they were able to fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Iraq. Their fellowship was special not just because of recent developments in the area and the need to show solidarity with our fellow believers, but also because our team met some new church leaders who believe our projects could be expanded in the future.”
Facing the possibility of a military attack at any time, the Iraqis were especially grateful for the continuity of Manara’s ministry. “It was clear that they were counting on the food we brought to them regularly,” Manara leaders said.
One church leader in Mosul appealed to Manara for help in relocating one severely hurting family. The team worked with others to settle the family in Jordan. Two daughters moved on to Sweden.
Manara workers encountered increased incidents of crime. In one case, a nun was robbed and killed. In another attack on a group of nuns, two suffered serious knife wounds. “Along with the expectation of war, crime tends to increase,” Manara’s director explained. “These incidents are a sample of the kind of chaos and extremism that will emerge if war breaks out,” he said. He made these observations before Saddam Hussein emptied Iraq’s prisons.
Of course, the Jordanians also noted mounting fears from the possible destruction of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons. An already fragile health care system would be unable to cope with such a disaster. Such conditions would be greatly exacerbated by the accompanying social disintegration.
The Manara team also delivered 13,500 Christian children’s books. Iraqi customs officials released the books faster than usual and with fewer complications. The shipment included 6,100 copies of My First Bible in Pictures and 7,400 copies of Panorama of the Holy Bible for Children-both in Arabic.
God opened doors for Manara to exhibit Christian books at the first Children’s Book Festival in Baghdad, October 23-November 3. In a fifteen-square meter booth, some 4,500 children’s books were made available to the public. Another 6,439 educational books were offered.
“This was an unprecedented opportunity for us to make the children feel loved and cared for, and to reflect the love of Christ for them amid their poverty and neglect,” the Manara director said.
Meanwhile, Manara’s relief work among Palestinian Christians on the West Bank continued unabated. “Project Living Stones” provides food packages, health and medical supplies, and other necessities to families in Bethle-hem, Beit Jala, Ramallah and surrounding villages.
The number of Palestinian Christian families facing financial disaster increases daily. In every church families have food for breakfast, but not for lunch or dinner. Because they have long been self-sufficient, many believers find it hard to ask for help.
In another project, Manara helped ten church-related schools by providing school bags and stationery. “It was such a joy for us to see how our workers brought together Palestinian Christians from different churches to work together and care for each other,” Manara’s leader said.
Because of strife, political uncertainties and economic decline, many Christians believe that their last hope for a better life lies in immigration. Many families have already departed; others are waiting to follow.
Whatever the outcome, they know other believers care and are willing to help.