For the Iraqi Children, Warm Clothes Come Just In Time

Refugees from #Iraq in #Jordan

“Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.” – Matthew 25, 34-36

Around eleven o’clock in the morning, a torrential rain began to fail on Amman, quickly flooding the streets and into the valleys. This rain is not normal for this time of year, maybe it can be expected in the middle of winter, but not the first week of November.

The Orthodox Initiative and Father Emmanuel of the Syrian Orthodox Church of Amman, in partnership with Global Ministries, were planning a distribution for later in the week at the Syrian Orthodox Church. The goal of this distribution was provide vouchers for children’s winter clothing to the Iraqi refugees that fled Mosul this past summer from the advances of the Islamic State. When these Iraqis fled their homes and came to Jordan, they brought little with them, making the impending winter a challenge that needs to be faced.

Seeing the reports of rain, Father Emmanuel called the Orthodox Initiative to move our scheduled distribution, bringing aid and relief before the storm came. Moving quickly, our team at the Orthodox Initiative, our partners with the Syrian Orthodox church, and many volunteers, were able to advance the distribution to hours before the rain came.

Many of the Iraqi refugees live in the outskirts of Amman. This makes it very difficult to find transportation into the city. Father Emmanuel contributed buses that would go to different meeting spots around Amman and the outskirts to pick up the refugees and bring them to the church for the distribution.

Click here to read the whole story, with pictures.

The United Church of Christ and Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) continue to offer support for the work of many partners in the region to provide humanitarian response to the needs of Syrian refugees.  Please consider supporting the work of Global Ministries’ partners’ relief efforts in and around Syria.  You can do that through One Great Hour of Sharing (UCC), the Week of Compassion (Disciples), or through Global Ministries directly.