Container cleared in Jordan and supplies delivered

September 3, 2014 /  Editor  /  2 Comments  /  Mission Reports

Christmas for Refugees is a project of the Religious Freedom Coalition which also supplies aid all year round, not just at Christmas time. Jordan and Lebanon projects move forward

Container of supplies being unloaded for distribution to Christian refugees in Jordan (August, 2014)

The Religious Freedom Coalition may not primarily be an aid organization, but what aid we do deliver in the Middle East goes only to Christians. Despite our size we are able to deliver hundreds of tons each year of food, clothing and medicines to the suffering Christians from Iraq and Syria. Primarily we accomplish this by working with other ministries that are also not big name aid groups. Most of the “big name” aid groups receive funds from the European Union or the USAID and as a result cannot “discriminate.” Bluntly, those groups must deliver 99% or more of their aid to Muslim refugees. Often Christians, who are afraid to enter the UN camps, get nothing at all.

In July a full size sea going container was loaded with nearly 40,000 pounds of all new materials, including food, at a port in Virginia by a local ministry organization. A second ministry  paid for the container to be shipped from Newport News, Virginia to the port of Aqaba in Jordan. The Religious Freedom Coalition then paid the fees to unload the container from the ship, process it though Jordanian customs and transport it to the distribution warehouse in a majority Christian town somewhat north of Amman, Jordan.

This particular container held:

Food: vegetable oil, oatmeal, cornflakes, lentils, barley, tomato sauce, rice, sugar, salt. Clothes: T-shirts, skirts, pants, blankets, sandals, shoes Cosmetics and Hygiene: toothbrushes, toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner, body wash, soap, sunblock, lotions and creams. Miscellaneous: Two sizes of zip lock bags, toilet paper, school bags for kids, crayons, and small towels.

This type of cooperation and delivery of materials to Christian ministries in the Middle East to assist Christian refugees is accomplished many times each year. It is such a normal process that we have failed to report on it often enough in newsletters, bulletins and Internet postings. When supporters of the Religious Freedom Coalition contribute to our missions fund, this is just one of the type of projects the funds are used for.

During July and August funds were also sent to Sister Hatune Dogan’s ministry to assist in the evacuation of Christian children who have been left parentless by the Islamic State, or ISIL (which was supported by the United States until sometime in 2012). 

And in Lebanon – The evangelical ministry organization we are working with in Lebanon is headquartered in the Bekaa Valley, one of the most dangerous places in Lebanon and a major hang out for Hezbollah. The valley is also adjacent to Syria, and contains most of the refugees from Syria. It is estimated that there are ten times as many Syrian families in the valley than aid agencies can handle. Just as in Jordan, most of the refugees are Sunni Muslims who are fightin the Assad government. The rest are Christians, who are seen as allies of President Assad, are fearful of staying in the UN camps a result.

The ministry we work with there runs a full time Christian school that has THREE SHIFTS of Syrian Christian children coming through it per day! The teachers, mostly volunteers, are there 12 to 14 hours a day. We send funds to assist this ministry in its work.

It is this ministry in Lebanon that is organizing our Christmas for Refugees project there. The children served will be primarily in the Bekaa Valley area. The Religious Freedom Coalition will hire one part time employee in Lebanon in November and December to assist.

The Christmas Program in Lebanon

We are planning ten Christmas dinners for Christian refugee children in Lebanon this year in addition to the existing program in Jordan. One hundred children will be served at each location. One of the dinners was to be held in Arsal, which was invaded and taken over by Islamists from Syria in July. Since then the Lebanese Army has recaptured the town, but ISIL and other Islamist groups are threatening to invade again unless the Lebanese release some of their fighters. As a result of the continuing conflict, we will not host a dinner in that city.

As of now all ten dinners will be held in the Bekaa Valley region where most of the refugees from Syria are located. The situation is VERY different in Lebanon from that in Jordan. Because of the complexity of the situation we will hire a local Christian to coordinate and monitor the setup of the ten dinners during the months of November and December. In the long run this will be far more economical than having a Religious Freedom Coalition staff person flying there once or twice to check on the process.

Our total cost for the Christmas program in Lebanon will be $41,000. This includes the transportation and dinners for 1,000 children as well as a box of food for each of the 1,000 families represented. Each box will contain about $30.00 in food staples such as rice, flour and cooking oil.

Please consider even a small donation to assist with the Christmas program today. Everything must be paid for well in advance. It is our prayer that everything  will be paid for in advance my December 1st!