THE
P RTAL
June 2017
Page 20
Aid to the Church in Need
“Nineveh will arise”
Murcadha O Flaherty of Aid reports some positive news
from the Nineveh Plains
F
ollowing the liberation of the Nineveh Plains from extremist group Daesh (ISIS) – plans are
now underway to rebuild homes for thousands of Iraqi Christians forced from their homes. Around
12,000 homes need to be rebuilt, according to a survey carried out by Aid to the Church in Need, the Catholic
charity for persecuted and other suffering Christians – and in May 2017 the rebuilding of the first 100 houses
in the Nineveh Plains began.
The start of the reconstruction was marked by the
ceremonial planting of olive trees in the Christian
villages of Bartella, Karamlesh and Qaraqosh.
Aid to the Church in Need’s Father Andrzej
Halemba, who is acting chairman of the Nineveh
Reconstruction Committee (NRC), described
the “Olive Tree Ceremonies” in early May as a
“historic and unrepeatable occasion for the future of
Christianity in Iraq”.
The NRC is an ecumenical venture between the
region’s three main Christian Churches: the Syriac
Orthodox Church, the Syriac Catholic Church and the
Chaldean Church.
Father Halemba said, “By starting work on these first
three reconstruction sites, we are hoping to send a clear who want to go home can do so.
signal to the thousands of Christian families who were
driven from their homes on the Plains of Nineveh and
Since 2014, the charity has been providing emergency
who are now living in makeshift conditions in Erbil aid including food parcels for displaced families in
and other towns of Iraqi Kurdistan.
Erbil who were forced to flee the Daesh violence in
Mosul and towns in the surrounding Nineveh Plains.
“This is a decisive historical moment. If we now
miss the opportunity to help the Christians return to
ACN’s project partner in northern Iraq, Archbishop
their homes on the Plains of Nineveh, these families Bashar Warda, oversees the emergency aid being given
might well decide to leave Iraq forever. That would be to more than 100,000 internally displaced persons in
an enormous tragedy.”
Erbil.
He added, “The presence of the Christians in this
region is of vital importance, and not only historically,
but also politically and culturally.
The archbishop visited London in late May seeking
to raise awareness of the ongoing security concerns of
Iraq’s Christians as well as requesting ongoing help for
displaced families who fled the Nineveh Plains.
“The Christians represent a bridge of peace between
the various Muslim groups that are fighting each other
As the rebuilding commenced in May, ACN had just
– they make a crucial contribution to the educational paid out more than £420,000 (€500,000) to provide six
system and are respected by all moderate Muslims.”
months’ rent for 1,800 displaced Christian families.
But despite rebuilding work beginning, there is still
a very long way to go before all the displaced families
Aid to the Church in Need - www.acnuk.org
contact: [email protected] or call 020 8642 8668