{"id":31137,"date":"2018-10-16T06:59:47","date_gmt":"2018-10-16T06:59:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.acnmalta.org\/?p=31137"},"modified":"2018-10-16T10:02:30","modified_gmt":"2018-10-16T10:02:30","slug":"a-ray-of-light-for-syria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2018\/10\/16\/a-ray-of-light-for-syria\/","title":{"rendered":"A RAY OF LIGHT FOR SYRIA"},"content":{"rendered":"<style type=\"text\/css\"><\/style><h2 style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0A RAY OF LIGHT FOR SYRIA<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Suffering and hopelessness have become the norm for Syrians. Not only do they have to deal with the daily life plagued by terrorism as well as the loss of their homes and all of their possessions to bombs. They have also lost people beloved to them \u2013 to violence, disease or the difficult living conditions of a society devastated by violence. Here are a few instances:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Rasha Drazy was only 23 when her husband, Michael, died. The young lorry driver drove the route from the Valley of Christians to Damascus. One day he was hit by sniper fire. He died instantly. She not only lost her young husband but also her family\u2019s financial support. The mother of two children found herself in a terrible situation at the very beginning of the armed conflict in <em>2011.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201cWe lived in Damascus, then [we] fled to Marmarita to escape the rockets being fired into the capital on a daily basis. We arrived here in 2012. My husband was killed just a few months later,\u201d Rasha explains, her eyes reflecting her deep sorrow. In spite of her youth, her features are marked by all the hardships she has been through. Her children sit next to her, 10-year-old Michael and 8-year-old Rachel. \u201cLife was difficult even before the death of my husband. The children were no longer able to go to school because it was closed due to the war. Thanks to our meagre savings, we were able to survive until Michael found work again.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Stories such as this can be heard all over the country. The traumatic witness of thousands of women \u2013Mother Courage personified \u2013 who have lost their children and husbands during the war. Many have not only lost people they loved, but also the provider for the family\u2019s well being.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">A similar story is told by Darin Abboud, who has recently been widowed. Her husband just passed away after having suffered a stroke two years before. \u201cI am self-employed, sometimes working as a hairdresser, sometimes in the fields helping to bring in the fruit and vegetable during the harvest. I do everything I can to support my daughters,\u201d the 38-year-old mother said. \u201cMy five daughters are what motivates me to go on living. My happiness revolves around helping them continue to go to school, find work and be happy.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">As is written in the Gospels, it is the duty of Christians to provide solace to the poorest and those most in need.\u00a0 \u201cIf a brother or sister is ill-clad and in lack of daily food, and one of you says to them, \u2018Go in peace, be warmed and filled,\u2019 without giving them the things needed for the body, what does it profit?\u201d (James 2:15-16)Thanks to ACN the local Church is supporting these women, widows who are facing particularly difficult challenges in Syria.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201cThe aid we receive from the parish helps us a great deal. We have also received a lot of help from our neighbours and relatives,\u201d Darin said, \u201cbut without the financial support of the Church, I don\u2019t know what would have become of me and my daughters.\u201d She stressed that the parish has been supporting her since the death of her husband. Because of the Church\u2019s support she and others have been provided with daily essentials for all the families.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">More than 2,000 families receive emergency packages from ACN each month through St Peter\u2019s Aid Centre in Marmarita, which is run by the Catholic Melkite Church. \u201cThis aid revived our faith and hope,\u201d Rasha commented. \u201cThe Church was right there for us. Because of this, we have become more involved in the parish. I belong to the team of volunteers that coordinates the emergency relief for displaced families in the Valley of Christians.\u201d\u00a0 While she serves tea, Rasha Drazy talks about how there came a day when she decided not to let herself be pulled under by despair. Rather, she wanted to help other people also going through the most horrific moments of their lives. \u201cIn our current situation, it is impossible to know what the future will bring. That is why we try to live each day as best we can with the little that we have. I try to teach my children to have faith, to have joy in being close to Jesus. This helps us not lose hope when times are difficult.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Darin and her daughters wished to express their gratitude. She said; \u201cThe people who help us change the lives of many families. Particularly to those who help us without knowing us, I would like to say that you have given the important witness of generosity. Thank you.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<h5><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em>Thanks to the generosity of a large number of benefactors from all over the world, ACN was able to support 20 projects including food stamps, medical care, school scholarships for children and adolescents as well as rent assistance for the poorest families. <\/em><\/span><\/h5>\n<h5><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em><strong>ACN Malta<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h5>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0A RAY OF LIGHT FOR SYRIA Suffering and hopelessness have become the norm for Syrians. Not only do they have to deal with the daily life plagued by terrorism as well as the loss of their&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":31139,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-e-newsletters"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>A RAY OF LIGHT FOR SYRIA - Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2018\/10\/16\/a-ray-of-light-for-syria\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A RAY OF LIGHT FOR SYRIA - Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0A RAY OF LIGHT FOR SYRIA Suffering and hopelessness have become the norm for Syrians. 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