Warm anoraks needed for refugee children in Damascus
“Why does God allow Syria to suffer so much? Why must the innocent die? Why does not God grant us peace, when we still pray for it?“ Questions like these are asked of the sisters on a daily basis by the young people in Damascus.
Sister Marie-Joseph Chanaa is horrified by the suffering she encounters every day. “The people are deeply traumatised“, she says. “Even the children have seen people terribly burned by the bombings; they have seen bits of bodies lying in the streets. Whenever they hear an explosion, they run to their parents and hide.“
Yet Sister Joseph-Marie does not give up, even when others despair: “I always say: ‘Lord, I am in your hands‘. I live in order to help these people and give them courage. We sisters say to the people ‘Always have hope!‘ We pray with the people a great deal, for Syria; we pray with them every day – with the children, with the families, with the sick. God is with us in this trial.“
The sisters, who belong to the congregation of the Sisters of Mercy of Besançon, are caring for people in Damascus who have been made refugees in their own country by the war. Now winter is approaching, and the sisters have asked ACN for help to buy warm anoraks for some 2,000 children and young people. We are helping with 30,000 Euros.
