Syria: Keeping faith and hope alive

Fr Ziad Hilal SJ

A friend and colleague of murdered Jesuit priest Father Frans van der Lugt is helping disabled children and destitute families in Syria. Aid to the Church in Need is supporting a pastoral centre in the city of Homs headed by Fr Ziad Hilal SJ which is providing medical assistance for those with physical disabilities and education for youngsters with learning difficulties - as well as humanitarian aid.

Fr Hilal started the centre's work in 2012 at the request of Fr Frans van der Lugt, who was killed last month while looking after Christian families trapped in the Old City of Homs.

According to Fr Hilal, 6,000 families from Homs and the surrounding area are cared for at the centre - regardless of their religious or ethnic background. The Jesuit priest is supported in his work by about 100 volunteers.

The help for the work in Homs comes as part of a new emergency aid package of nearly £230,000 (€280,000) announced today (7 May 2014) by Aid to the Church in Need for those caught up in the conflict in Syria. As well as helping the centre in Homs, the charity's aid will assist displaced Christian families in Aleppo and Wadi al-Nasara (the Valley of Christians), close to the Lebanese border. The Catholic charity also announced a further £106,700 (€130,000) in emergency relief for Syrian refugees in Lebanon.

Supporting people in Homs is a top priority for Aid to the Church in Need and speaking to the charity before Fr Van der Lugt's death Fr Hilal said the situation there was difficult: "Time and again there are fights between the Free Syrian Army and government troops. Recently a bomb fell very close by. Fortunately nothing happened to our secretary, but her home was destroyed."

He added: "Of the 120,000 Christians who used to live here, 6,000 had left the city and fled to other areas in Syria or abroad."

Fr Hilal's superior had given him permission to leave the city, but he had rejected the idea. He told Aid to the Church in Need: "If we go, who will then serve the people?"

Aid to the Church in Need Middle East projects coordinator Fr Andrzej Halemba said he fears that the situation in Syria will continue to deteriorate leading to more aid being needed for rising numbers of displaced families.

He said: "The suffering of the people in Syria, and especially of the Christians, will become even greater."

More than nine million Syrians have fled their homes, of which two million have fled abroad and seven million are still in the country.

Since the start of the war in March 2011 Aid to the Church in Need has given nearly £2.9 million (€3.5 million) for displaced families in Syria and refugees in neighbouring countries - with £520,000 (€634,000) in emergency relief being given since January 2014.

To support the work of ACN in Syria please visit: www.acnuk.org/donate2.php

Source: ACN