Emmanuel cried as he watched the Missionary cut down his precious apple trees. “You’re going to kill my trees,” he protested to no avail. The seedlings had been given to him 9 years ago, by an aid agency and he had lovingly tended them as they grew into large leafy mature specimens.
His tears weren’t just for his trees, but also for the comfortable lifestyle he and his family had been forced to leave behind in Baghdad. He had been a profitable banker, with a lovely home. His son and daughter enjoyed a good education and his whole family worshipped freely at their local Church. The US- led invasion in 2003 had changed all that. Militant Islamists and those wishing to make easy money terrorised anyone in their way and Christians were seen as particularly easy prey. Christians were told they had four options: ‘Convert to Islam; pay large amounts of protection money; get out; or have your head cut off;’ and the threat of kidnap was also a daily reality. Samuel and his family fled Baghdad like hundreds of thousands of Christians, leaving their homes, possessions and businesses behind.
100,000 of these internally displaced Christians ended up in the Kurdish controlled region of Northern Iraq. For many of them, this had once been their ancestral home before Saddam Hussein had forced their forefathers out back in 70s. One such Christian is Munir, an Armenian who with around 12 other families took refuge in a deserted and dilapidated school house in an equally deserted Kurdish village, in the middle of a large desert area. This is where Charles, an Open Doors co-worker, found them in February 2007.
Aid deliveries from partners helped them survive their first harsh and freezing winter. Charles says, “We didn’t just feed their stomachs but also their souls. It was wonderful to see their delight as they received not just food, clothing and fuel, but also Bibles in their own languages. One man lovingly kissed each Bible as it came off the truck.”
However, the magnitude of the task of rebuilding the lives and livelihoods of these internally displaced people was enormous. They now spoke a different language to their Armenian Kurdish ancestors and had lost all their farming skills.”
Charles’s wife Linda explained how difficult it was for the girls whose education and career prospects had been so suddenly terminated, for the mothers and children who had witnessed appalling acts of violence and the difficulty that young women displaced from their social environment had in finding suitable husbands. Now, a newly built and re-furbished school provides education, trauma counselling enables many to find emotional and spiritual healing. A community hall, built in November 2008, facilitates social gatherings and even weddings, just after Munir’s own son Fadi was married in the school. Standing Strong Through the Storm seminars are also enabling Christians to forgive the perpetrators who committed acts of atrocity against them and find strength to love and reach out to Muslim neighbours.
So, the smiles are back on the children’s faces and Munir’s village has now grown from 12 to 115 families. Perhaps Munir’s newly planted olive trees which won’t bear fruit for years to come are the most potent symbol of the hope that they now have for their future and their prayer for peace in their land.
Charles also visited other villages, including Emmanuel’s, up in the fertile but remote mountains in the north and viewed his large, beautiful apple trees which were in fact bearing very little fruit. “Don’t worry,” said Tom, Charles’s fruit-growing consultant friend. “We have to prune these trees down drastically but next year you’ll see, you will have so much fruit – enough to sell and make a living for your whole family.”
Tom also taught Emmanuel about cross-pollination while Charles organised for different strains of apple trees to be delivered and aid the pollination process. They helped construct concrete stakes and steel wires to support the fruit branches as they grew. Emmanuel’s neighbour, Sliwa, benefited from an irrigation system to support new fruits such as strawberries and cherries, while cattle farming and improved marketing methods changed the fortunes of many other families. Instead of worrying where today’s meal will come from, Emmanuel is now able to make plans for the future and wants to diversify and grow other fruits such as apricots and kiwis.
Others are also benefiting from this regional transformation. However, Charles warns us, “We can’t be complacent. There are thousands of displaced Christian families like Munir’s and Emmanuel’s, who also need support. If we don’t want to see them forced from their homeland and leaving it devoid of a Christian presence we need to help them.”
Like Samuel’s apple trees, the relatively large Iraqi Christian population which once numbered 800,000 before the invasion has been reduced to well below 400,000 now. However, as the worldwide Church pulls together we can see the Church in this land transformed into an abundantly fruitful Christian community, in turn bringing astounding spiritual and physical transformation to the whole region.
One particularly exciting development is the formation of a Church made up indigenous Kurdish people who had been forced to convert to Islam in the 7th Century but are now re-discovering their Christian roots. Although individual Christians can face intense opposition from their own families, mostly, they live in relative safety from the wrath of militant Islamists. Bibles and Christian literature are part of the vital ongoing work to ensure this Kurdish Church also matures and bears much fruit.
