Our Stories

Daoud came to us straight from years of captivity in IXXX. He had lost all his family members apart from his grandparents. He literally threw himself into Springs of Hope. The ground shook when he walked through our gates. Not just once but day after day. We looked at ourselves wondering who this kid was when in captivity. Obviously a called, respected leader of many.  We have never asked questions. The stories tell themselves when the time is right. We knew that Daoud’s stor

As frequently happens I sit to write about something but my heart leads me elsewhere. I had planned to make use of a cold wet day by writing about the school that we adopted on the other side of the mountain. As I wrote, I  found myself sighing and then paused a long pause which turned into a several hour halt as the meditations of my heart led me to the widows of Shariya camp, each a queen in her own right. Ladies of nobility and dignity.  Ladies, our friends, our family wit

Lisa is travelling in the region this week so instead of our usual update we would love to share some photos with you from our week... The Clinic Human Psychology Seminar Fresh Veg Camp Life in Winter Art Can you help? With your help, we are here throughout the seasons. A calm and supportive presence, a source of medical help, the provider of learning and so much more - bringing healing and hope to as many as we can.   Every donation makes a huge difference.

Modeh Ani - Is the Jewish prayer said in the morning upon waking.  It is a posturing for the day  We live in that place of Modeh Ani. Thanksgiving for us is a corporate expression of our individual prayer of thanks. As many of you celebrated Thanksgiving, we gathered on a sunny winter’s afternoon to give thanks for being alive, for our freedom, for the ability to make a choice or a decision. We gave thanks for family and friends and we gave thanks for each one of you who wal

“It is the obligation of everyone who lives in a safer room to open the door when someone in danger knocks.” Dina Nayer We send teams, usually headed up by Bashiq, our English teacher, into the camp twice a week. As time goes by, people, families tend to become a tent number or a statistic on a chart on the wall of Camp Management. We go to search for those in need; we are the ones who go to knock on torn tent doors, looking for those who have fallen into a crack that opened

"Whenever the cloud was taken up from above the tabernacle, (they) would go onwards in all their journeys. But if the cloud was not taken up, they did not journey till the day that it was taken up." Exodus 40:34 From time to time, we ask ourselves a kind of accounting of the soul question: Why are we still here? It’s been eleven years. What more can we do? What more can we be? Over the years, we have learned the value, the weightiness of "just being", of the times where there

Back in 2016 a large group of us drove in two vehicles to a newly erected camp for the displaced Arabs of Mosul.  Saad, who liked to be known as Operations Manager, sat or rather was crunched up in the back of my vehicle, and was, for Saad, unusually quiet as we listened to music. Wondering what was ‘wrong’ with him I asked him if all was ok with him. His reply took me by surprise, as it both broke with protocol and yet was a totally genuine “Saad” answer. “Be quiet, this mus

“The Dove on Silver Pinions Winged her Peaceful Way” - James Montgomery Several times a week we send teams, usually led by Bashiq, our English teacher into the camp, just to visit, check up on people and “to be”. The importance of presence and a listening ear can not be underestimated. To show someone that he is not just a section and tent number, but a person who we see. I share with you a simple story of one such man this week. A sad story, one that Bashiq heard as he walke

We never wanted War City. It was like receiving the Biblical “unloved sister”. Our eyes were on Shariya Camp and the government really wanted to dump War City on us newbies, but we soon both admired and fell in love with this precious community as our stake went deep into the ground.   By way of reminder it's a tenement dumping area that somehow got the auspicious title of city when it was never even a village. It’s a home though, a place of refuge, a safe haven to the Syrian

Thank you to everyone who heard our plea for help to keep our work going and who have given sacrificially this week. We really value and...

“Now Isaac sowed seed in that land ( in a time of famine ) and the same year reaped a hundredfold because the Lord blessed him.” Genesis...

Over the past two years quite a few of our “Kids” were able to immigrate, most to Australia, but also Canada and Germany. It was hard to...