THE P RTAL
August 2017 Page 8
They had no one to help them apart from Sister Annie Demerjian , whom I met and who I travelled with in Aleppo .
“ She and her group were able to provide him with a home on the fourth floor of some flats in Aleppo . They provided clothes . Because of his injury , the clothes had to be specially made for him by Fadi , one of the volunteers , who is a tailor . He has been happily living in Aleppo receiving rent money so he and his wife Samar can continue living in a flat there . They have clothes , rent money , heating fuel , but all the while he is very worried for his two children . He was in mobile phone contact with them back in Raqqa , but now that contact has ceased . He fears if he was to give his real name and show his face , ISIS would do their worst regarding his two teenage children .
“ He was determined to thank us for our help . The help of our benefactors is what ’ s really kept him and his family alive . They have given him hope . They have given him strength . They have given him a sense that his life is worth living . He was delighted to tell his story as much as he could because he wanted other people to understand the suffering he ’ s gone through , but also the hope he still clings on to despite of all the suffering .”
We talked about the whole question of the support for refugees and how Christians have lost out with regard to plans to enable the worst-affected to come to the UK and other countries in the West . Reports have indicated that the refugees selected for UK asylum are drawn from UN camps .
Christians have for the most part not entered such camps . John investigated this when he travelled from Syria to neighbouring Lebanon . There , he caught up with refugees living in a camp on the edge of Zahle , a predominantly Christian town , not far from the Syrian border .
He described a visit to one UN camp . “ We were introduced to a young man who told us that he was in charge of that particular camp . He said the camp was one of the largest in that area . We asked him if there were any Christians in the camp and if they were willing to receive Christians there . He said ‘ yes ’ but that only one family had come and they had only stayed one night .
“ We asked why hadn ’ t they stayed . He said that it was imperative for Christians to abide by Muslim customs . With that message ringing in our ears , we visited the Christian families that had come from Syria . They are living in homes in Zahle ; these are Christian homes , and the only homes where the refugees feel safe . They
Fadi , a volunteer with the Sister Annie group , holds a Marian statue belonging to ‘ Elias ’. Elias watched helpless as Daesh ( ISIS ) commanders came to his home and threw his statue in the bin . The visit was prompted by his failure to pay the ‘ Jizya ’ tax imposed on Christians when Raqqa fell to ISIS who made it their capital . ‘ Elias ’ was bound hand and foot to a cross for ‘ transgressions ’ against the Daesh regime . When a bomb landed close to where he was being held , guards fled and Elias was set free , returned to his home , met up with his wife , collected up his statue and they made the journey to Aleppo on a lorry
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live fifteen or more to one single room with a very cramped kitchen , and a very small bathroom . They are seated all around the walls of the room .
“ They said they would rather live in that situation than in the camps , despite the fact that the camps are better furnished , and there is more provided for them . The truth is that they just don ’ t feel safe in those camps . There have been issues with Christians not being able to register in the camps .
“ Our concern is that the Christians most deserving of asylum in the West are being overlooked because they are not in the camps from which refugees are drawn .”
“ We have also heard it said that Daesh supporters and activists , and other extremists , are actually in these camps . If that is so , there are grave dangers of failing to carry out due diligence checks on refugees being considered for asylum . We are not saying they are all extremists , just that reports suggest there are some .
“ We heard a story from families in Zahle which in itself speaks of the extraordinary levels of distrust that has now developed between them and their former Muslim neighbours . That confidence and trust has broken down . The story involves a man called Elias Gargous . He was a fruit farmer based just outside Rableh in westen Syria .
“ He and his nephew were captured by an Islamic group and they blind-folded both of them and led them to a convent . There their blindfolds were removed and
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