Today marks the eleventh anniversary of the Syrian civil war, which began on March 15, 2011. It is estimated that as a result of the outbreak of the conflict, about 84% of the Syrian population lives below the poverty line. More than 14 million people are affected by the humanitarian crisis, and 57% of survivors of direct contact with the conflict report permanent damage. Most of the population suffers from hunger. One of the witnesses of this tragic reality is Father Ibrahim, who from his Aleppo tells us about the daily challenges, also increased following the cut in electricity by the government. We publish his dramatic letter.
The words of Father Ibrahim
Dear friends,
Peace and good.
Today we remember the beginning of the Syrian crisis. Eleven years have now passed, while we continue to hope for a day when peace will illuminate our wounded country. It comes to my mind all the terrible scenarios of this war and its results, especially the stage of Covid and the embargo that began in 2019 and that continues today and manifests itself through a severe deterioration in living conditions, continuing to leave its shadows on the life of every person living in Aleppo.
A cold that "bites" without any possibility to warm up, a hunger due to inflation and rising prices, especially food. Ours is a life in the dark where we have in the city two hours of electricity that are not enough to pull the water to the houses ...
For us it was almost impossible for days and days to take a shower, clean the clothes and rinse them and iron the clothes...
A harsh reality, I said, that continues to this day.
With the war in Ukraine, our wounds are opening up again... and the tears return to the eyes, because in Ukraine the drama of evil in the world is repeated, a new hotbed is created, as in our country, for suffering and death...
We follow with sorrow the black process of war while we are living our process, of slow death... very slow...
In prayer for Ukraine we pray for a disordered world that loses its compass and goes towards its self-destruction. Among so many results, the war in Ukraine has many on the life of man all over the world, so imagine what could be its repercussions on the life of the man who lives in Syria, especially in Aleppo.
A few days before the war, flour disappeared from the Aleppo market. With its beginning, a severe and sudden leap in the rise in food prices, has launched the man already beaten on the path of death, for another deterioration, with which one can no longer speak of a life worthy of the human person.
Light in the darkest reality
In this situation, here is a brown "apron" that has the smell of holiness of St. Francis, who continue to hope against all hope ... he continues to wash the feet of his brother citizens who have all become poor. Faced with the worsening of the situation from all points of view, if the light does not arrive, our knees bent in prayer implore it and with humble, creative and disinterested service, make it present in the life of every Aleppian.
The light comes, dear friends, because Christ is risen; it comes because charity is present and is very strong and effective;
The Morning is there because the journey of the Church is a "walking together" and because we are all together praying for each other and because we help each other together to continue this mission in Aleppo. Good continuation on the Lenten journey;
good continuation on the path of total self-giving to God and to our brothers and sisters wounded by the war;
and good continuation on the path of charity, manifested in prayer and generous donations... Please, do not forget Syria, please, in the midst of so many worries, do not forget the man left in the existential periphery of the world, here in Aleppo... I wish you all the best in The Lord.
Fr. Ibrahim
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