Iraqi Christian shows statue decapitated by IS in Mar Addai Church, Karemlash, northern Iraq © ACN
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Murcadha
O Flaherty and Mónica Zorita, January 12, 2017
Extremists
driven out of Iraq's the Nineveh Plains "riddled the region with land
mines" and "put bombs in children's toys" according to a senior
Catholic cleric.
Father
Luis Montes, Latin Episcopal Vicar for Kurdistan, told Aid to the Church in
Need: "Approximately 60 percent of the homes on the Nineveh Plains were
burned down. The terrorists not only seized all of their belongings. They
riddled the region with land mines."
He
said that members of Daesh (ISIS) had also "put bombs in with children's
toys" that would have exploded when people returned to their homes.
Father
Montes added: "It is true that some people were able to return to their
houses. However, they were only able to determine that they still exist.
Because it is impossible to live there."
He
said: "The mines first need to be cleared out of the entire region. Only
then can the villages be restored, and [then] from the ground up. Everything
still needs to be done, the people have nothing left. Despite everything,
Iraqis have lost neither their smiles nor their hope."
ACN's
project partner, Fr Montes added: "When we received the news that Daesh
was retreating, a spontaneous celebration broke out in the refugee camps.
"The
people went out into the streets to dance and sing, as though they did not have
any other problems in their lives."
He
added: "They have not lost the hope of being able to return to their
homes."
Despite
the challenges, Fr Montes said the Iraqi Christians lived "not only in
peace, but also with joy. "To talk about forgiveness with them is easy
because they forgive without bearing a grudge. They are what gives us
strength."
He
thanked ACN's benefactors for their generosity, adding that the refugees
"know that Christians from other countries have kept them alive. They
always pray for their benefactors."
The
priest asked for continued support this winter, stating that the pressing need
for refugees in Erbil is for "blankets and more blankets" as the
average temperature is -3°C.
The
charity continues to respond to urgent requests for aid from the Church in
Iraq.
Neville
Kyrke-Smith, Aid to the Church in Need (UK) National Director, said: "The
continued compassion of ACN benefactors is ensuring that these displaced
suffering Christians can remain in Erbil until it is safe for them to return to
practice their Catholic faith in their own villages and towns in the Nineveh Plains."
He
added: "This month, the charity has approved a further urgent aid payment
of more than £400,000 at this deeply difficult time to help thousands of
displaced Christians and refugees in the Archdiocese of Erbil to ensure the
Christian presence in northern Iraq."
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