ishtartv.com - premier.org.uk
By
Eno Adeogun, Fri 11 Aug 2017
More
than 600 displaced Christian families from Kurdish communities are returning
home after being driven out of their towns and villages in northern Iraq by the
jihadist group.
Syriac
Catholic Archbishop Petros Mouche told Christian charity, Aid to the Church in
Need (ACN) that people have already started to rebuild their lives.
He
said: "Some have found work or started restaurants, shops and trade
businesses. It takes a lot of courage to start from scratch again.
"For
us Syriac Catholic Christians in Iraq, liberation is of course a cause for great
joy because the vast majority of my diocese was staying in the environs of
Mosul and in Qaraqosh."
Syriac
Catholics made up 60 per cent of 150,000 Christians and others forced to flee
to Erbil from the Nineveh Plains and Mosul due to violence from ISIS.
An
ACN survey showed there is damage and destruction to nearly 13,000 dwellings
across nine predominantly Christian villages in Nineveh.
Despite
this, the Iraqi archbishop spoke of a "great hope that life will begin all
over again".
ACN
announced this month that it is giving £400,000 to help the displaced people in the Nineveh
Plains.
Archbishop
Mouche also highlighted the need to change the mind-set of those attracted to
Islamist extremism.
He
added: "We have to be able to live together. We are all sick of war. Wars
have been fought in Iraq off and on since 1958. We have to learn how to live in
peace."
Regina
Lynch, ACN's Head of Projects, said: "This is a crucial moment in the
history of the Iraqi Christians and we must support those who are now returning
to their villages as much as we can.
"At
the same time, we must pray for reconciliation in order to lay a new foundation
that ensures a future for the Christians in Iraq."
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