They survived war, violence and

genocide, but the Christian victims of terror

organisations like ISIS are are still in crisis.

To find out more about their ongoing troubles, browse

these six articles published in various magazines
written by Nuri Kino and Susan Korah.

You will also learn more about the alarming

situation in Lebanon and Syria.

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Children unpacking ADFA food box in Qamishli, Syria. Photo: ADFA

How sanctions cheat children

By Susan Korah

Leading voices are urging Canada to rethink Middle East sanctions that make daily
life a struggle just to get daily bread, Susan Korah reports.

”E
conomic sanctions that afflict the poor must be
lifted. I stress the word ‘poor,’” Archimandrite
(head of a monastery) Georges Masri said in
an e-mail from his home base in Syria. He was responding
to my request for his views on the unfolding humanitarian
crisis in his country, and whether sanctions have
exacerbated it.
“The traditional war destroyed our infrastructure and
service buildings such as hospitals, factories, energy and
water centers, oil sources, and what was not destroyed was
stolen,” he added.
“The economic war (sanctions and inflation) destroyed
the lives of people. The most important requirements of
life that are considered normal for the rest of the world
have become for us a luxury: by this I mean heating,
medicine and earning a livelihood with dignity.”
The archimandrite’s sentiments were shared by several
Middle Eastern and international leaders of various
religious and political persuasions who recently sent an
urgent letter of appeal requesting that U.S. President Joe
Biden remove sanctions.
While the spotlight was on U.S. sanctions, Canadian
ones have much the same effect, say policy analysts,
academics and humanitarian aid workers. Towed along by

1
the powerful currents of U.S. foreign policy and its own
penchant for multilateralism, Canada has its sanctions
that are adding to peoples’ burdens as well.
“We urge both the U.S. and Canadian governments
to lift the unjust and illegal sanctions imposed on the
Syrian people,” His Holiness Mor Ignatius Aphram II, the
Damascus-based Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch
and All the East told Convivium in an e-mail.
There is a glaring discrepancy between Canada’s use of
sanctions as a silver bullet response to international crises,
and its immigration policy.
If Canada’s goal is to enhance international peace and
stability rather than the country’s status on the world stage
as a benevolent, refugee-welcoming country, it is time
for the government to lift sanctions that are exacerbating
the misery of vulnerable people in
countries already devastated by war,
conflict and COVID-19. The struggle for
Unlike the U.S., Canada has an
open-door policy for immigrants, daily bread leaves
laudable for the most part, but which
requires some critical thinking. people exhausted
To compensate for falling
numbers last year due to COVID-19, physically and
Canada has set the most ambitious
immigration levels plan in its emotionally,
history. Plans are under way to
welcome over 400,000 immigrants leaving them little
per year over the next three years.
This is 0.9 per cent of the country’s energy to focus
population in immigrants, which
is three times higher than the per on the deadly
capita newcomer intake in the U.S.
Rather than increase the quota of pandemic raging
immigrants and refugees, Canadian
policy makers could expend more around them.
energy in changing the situations
that cause people to flee their own
countries in the first place.
Atif Kubursi, professor emeritus at McMaster University
in Hamilton and a former executive director of the UN
Economic and Social Commission, points to the example
of Canadian sanctions on Syria.
“If a Syrian businessman wants to buy Canadian
products, he has to open an account for the transaction.
But this cannot be done as the Canadian government
prevents Canadian banks from opening such accounts for
the purposes of trade with Syria – no matter how benign
the Canadian product may be, or how urgently it might be
needed in Syria,” Kubursi told Convivium.
Sanctions against Lebanon are just as devastating for
ordinary people there, he said.
“Sanctions against Lebanon are often justified as being
directed exclusively at military items, but they frequently
end up being applied to virtually all goods – including
spare parts needed to operate machinery in hospitals, the
electricity sector and pharmaceutical companies,” Kubursi
said.
Lebanon desperately needs these items to help
2
survivors of the massive explosion in Beirut last August
and to stem the tide of COVID-19, which is overloading
the healthcare system.
The streets of Damascus and other cities such as
Homs and Aleppo in Syria are teeming with war-weary
people literally scrambling for their daily bread, according
to humanitarian aid workers and the people they serve.
The country, once known as the breadbasket of the Middle
East, has become an international basket case.
“Syria is on the brink of a famine,” Carl Hetu, Canadian
director of Catholic Near East Welfare Association
(CNEWA) told Convivium in an interview.
“Lebanon is facing similar realities,” he added.
Nuri Kino, leader of the Sweden-based charity A
Demand for Action, paints a grim picture of life in both
countries.
“One of our volunteers and
Board members, Miriam Rasho,
travelled recently from Sweden to
Syria to assess the situation there,”
he said in an interview. “A man
she met there told her that it was
better to live under the bombs of
war than under the sanctions from
the West that have left the economy
in a quandary. He also told her it is
impossible for a country to recover
under such conditions because it’s
in a chokehold.”
“The number of people on the
streets begging for food has doubled
in a year, both in government and
opposition-controlled areas,” Kino
said.
The struggle for daily bread
leaves people exhausted physically
and emotionally, leaving them
little energy to focus on the deadly
pandemic raging around them.
Kino said: “One of Miriam Rasho’s informants told her:
‘If you get sick, you get sick. We are all mentally exhausted
after more than 10 years of war. It will just be another illness
and most people will not be able to afford medical care. We
ADFA board member Miriam Rasho from Sweden in Syria to assess
the situation there. Photo: ADFA
don’t have time other than to hunt for bread for the day.’”
Asked about Lebanon he said: “Beirut and other cities
are under lockdown and curfew. Our volunteers had to get
special permission to deliver food to the needy. One of the
families that came to us for food was that of a little Syrian
refugee girl called Sama Hamad.”
Sama had her brief moment of fame when the Middle
Eastern media covered the story of her entire family’s
survival in the August port explosion, and surgeons
replaced an eye she had lost.
“But when the media spotlight turned away from
Beirut, she was just another forgotten refugee child. She
was very happy and grateful we helped her.”
Canada has so far paid no heed to UN calls to ease
sanctions, including an appeal last year by UN Secretary
General Antonio Gutiérrez to all countries that have im-
posed sanctions on others.
But the people of Syria and Lebanon have reached a
breaking point, and it is high time to re-think the strategy
of using sanctions as a means to win political concessions.
The solution to humanitarian crises is not necessarily to
Father and daughter have found water in Hassakeh, Syria. 
3
bring the brightest and best as immigrants and refugees to
Canada, but to help ease the conditions that force people
to flee in sheer desperation.
Canada would do well to pay close attention to the
advice of His Holiness Mor Ignatius Aphram II, Syriac
Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and All the East.
“To help alleviate the suffering of the Syrian people,
Canada can start by removing the sanctions and helping
the Syrian people recover and rebuild their lives,” he told
Convivium. “Also, by engaging in development projects to
help people find jobs and provide for families instead of
encouraging an exodus. This can be done through local
churches and humanitarian organizations.”
If Canada and other countries do not act swiftly and
effectively to ease the burdens of the people of Syria and
Lebanon, countless more of them will go to bed cold and
hungry. More children like Sama Hamad will have to
depend on charity for their daily bread.
And some day, even charitable organizations will run
out of bread. g
Susan Korah is an Ottawa-based journalist.
Photo: ADFA
 Stop the starvation
of Syrian children
by Nuri Kino
A
fter 10 years of war, Syrians are on the verge of
starvation, according to the World Food Program.
Millions of hard-pressed Syrians go to bed hungry
and cold every night.
”Please stop asking us about the pandemic,” Amar, a
teacher, told me on a WhatsApp line. ”We cannot afford
to worry about the coronavirus. We are struggling to get
food on the table. If this table isn’t sold, we don’t eat. We
are now selling our furniture to buy bread. At night, we
hug our children tight to protect them from the cold. We
have neither electricity nor gas to warm our houses.”
Amar’s salary is approximately $20 a month in U.S.
currency. He, his wife, and two children live in a two-
bedroom apartment. The rent is $20 a month. His wife
Leyla has tried to find work, but it has been impossible.
Instead, she walks from one charity organization to
another to find food. She tells me that they have to pay $6
for electricity every month (12 hours a day). Every month
they go short. Leyla says that before the sanctions, at least
her cousin in Germany could send them some money.
Because of the sanctions, that’s not possible anymore.
A pound of meat costs $4, a pound of tea $3, bulgur or
rice $1.50, and so on.
”We cannot afford to buy either meat, chicken, or
vegetables, and we are not among the poorest. We are
supposed to be middle class, or at least were,” Leyla says.
She hopes that none of her family members will get sick
— ”that would cost a fortune, as medicine and hospitals
are very expensive.”
In June last year, President Donald Trump’s admin-
istration put new economic sanctions on Syria, targeting
the Syrian President Bashar Assad. Since then, inflation
has increased to its highest level. After being one of the
most flourishing countries in the Middle East, Syria now
has streets filled with beggars and homeless people.
In December, Miriam Rasho, my colleague — a board
member of A Demand for Action, the Sweden-based
charity I founded — went from Sweden to Damascus
to write a report about the impact of the sanctions on
4
the Syrian people. During her visit, she was shocked
by the number of beggars on the street. Their numbers
have doubled from when she was in the country during
Christmas 2019. In her first article, she asks how many
more would be on the streets if more than a quarter of the
population had not fled the country.
The Syrian population before the war was 21 million.
According to UNICEF, the Syrian refugee crisis remains
the largest displacement crisis in the world, with 5.6 mil-
lion registered refugees, including over 2.5 million chil-
dren, living in Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey.
In 2020, the situation in all affected countries was further
aggravated by COVID-19 and the subsequent economic
downturn. According to the United Nations High Com-
missioner for Refugees, there are 6.2 million people, in-
cluding 2.5 million children, displaced within Syria, the
biggest internally displaced population in the world.
Almost half of Syria’s population is in need of aid, both
in government-held and opposition-controlled areas.
Patriarchs of churches of the Middle East, diplomats,
parliamentarians, and scholars from around the world
sent an open letter on Jan. 21 to President Biden urgently
requesting that he lift the economic sanctions against
Syria.
Among them is Ignatius Aphrem II, patriarch of the
Syriac Orthodox Church, known to many Americans
because before he became the global head of his church,
he was the archbishop of the Eastern United States. He
now resides in Damascus, the capital of Syria.
”President Biden, in his first day in the Oval Office, has
signed several Executive Orders to correct what is wrong,”
said the patriarch when I reached him in Syria. “We
also hope he will listen to our plea and lift the sanctions
to end the misery of millions of Syrians. Children are
literally starving because of the embargo against Syria.
People are dying from the lack of medicine and adequate
medical supplies. The harsh winter conditions are further
increasing the suffering of the people since fuel is not
available to heat their homes. Even bread, essential for
Syrian family diet, is not readily available. It’s very hard to
watch all these and not be able to take action.”
The letter was prompted by a report by Alena Dou-
han, the United Nations special rapporteur on unilateral
coercive measures. In the report issued on Dec. 29, 2020,
Douhan expressed her concern that imposed sanctions
would exacerbate the already dire humanitarian situation
in Syria, especially during the course of the COVID-19
pandemic, exposing Syrian people to the risks of major
human rights violations.
The letter emphasized the fact that “millions of hard-
pressed Syrians go to bed hungry and cold,” stressing that
the unilateral sanctions imposed by the U.S. add to their
5
economic plight. It added, “We believe that the legitimate
national interests of the U.S. can be pursued without
collectively punishing the Syrian people by means of
economic sanctions.”
The U.S. and the European Union must adopt
alternatives to comprehensive sanctions on Syria. The
international community should not impose collective
suffering on innocent civilians for the sins of their
governments. The entire human rights canon is premised
on the inherent dignity of the individual. g
Nuri Kino is an independent investigative, multi-award-win-
ning reporter and minority rights expert. He is the founder
of A Demand for Action and #tellcorona.
 Beirut: Life in the
shadow of genocide
by Nuri Kino

Their family members were murdered by ISIS, they have been expelled
and persecuted, now they are fighting to survive the day. Nuri Kino,
journalist and founder of the organization A Demand For Action, writes
about two intensive days of relief work in Beirut, while he and many
others are waiting for an important signal and many are holding their
breath. Will Biden acknowledge the genocide of the Ottoman Empire? A
White House leak suggests that on April 24, President Joe Biden might
acknowledge the genocide of Christians by the Ottoman Empire in 1915.

I
t is a symbolic date. On the night of April 24, 1915,
more than 100 Armenian intellectuals were arrested in
Constantinople (Istanbul). They were executed shortly
afterwards. It was the start of the genocide of Christians
by the Ottoman Empire. At least 1.5 million Christian
Armenians, Assyrians/Chaldean/Syriacs and Greeks were
then slaughtered.
I’m in Lebanon, for more than 6 years we have helped
victims of the 2014 Genocide. The way this is connected to
the modern genocide is described below.
For a moment, in the darkness, a light shone on the
fate of Iraq’s Christian* indigenous people and other
minorities. But the spotlights on the Pope’s visit to Iraq
have now gone out.
Since 2004, many of us have fought to shed light on the
plight of Iraq’s indigenous people, its religious and ethnic
minorities. It has taken 17 years for the world media to give
us satisfactory reports about their plight. The Pope’s visit
was a tremendous win. Media from all over the globe laid
bare the atrocities against Christians, Yazidis, Mandeans ADFA giving food to those in need in Beirut. Photo: ADFA.

6
Food distribution in Tripoli, Lebanon. 
and others. A genocide. But what about the victims left
behind, the survivors and their needs?
I’m well aware that the wars in Syria in Iraq have
affected all the country’s inhabitants, no matter their
religion and ethnicities. I’ve also helped to expose the
horrifying and endless suffering of Yazidis, 8,000 of their
women and girls kidnapped and subjected to tortures
beyond comprehension. As of August 2020, nearly 3,000
Yazidis were still missing. Hundreds of thousands remain
in Internally Displaced Persons camps in Northern Iraq
living under squalid conditions.
Recently, I watched Once Upon a Time in Iraq, a five
episode 2020 British documentary, and I was astonished
to find no mention of the hundreds of churches that were
bombed, all the clergies who were killed and the system-
atic cleansing of Christians in Iraq. I’ve lived with this
knowledge for 17 years, the first ten years as a journalist
and author, and since 2014 also as an activist, or rather,
one of the voices of the unheard
In autumn 2004, the first horrifying video from Iraq
showed up on my laptop. Less than a year after the fall
7
Photo: ADFA
of Saddam Hussein, the ethno-religious cleansing of Iraq
began with a grotesque video announcing the murders
of three young men. That day we learned of a new term
“beheading.” One of the men was young Raymond
Shamoun. He looked straight into the camera, his eyes
clouded with fear, begging for his life. Seconds later a slow
knife cut through his throat … According to the al-Qaida,
he, Fadi ( also a Christian from Mosul) and an Egyptian
man were”kuffar”, infidels and traitors.
Fast forward to April 15th 2021 and Beirut. Our Swe-
den/based grassroots human rights and charity organiza-
tion, A Demand For Action (ADFA) began in response
to the ISIS genocide in the summer of 2014. For six years
now we’ve been distributing food in Lebanon, Syria and
recently also Armenia. Most people registered with us in
Beirut are Iraqi and Syrian refugees forced to flee from the
terrorist’s violence, and we distributed 30 tons of food and
hygiene articles to 830 families.
Unfortunately not everyone is eligible for aid, one day,
about 100 unregistered people stood in line and refused to
leave. I cautioned them that they must be careful, they’d
been too close to each other for several hours. But no one
listened. They were wearing masks and we sprayed their
hands with sanitizer to reduce the spread of infection as
much as we could. But because they were unregistered
we couldn’t give them our scarce supplies. People were
desperate and some had forged information in order to
get bread for their children. We had to calm down some
of our volunteers and the needy when shouting erupted.
I understand why people resorted to cheating to get food
for their children. Who wouldn’t?
”You should be ashamed, you know very well who my
brother was and what my family has sacrificed to save the
lives of others, and now we are not worth a piece of bread,”
a woman shouted at me. I had no idea what she meant.
She showed me a picture of her brother on her cell phone.
Then she broke down, cried, sobbed, stopped breathing…
and fainted.
After we revived her, she told us her name was Meyada.
Her sister Ghada and her husband Salah were also among
those not registered. And she was right, we recognized her
brother’s name. He fought against the terrorists and saved
48 Christian families. The last thing Meyada heard from
him was when he called and said ”the Islamic State has
taken me.” The call was interrupted. That was almost seven
years ago. They and their families have been refugees
in Beirut for over five years. Without help. Forgotten
among the massive number of refugees in Lebanon and
in the world. While they were telling us about the day Tony, born in Beirut.  Photo: ADFA.
ISIS painted the letter N for Nazari (Christians) on their
houses in Mosul I suddenly realized they must have been
neighbors with Raymond Shamoun. The man I first saw they came in slowly, two by two. Feryal, another of our
beheaded in that hideous video. volunteers showed Raqqiya and her sister Fatina in. They
”We were neighbors, I saw when they took him. They gave us their documents. She and her daughter were in
were not even masked, they forced him into the trunk of a the Syriac Catholic church massacre of October 2010 in
car; that was the last time we saw him until the video was Bagdad. Six suicide jihadists attacked the church during
circulated throughout Mosul. They even sold copies of it mass. 48 parishoners were killed and 80 other people
in shops,” Salah told us. We promised Meyada and all the injured.
others who didn’t get food to come to our office the next I’d heard about that attack from a man who called
day for their share. me from the bathroom of the church. He wanted me to
report it, hoping that might save lives. He had my number
The first one to arrive was Leyla. One of our volun- because he was one of the asylum seekers that Sweden had
teers (a refugee from Iraq herself) asked Leyla how she deported back to Iraq, illegal deportations I investigated
was. Leya immediately broke down in tears. She showed for Swedish radio. Over the phone I heard two young
us photos of her family. She only has one son left. Her priests plead with the terrorists not to kill anyone. When
two other sons died in Iraq. One was killed when he was they were found afterwards, the clergy’s bodies had been
stopped and asked for his id-card, it said ”Masihi” for sprayed with bullets.
Christian. That was enough reason for the terrorists to
ambush him. Her brother was killed in the same way. Her Later that afternoon Feryal suggested that we pay a
second son died from a stroke caused by all the distress. visit to Ashur’s mother who was sick and weak. Ashur was
She has one surviving son, now 36 years old. He was born kidnapped at the same time as Feryal. Ashur and two oth-
with a brain disease and is not fully functional. ers were then forced to wear orange jumpsuits and shot
Our volunteers cried too, when Leyla could not stop. in the head from behind as shown on an ISIS camera. I
Hiba, from Damascus made me promise not to tell her promised to take food and medicine to his mother.
story, it’s mindblowing. Another one of our volunteers, From the kitchen I heard children’s voices. When
Lena, lived in hell back in Baghdad. Only by a miracle did I went to see who they were I couldn’t believe my eyes.
she, her husband and children survive after threats to kill Feryal’s daughters. Now teenagers. While hugging them
them if they didn’t leave their house and their country. I couldn’t help of thinking of their cousin that one of the
We had to close the door, afraid of the spread of the terrorists took as a wife while they were captives. Today,
corona virus, because the needy in the line, both Lebanese no one knows of her fate.
and refugees, found it hard to observe caution. So Along with 200 others, Feryal’s entire family was

8
kidnapped by ISIS, in February 2015, in Khabour,
northeastern Syria, and brought to Raqqa—she, her
husband and their children. What they have experienced
is almost impossible to absorb. The lives of these children,
and those of others in the same situation, who were finally
liberated, have completely stagnated during their time as
refugees.
Another kid ran from the balcony to hug me and the
other adults – little Waskin who’s family we found in a
Beirut slum. His father had fought the terrorists and was
wanted, so the family fled from Hassake in Syria, leaving
their beautiful house, to the Beirut ghetto. Seeing Wasking
reminded me of another child from Hassake who’s father’s
arm was chopped off because he had mother Mary
tatooed on it. Later the same day they sent his wife Iptisam
a message saying that she’d better take her daughter and
leave their house or he’d be killed. They did flee but he was
killed anyway. I was glad to hear from our volunteers that
Iptisam had received food.
Later that evening I went to an apartment in Burj
Hamoud, the Armenian neighborhood in Beirut, close to
the port that exploded on August 4th 2020. Five people
had called me, all from the Syrian
city of Qaryatayin. Three of them
were kidnapped in 2015. Ransom July, who wants to
had to be paid to release them. Two
have family members who are still remain anonymous
missing. No one knows what has
become of them. picked me up, she
Leaving the poorly furnished,
cold apartment, I felt I had no wanted me to visit
strength left. The corona situation,
the refugee’s suffering, all the trauma a boy that might
and the plight of the Lebanese
themselves emptied me of energy. become blind if
But in comparison, I have nothing
to complain about. he doesn’t get
The next day I had lunch
with a dear friend, the Lebanese surgery, something
filmmaker Eliyas Salameh who has
made two documentaries about the his parents can’t
lives of Iraqi and Syrian Christians.
He reminded me about Rita, one afford.
of the women we interviewed for
our short film ‘Limbo’. She was also
kidnapped by ISIS and sold several
times but she managed to escape. After my six hour phone
interview with her, Eliyas and the crew filmed a new
interview with her … She told us that she is stuck, like all
others – in limbo.
During our lunch I asked Eliyas about his family,
friends, and conditions in Lebanon. I wanted to learn why
his motherland has changed from being one of the most
flourishing countries in the Middle East to a place where
the cost of food has tripled in just one year.
According to a study a study released by the United
Nations Social and Economic Commission for Western
Asia the percentage of the poor in Lebanon doubled to
reach 55 percent in 2020, from 28 percent in 2019, while
9
the percentage of people suffering from extreme poverty
increased from 8 to 23 percent during the same period.
Eliyas didn’t want to talk about it. ”I live in denial, I
don’t want to be reminded of the desperation of my
mother land. If I think about it I will lose my mind. I’d
rather talk about, for example, the Armenian genocide or
what you in Syriacs call Seyfo. Will Biden recognize it on
the 24th of April? Do the Americans even know about the
connection between that genocide and the one in 2014?”
Eliyas reminded me of the chain of horror, just
one example among many: Feryal’s grandfather fled
the genocide in the Ottoman Empire, from Haqqari,
southeast of today’s Turkey, to Simele in Iraq 1915. They
were massacred again in 1933. The survivors, among
them Feryal’s grandparents, this time fled to Syria. In
February 2015 she and many others experienced yet
another genocide. ISIS kidnapped them from Khabour in
northeast Syria.
Before the fall of Saddam it’s estimated that 1.3 million
Christians lived in Iraq. Today about 200,000 are left. So
where are the others? Some have made it to USA, Swe-
den, Canada and other countries in the west. But many, far
too many, are scattered all over the
neighboring countries, in Lebanon,
Jordan and Turkey.
There are no accurate numbers
of how many Christians fled from
Syria, but churches have estimated
the figures might reach 600,000.
”July” who wants to remain
anonymous picked me up, she
wanted me to visit a boy that might
become blind if he doesn’t get
surgery, something his parents can’t
afford. On our way to them she
said ”thank you for raising funds
for the emergency Caesarean of the
refugee from Syria, she gave born
to a healthy boy that they will name
Tony”. As we left the house of the
boy that needs a surgery to save his
sight July said ”aren’t the Americans
responsible for these people? They
invaded Iraq, or am I wrong?”
”July” is from Sadad. In 1915
my grandmother Meyyo was found
in a well, she was put there with her family members, all
assumed dead. She survived, was kidnapped, and raised
as a Muslim until the day she was able to run away. Nearly
one hundred years later, in 2013, I was informed about
another well, this time in Sadad in Syria, where a Syriac
Orthodox family was found; only this time they all died.
So why is it important that President Biden recognizes
the genocide? The answer lies in these (and many more)
testimonies I and others have been forced to listen to over
the years. If nothing else we hope the knowledge regarding
the 1915 genocide will help prevent future genocides and
give support and justice to the survivors of what happened
in 2014.  g
 The Beirut stores that
became refugee shelters
by Nuri Kino

REPORTAGE. In Beirut, Christian refugees from Syrian and Iraq have found tempo-
rary shelter in stores in what was once part of a suburban mall. Living in appalling
conditions and below the poverty line, they struggle to survive, writes Nuri Kino
from the organization A Demand for Action in this eyewitness account.

B
efore the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime, there
were about 1.3 million Christians in Iraq. Today
there are not even 200,000 left. It is estimated that
about 600,000 Christians have fled Syria in the last ten
years.
Many Christians who fled persecution and genocide in
Syria and Iraq came to Lebanon, as there was already a
large Christian population here. But life in Lebanon is far
from easy. On the 4th of August 2020 an enormous explo-
sion in the harbour of Beirut, killed more than 200 peo-

10
ple and injured thousands. Lebanon was already suffering
from civil unrest, social and financial difficulties, poverty
and unemployment exacerbated by political tensions and
the increase of COVID-19 cases.

Today, the financial crisis is severe. The average sal-

ary in Lebanon was about $ 500 just two years ago. Today,
those who earned that much are forced to accept $ 50 a
month in salary. If they refuse they will be fired, and many
are unemployed and in line for a job, low paid or not.
Meanwhile, food and gas prices have gone up, not down.
The situation is unsustainable. And refugees from the sur- Screenshot from a video produced to give these unheard refugees
rounding countries are among the most vulnerable. a voice.
Charbel Sejaan Center and Roger Charbel, two small
former malls — located in Beirut’s suburbs, New Raw-
da and Sid El-Bauchrieh– have become housing for many the Center of Elie Sajaan, which was once a shoe store: “I
Christian refugees. They had fled Isis and other terrorist had to live in this miserable place because it is the cheap-
organizations to find more safety in Lebanon. est. The basic requirements for healthy living are not met,
Here are the stories of some of the people who live in so we have to spend for our needs in different ways. In
them; addition, the excessive humidity affected the health of my
Lamaa fled from Baghdad to Damascus in 2008. When eight-year-old son, who was suffering from asthma and
the war in Syria began and she was permanent bronchitis. This in-
again persecuted for her faith and creased our financial burden as we
ethnicity, she fled in 2012 to North- Unpredictable have to provide him with oxygen
eastern Iraq. But just two years later, on a continuous basis.”
she, her husband, three children, and circumstances Unpredictable circumstances
all other Christians had three choic- await him in this unfit dwelling,
es— convert, flee, or die. They fled, await him in this and he is now unable to even pay
this time to Lebanon. Now the family his rent or secure medicine for his
lives in a small hovel that used to be unfit dwelling, and sick son. However, sharing his suf-
a shoe store. They would not be able fering with Iraqi refugees in such
to pay the rent if they didn’t receive he is now unable to a neighbourhood eases his harsh
help from siblings abroad. Though conditions- which are becoming
they live in harsh conditions they are even pay his rent or more difficult day by day- and
content that they at least are safe. helps him to feel that his mother-
Assaad who also is from Iraq talks secure medicine for land seems less far away.
about his life in Lebanon, which has
become like clinical death, he says. his sick son. Bashar, also from Iraq, speaks
”I sought refuge in Lebanon in 2017, from his small cabin that was once
after we fled from ISIS and suffered a pastry shop, even though the
from persecution and torture. Our exit from Iraq burned place does not look like a home at all: ”I fled Iraq because
our hearts. I suffered several injuries due to the explosions of sectarian pressure on me and my family members after
that shook Iraq. We did not know what difficulties awaited several attempts at kidnapping, religious pressure and the
us. After a while, it became clear that stability was just an imposition of Islamic customs… etc. and sought refuge in
illusion. Evil did not go away, but hid for a while to gradu- Lebanon in 2017.”
ally begin to re-appear.” Bashar, who is overwhelmed with painful memories,
He continues his talk from his small room located in says: ”I thought we would be fine in this place, but on the

11
Unpredictable circumstances await him in this unfit dwelling, and he is now unable to even pay his rent or secure medicine for his sick son. 
contrary, my situation worsened. My nine-year-old son,
who suffers from headache, his health deteriorated due to
my inability to secure the necessary medication for him,
and my 15-year-old daughter still suffers from trauma
because of the many scenes of killings, corpses and kid-
nappings that she has seen.” He adds, ”I could not even
take my wife to the hospital when she contracted corona
because I could not afford the costs of the hospital and
treatment.”
As for his place of residence, a store with no ventilation,
no lighting and great humidity, he says: ”I’m afraid that I
am going to end up surviving from alms . We will have to
meet our needs at the neighbours” and share with them
the rent for their miserable place of living, which is not in
any better condition than ours.” Bashar still dreams every
night of obtaining to approval to travel to Britain, which
will be a saviour for him and others like him who are no
longer obsessed with returning to Iraq. Their goals are nei-
ther near nor far.
Maureen from Iraq, 33 years old, referred to the devas-
tating conditions in which she lives with her four-year-old
child. She said: “In 2010, I took refuge with my family in
Syria, as it is the closest to Iraq and enjoyed security and
stability. But this situation did not last long. After the start
of the crisis in Syria, family I was working with went to
Lebanon in 2018 to escape the deteriorating situation in
Syria.”
Maureen is living with her autistic son. Her husband,
12
the father has left them. No ventilation or lighting and
high humidity, in addition to the high rent.
Marin from Syria needs to provide large amounts of
money to be able to take care of her family that consists of
three members: her young son, who is injured after being
tortured by terrorists, and her husband who suffers from
throat cancer and now is paralyzed because she could not
afford his treatment. He is unable to breathe without an
oxygen machine. He is also suffering from chronic blood
pressure and diabetes.
Like most Syrian refugees in Lebanon, Marin lives
with her family below the poverty line. Obviously in pain
and anguish she says: “I am the support for my family, as
we depend on aid and subsidies to survive. But the aid and
subsidies we receive hardly cover our expenses. After pay-
ing rent and bills, we have nothing left to cover the extra
living costs, forcing my injured son to work as a porter,
instead of continuing his education and securing his fu-
ture. With this, all our dreams are lost.” Marin is waiting
to travel to any country to escape her harsh conditions.
However, in the absence of real political progress in
both Iraq and Syria, returning home will remain a distant
goal. Meanwhile, the international community needs to
acknowledge and address the concerns of Lebanon and
other refugee-hosting countries by providing real assis-
tance to governments, local and international NGOs, and
to support international relief efforts, including through
UN mechanisms.  g
 Screenshots from a video produced by ADFA to
give these unheard refugees a voice.

13
 Finding the right helping
hands for Beirut
by Susan Korah

Canadian NGOs are meeting the challenge of keeping aid dollars from
disappearing into corrupt pockets after the explosion that shredded the
Lebanese capital, Susan Korah reports.

I think our country sinks beneath the yoke; Beirut to its foundations, leaving 157 people dead, 5000
It weeps, it bleeds; and each new day a gash injured, and 300,000 homeless, was the coup de grâce
Is added to her wounds. for a country that was bleeding for years under crushing
– William Shakespeare burdens.

I
t’s a long way from the bleak, windswept moors of
11th century Scotland to the sun-drenched Mediter-
ranean port of modern Beirut. Yet the words spoken
by Malcolm, the Scottish prince in Shakespeare’s tragedy,
Macbeth, succinctly describe the current situation of Leb-
anon.
The cataclysmic explosion last Tuesday that shook
It was shortly after 6:00 pm Beirut time when 2,750
tonnes of ammonium nitrate stored in a warehouse
exploded without warning.
Splintering glass, billowing clouds of smoke, blood-
spattered streets and injured people staggering in pain, —
the sights and sounds of Beirut subsequently dominating
traditional and social media channels are beyond
heartrending—and eerily resemble pictures of the atomic

14
explosion in Hiroshima which surfaced on August 6, its
75th anniversary.
The Beirut explosion seems like the denouement to
the unfolding tragedy of Lebanon, a country where high
unemployment, an economic meltdown, burdensome
taxes, staggering inflation that left its currency virtually
useless, and covid-19 were already
taking their toll.
These problems pale beside The Beirut
the one that has pervaded life in
Lebanon for decades. A corrupt, explosion
kleptocratic government that has
no qualms about stealing tax payers’ seems like the
money with the same callous disdain
that Marie Antoinette of French denouement to the
revolution fame showed when she
allegedly said: “If they can’t have unfolding tragedy
bread let them eat brioche.” This
was in response to her famine- of Lebanon.
stricken peoples’ pleas for help.
That Lebanon is ruled by a corrupt government that
has kept its stranglehold on power for decades is no secret.
The Canadian government immediately announced
that it was providing $5 million to help meet the urgent
needs of people affected by the crisis, with $1.5 million
going immediately to trusted humanitarian partners on
the ground, including the Lebanese Red Cross.
International Development Minister Karina Gould has
pointedly stated that Canadian aid will be funnelled to
“trusted” humanitarian organizations, and not be directed
to the Lebanese government
“Trusted humanitarian partners on the ground” is a
key phrase to be noted by Canadians with personal ties to
Lebanon, and others moved to help by sheer humanitarian
impulse.
Fortunately for Lebanon, there are several trustworthy
and reputable humanitarian organizations—besides the
Lebanese Red Cross—working diligently on the ground,
providing desperately needed assistance in the form of
food and medical supplies to the grievously wounded.
With years of experience on the ground, their workers
have personal ties with the country, and are moved by a
genuine desire to walk in solidarity with those they serve.
Fundraising efforts by these organizations and their
supporters have gone into overdrive, and have met with a
generous response.
The small Sweden-based NGO A Demand for Action
(ADFA) has a stellar reputation for directing almost
all of its funds to benefit those in need, while keeping
administrative costs to the minimum. Staffed entirely
by volunteers, it has had years of experience working in
Beirut with refugees who had fled violence and faith-
based persecution in neighbouring countries such as Iraq
and Syria.
Fundraising efforts by these organizations and their
supporters have gone into overdrive, and have met with a
generous response.
Many of its supporters are Middle Eastern Christians
with deep personal ties to Lebanon, which they see as a
15
country— despite all its flaws— as one where they or their
families had found shelter and freedom of worship when
they fled genocide in their homelands.
“The refugees we help are in a very bad situation,”
Nuri Kino the leader of the NGO said in an interview
shortly after the explosion. “Their homes in structurally
fragile ghetto buildings have been
destroyed.”
Kino said that ADFA had been
able to switch gears quickly, and had
expanded its service to anyone who
was affected by the explosion, not
only the refugees who have been
under their care for years.
“Many people have asked if
we work with the government (of
Lebanon), and the answer is a very
definite ‘no, we are independent,’”
Kino emphasized.
The NGO had raised over $80,000
US by Friday in an emergency
fundraising appeal. Its local volunteers are distributing
food and water in the streets of Beirut. Milling throngs
of starving people, too distraught to heed volunteers’
appeals to observe social distancing rules, are desperately
scrambling for what they can get.
“We are well positioned to adapt to the chaos quickly,”
Kino said in response to a question about challenges,
including food shortages, posed by the catastrophe.
“It’s difficult to find groceries in the city but we are well
connected all over the country and have been buying like
crazy from elsewhere. Today we have been delivering in
Burj Hammoud, the Armenian suburb of Beirut. We have
special permission from the municipality and the army to
do this because it’s under lockdown.”
Beirut’s Armenian community is an example of a group
that survived the genocide of 1915, and has rebuilt their
lives in Lebanon.
On Sunday, all the Armenian Apostolic Churches
in Canada held a special requiem service in memory of
those who lost their lives in the explosion. The diocese has
established a Beirut Explosion Relief Fund.
“The donations will be directed to the families of
innocent victims through the Mother See of Holy
Etchmiadzin,” Armenian Primate Bishop Abgar
Hovakimyan said in his appeal.
Marie-Claude Lalonde, Canadian director of Aid to
the Church in need (ACN), told Convivium in an e-mail
exchange that the leading Catholic charity had rushed a
first emergency sum of $362,500 to help feed people who
have lost everything: “Their homes, their livelihood as
well as loved ones, relatives and friends.”
“We are monitoring the situation carefully and are
in regular contact with the Bishops and Patriarchs who
will also receive and manage the allocated funds directly,
as is the way ACN functions in all cases, and without
intermediate intervention. We will definitely help again
when needed. It is but a beginning phase of our help,”
Lalonde said.
 ACN, too, has had years of experience in providing
relief in countries with multiple problems including
corruption, war, nepotism, and rampant poverty.
“We never associate with the local governments or
transfer help through them, that way we are certain the
money reaches directly those in need. We have a long-
established relationship with local bishops and religious
communities and we work exclusively with them. We
encourage people to be generous and to pray for our
brothers and sisters going through very difficult moments,”
she said.
Catholic Near East Welfare Agency (CNEWA) is
another well-known NGO that has been at the service of
the churches and peoples of Lebanon and other countries
for decades, providing relief to all who are suffering and
those who have fallen through the cracks, especially those
facing homelessness and in need of medical care and food.
“CNEWA Canada will leverage most of its resources
to support the campaign— social media, website,
advertisements and personal and appeals to its generous
Food distribution in Lebanon by Church in need (ACN). 
16
donor base,” Canadian director Carl Hétu said in a press
release.” Funds raised will be directed to the CNEWA office
in Beirut which, in turn, will share with local churches that
offer essential health and emergency services and pastoral
outreach.”
The faith-based organizations that Convivium con-
tacted stressed that while the lethal explosion affects all
communities, one cannot over-estimate the importance
of sending aid to a country brought to its knees by the
catastrophe—but which nevertheless represents a ray of
hope for religious pluralism in the Middle East.
“With all the major issues devastating Lebanon, this
week’s horrific incident only deepens what many describe
as an existential catastrophe not only for Lebanon as a
nation, but for the existence of a culturally and religiously
diverse Middle East,” said CNEWA president Msgr. Peter
I. Vaccari. “CNEWA recalls the words of St. John Paul
II, who reminded the world that Lebanon is not just a
country, but a message.”  g
Photo: ACN
Water distribution in Hassakeh, Syria. Photo: ADFA

17
 Lest we forget Lebanon
by Susan Korah

Despite historic pacts between Israel and its Arab neighbours, Middle East
peace remains a chimera if Lebanon is left behind, Susan Korah writes.

W
orld media attention has shifted from the
horrific explosion in Beirut on August 4 to the
historic Abraham Accord that is normalizing
relations between some Arab states and Israel.
But speakers at a recent webinar on the region
stressedthe importance of remembering that though the
Accord is ground-breaking, it does not necessarily herald
a new dawn of peace in all the Middle East.
It has merely shifted the traditional fault lines in the
political quick-sands of the region and potentially height-
ened tensions between the Sunni-majority Gulf States
(UAE and Bahrain) and Shia-majority Iran. It has also
negatively impacted relations between the Accord’s signa-
tory Arab States and the Palestinian authorities.
The latter feel an intense sense of betrayal. They im-
mediately recalled their ambassador from Abu Dhabi, the
capital of the United Arab Emirates. Palestinians watched
with increasing nervousness as another Arab State, Bah-
rain signed the Accord.
Thus, a real sustainable and lasting peace remains a
mirage in the desert of Middle Eastern politics, and this is
where Lebanon could play an important and critical role.
“Please don’t let Lebanon fall into despair,” the leader
of the Maronite community in Lebanon pleaded during
his keynote speech at the webinar, organized by Fordham
University’s Centre for Religion and Culture as well as the
Catholic Near Eastern Welfare Agency (CNEWA) and Salt
and Light Media of Toronto.
The words from his Beatitude Cardinal Béchara
Boutros Rai the Patriarch of Maronite (Catholic) Church
of Antioch and all the East, sounded like a lament.

18
 But coming nearly two months after a devastating ex-
plosion that turned Beirut into a ground zero of death and
destruction, the Patriarch’s words were more significant
than a cry for a ruined city. They were more important
than a desperate appeal for humanitarian aid— although
such aid is still urgently needed as Beirut’s explosion survi-
vors are digging through the rubble
of shattered glass and broken lives.
They were a call to the interna- A real sustainable
tional community to recognize that
Lebanon is geopolitically too im- and lasting peace
portant to fail. They provided an ur-
gent reminder to Western democra- remains a mirage
cies, including Canada and the U.S.,
that it is in their interest help Leba- in the desert of
non recover from its multiple crises
of which the port explosion was just Middle Eastern
the last and most catastrophic epi-
sode. politics, and this
Lebanon’s troubles include is where Lebanon
rampant government corruption,
and a severe economic downturn could play an
that has impoverished its people
and dragged the country down important and
from its once enviable position
as the “Switzerland of the Middle critical role.
East” to the looming possibility of
sinking to the ranks of failed states.
New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan strengthened the
case for not giving up on Lebanon by emphasizing it is
more than a catalogue of calamities.
“Lebanon is a laboratory of religious freedom and ami-
ty,” Cardinal Dolan said.
Cardinal Rai agreed.
“It’s a country where Christian and Muslim commu-
nities live in harmony,” he said. But he added a sobering
note.
“The weakening of the Christian presence in Leba-
non would be a huge loss to Lebanon, to the Middle East
and indeed to the world. Many churches have invested in
schools, universities, hospitals and other social service in-
stitutions. All these have created and nourished a vibrant
society with a culture of openness, democracy and in-
ter-religious co-living.”
In a region that is notorious for authoritarian theocra-
cies that violate the human rights of their minorities with
impunity, Lebanon, despite its many faults, is the lone flag
bearer of democratic values and freedoms including the
19
right of freedom of religion and belief in the Arab world.
All these are guaranteed in the 1926 constitution, mod-
elled on that of France.
It is also seen as a haven of safety and religious freedom
by millions fleeing political conflict and faith-based per-
secution in neighouring countries such as Syria, Iraq and
Iran, particularly in the aftermath
of Tukey’s assaults on north-eastern
Syria and the toll it has taken on
Christian communities there.
Cardinal Rai pulled no punches
in explaining how the U.S. invasion
of Iraq in 2003 devastated Middle
Eastern Christian communities.
“Iraq’s Christian population of
1.5 million was drastically reduced,
and one million were displaced,” he
said. “After the Iraq war, we had the
Syrian war and then the ISIS inva-
sion. All these had a such a negative
impact on Lebanon on the Chris-
tian presence in the Middle East.
Lebanon’s economy suffered im-
mensely because all of our exports
go through Syria and those routes
were closed.”
The Cardinal outlined a plan for
Lebanon which he called “active
neutrality” that would ensure the
country’s prosperity and peace.
“Lebanon should not be pressured to intervene in con-
flicts outside the country, should be able to defend itself,
and should be able to have sovereignty within its borders.”
In light of the Cardinal’s comments, the current gov-
ernment of Canada would do well to help Lebanon repair
the damage caused by the war.
Minister of Global Affairs Francoise Philippe Cham-
pagne, International Development Minister Karina Gould
and the bureaucrats at Global Affairs Canada would do
well to pay close attention to the Lebanese Patriarch’s com-
ments.
Canada has taken a right step by providing humanitar-
ian aid on the condition that it bypasses corrupt Lebanese
government channels. They should keep up the pressure
on Lebanon to set its political and economic house in or-
der by enacting effective reforms. They should also help
Lebanon maintain its state of “active neutrality,” by staying
out of outside conflicts while maintaining its own territo-
rial sovereignty.  g