This article was originally posted on the Finn Church Aid website

FCA will be supporting 4,000 crisis-affected children and youth in Hama area in Syria with access to quality education in a safe and protected environment.

Finn Church Aid (FCA) has been granted over 680,000 USD from the Syria Humanitarian Fund to support 4,000 children and youth to access quality education in Hama area, Syria. 

 After ten years since the war broke out, the Syrian refugee crisis remains the largest displacement crisis of our time. About 6.2 million people are displaced within Syria, and nearly 12 million people in the country need humanitarian assistance. At least half of the affected people are children. 

The war has also left the education system in ruins. More than one in three schools are damaged or destroyed, and many are used for other purposes than education. Some schools operate in double or triple shifts to accommodate the massive influx of displaced children.  

Meeting the needs requires collective efforts from national, regional and international educational actors, says Karam Sharouf, FCA’s Education Programme Manager in Syria.

“Education is the key to comprehensive human, economic and socially sustainable development. Therefore, continuous support should be provided to the education sector in Syria, and educational capabilities that could contribute to rebuilding Syria should be developed“, Sharouf says. 

Quality education through rehabilitating schools and training teachers 

In the communities that FCA will support in rural Hama, approximately one thousand children are out of school, setting the enrolment rate at 77 per cent. Poverty and a lack of safety and security remain critical barriers to accessing education. Protracted displacement and limited economic opportunities have forced people in Syria to adopt negative coping strategies, including child marriage and child labour. This is usually more common in villages without schools, says Sharouf. 

“There are many cases of early marriage, and many families rely on their children working due to the absence of the father, who might have died or travelled away“, Sharouf says. 

Schools constitute a protected environment for children and enhance their well-being, but currently, schools are overcrowded. They also lack doors, windows, heating systems and learning materials. Sanitation facilities are largely unusable. FCA will rehabilitate school buildings to make them safe and accessible and construct inclusive and gender-sensitive sanitation facilities.  

The need for teacher training is enormous as the number of teachers in Syria’s formal education system has declined by more than half in the past five years. The remaining teachers have not received systematic in-service training during the war, and newly recruited teachers often lack the required qualifications. FCA arranges teacher training that includes child safeguarding and psychosocial support, and equips schools with teaching materials and recreational kits, for example, craft materials and sports equipment. 

The programme will also focus on ensuring access to quality education for children and youth through non-formal education, such as remedial classes and accelerated learning that helps learners to catch up with their age-grade after years out of school.  

“These groups will be able to continue education and keep up with the academic achievement of their peers, thus reducing their chances of dropping out of school to a minimum“, Sharouf says. 

FCA has substantial experience in providing quality education services, especially in emergencies, and is a solid partner of local actors already implementing education activities in Syria. 

The landscape of Beirut and the lives of hundreds of thousands of its residents, changed in an instant on the afternoon of August 4, 2020. At 18:00 local time, over 2700 tonnes of ammonium nitrate exploded in a warehouse in the port of Beirut, killing hundreds, injuring thousands, and displacing over 300,000 people.  “Hundreds of thousands became homeless in seconds,” said Sylvia Haddad of ACT member Department of Service to Palestinian Refugees (DSPR)’s Joint Christian Committee for Social Service in Lebanon (DSPR-JCC).

ACT members, including DSPR and the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC), began to respond through the local churches and their programmes. “Every helping hand was needed,” Haddad said. “A JCC youth group in Dbayeh camp insisted on going to Beirut to help.”

The youth, along with everyone else who could- including people living with disabilities- pitched in to clean up. The blast levelled buildings, shattered glass, and destroyed homes and livelihoods in a wide radius of Beirut.

Beyond assisting with the cleanup, DSPR-JCC began to support affected vulnerable people in four camps around Beirut, providing food vouchers, food, hygiene supplies, and helping to meet household needs.  “ACT Alliance gave us our first support from their emergency funds [Rapid Response Fund] while we approached other donors for help,” Haddad said.

MECC took an active role in coordinating the various churches in Beirut in helping them to respond effectively and cohesively, avoiding duplication and sharing resources as best they could. MECC churches provided food, hygiene supplies, COVID kits, health care, life-saving items, and livelihood support.

In addition, MECC prioritized giving unconditional cash or vouchers to affected families. “Unconditional cash lets people buy what they need, and respects their privacy,” said Samer Laham of MECC. “We also gave unrestricted cash so people could buy what they need from the local market.” This cash allows the local economy to pick up, and for local farmers and merchants to be supported.

Haddad also sees the value in providing cash to affected families. “Cash is the best in this context- people do not always prefer lentils and rice,” she said, noting that cash allows them to buy the food that is best for their family needs.

Laham noted a continued need and role for churches in the response to the blast. “People need moral and spiritual support to absorb the trauma,” he said. “They will also need help to cope with the approaching winter, and with their children’s education needs.”

MECC and DSPR, along with Christian Aid, Diakonia Sweden, and Norwegian Church Aid, have joined in launching a $3.2 million appeal for ACT’s humanitarian work in responding to the Beirut blast.  The appeal will target 40,480 people living in the affected area who lost family members or property to the explosions. Particular focus will be placed on supporting children, women, the elderly, people with disabilities, and vulnerable families who do not have the financial capacity to cope.

The full appeal can be read here, and those wishing to pledge to the appeal are asked to email George Majaj, Humanitarian Programme Advisor for MENA.

This is an excerpt of the World YWCA / YMCA Week of Prayer booklet. To download the

full booklet click here

Breathing together in solidarity

By: Elaine Neuenfeldt, Act Alliance Gender Programme Manager

At times of catastrophes and calamities it is difficult to breathe.

Catastrophes are not affecting everyone equally – they tend to intensify inequalities and exacerbate injustices.

The current pandemic is taking away of breathing capacity, as well as our analytical capacity to understand and explain the changes the world is going through. Our words and concepts are not broad enough, are not fitting in this new reality, the “new normal” we are facing. We need to find how to breathe and how to live in this new reality where social distance, loneliness and fear seems to rule relations. We need to find ways to flourish relationships that are framed in solidarity and love, in the midst of this unjust world, and to transform this world for the better. To find words that help us to breathe through this pandemic – as the Latin term suggests – cons-pirar (conspirāre) – to breathe with, to breathe together. To breathe in communities that are rays of hope, helping each other to shine, in resilience and in resistance.

Biblical inspiration

In the Old Testament story, there is this story of the widows of the famine, the widow of drought, in the book of Kings Chapter 17. The story is telling us that there was no rain in the land; In times of calamities, like draught, it is so common that women, especially widows and children are the most affected. The widow of this biblical story has only one son and to increase the drama, he dies. She cries out questioning the prophet. In her understanding, the death of her son is because of her sin. She feels guilty – which is a very common feeling for women, especially mothers, and even more, after the death of a child: what have I done wrong? I should have done this better…. I could…now is too late…

The prophet, going against the purity law that prohibits touching corpses, with the risk of becoming impure, took the death body in his arms, and laid it down; then he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried out to the Lord. The Lord listened to the voice of the prophet and the life of the child came into him again, and he revived!

Bringing this son back to life is crucial that this family group will be restored in their social context. For a widow, to be alone, would be a path to more suffering and loneliness, hungry and increased poverty.

Prophetic task here is to restore life and restore family relations, by bringing back a son for a widow. This is a religious experience that enters into houses, deals with concrete issues of daily life: drought, empty pots of food, ill bodies.  It is a religious practice that goes beyond the temple, the sanctuary and its traditional rituals and ceremonies formatted in the officially instituted spaces. The prophet also seems desperate: he demands God: Have you brought calamity even upon the widow with whom I am staying, by killing her son?

Death and suffering question our faith. Who has not gone through moments of doubt, disbelieve, skepticism especially, when facing difficulties, like death and loss? Who has not felt like in the limit of faith and hope in experiences of suffering? It is like this. The woman cried and wept; the prophet, alone with the death child, in desperation cried to help.

It is in touching death, in the encounter with the suffering where life is restored. The prophecy here happens in embracing, in touching body with body, in a kind of ritual that warms up life, warms up hope and reconnects relationships. The text is saying that the breath came back to him, he started breathing again and his life was restored.

Faith is not a mere abstract reflection about God. A faith experience is interwoven with daily life – and life is not always easy is not predictable or simple.

Prophecy is the courage to act restoring life to a death body. Is the brave gesture of touching death to reestablish relations – because life comes first… Faith experiences in the margin of life, when life is at the limit, can restore breathing. And then life is coming back because relationships are restored.

Because sometimes we are losing our breathing… sometimes we are losing our faith… sometimes we are losing our relations… with God, with others, with ourselves. Sometimes there are moments that impede us to breath. And it feels like life is going away… 

But there is the prophetical announcement that God is not restricted to geographic limitations, ethnic borders, or limited officially constituted spaces and rooms. This prophetical announcement is crying out that the love and compassion of God will enter in our homes, our pots, our tables and beds… and will touch us, will touch the body, breaking down any notion of impurity, untouchability – and life will be restored, breath will come back, bodies are going to feel the warm breath of life again. This is a spiritual practice that shines like rays of hope, creating resilient communities.

It is so interesting that touching and carrying the suffering in the arms is recognized as a prophetic gesture from these biblical texts. In times when is so difficult look in the eyes, and seeing the suffering, it is much needed to stay in solidarity, take diaconal responsibility with whom is next, the stranger, the one who is alone, who is in trouble.

Faith moves us to experience life coming back, being restored… to touch and to be touched by the Spirit of love, compassion and solidarity – being in the arms of God, embraced by the love of God, life is inspiring life, is dwelling life in the midst of our lives.

Questions for reflection

• What is this that makes us feel the warm and tender touch of life back to our body?
• Where the compassionate touch of love that nurtures our faith and hope can be experienced in today’s world, where individualism, loneliness, and indifference for human suffering are daily reality. How can we, as individuals and as community/congregation of faith work as a space where the touches of compassion, that bring back life can be felt?
• How can we do all this “touching” when physical distance is required as part of sanitary measures in times pandemic?

Blessing

Breathe in this blessing; consider how you might influence ONE life. 

As you breathe out, speak a blessing on those around you.

God bless our world, our habitat.

Enable us to respect and treat our earth with the dignity it deserves.  

Empower us to preserve its resources to provide for all people.

Enable us to protect our people, especially the vulnerable: women and children.

Enable us to do what is good, resist evil and to protect each other from evil.

Enable our men to transform themselves from beneficiaries of patriarchy to contributors of human dignity. 

Inspire our leaders to be transformed for the good of all people.

Enable us to be transformed into Servant Leaders.

Enable us to be open to restore your image in us.

Inspire us to have healing relationships.

Enable us to live with dignity.

Empower us to heal our communities and give us your peace.

Amen.

ACT Alliance has followed the deteriorating situation over Nagorno-Karabakh with dismay at the escalation of the conflict. We are highly concerned by the renewed violence and use of military force. The new bloodshed adds to the long history of pain that people in the whole region and on different sides to the conflict have been suffering over the past 30 years.

We are deeply saddened by the increased suffering and loss of life, both civilian and military, that have been the result of this violence, and wish to express our sincere condolences to the grieving families and pray for the full and swift recovery of all the injured.

We are concerned that the geographical scale of the fighting and military operations may expand beyond the current conflict zone and result in a humanitarian crisis that would exacerbate the already difficult humanitarian situation caused by the COVID-19 outbreak in the region.

As faith based actors who over the past three decades have been fostering understanding among the people in the region, and have been promoting local perspectives for peace, we deeply regret that violence has returned at a scale that had not been seen in the region for decades. We stand with our members and partners in the region in these painful times. We stand in solidarity with all who call for and work towards a peaceful solution to the situation.

United in the view that peace and security cannot be imposed by violent means, we call upon all belligerents to immediately end further military action, and to agree on and implement a humanitarian ceasefire (in line with UN Secretary General’s call for a worldwide ceasefire given the COVID-19 pandemic), in order to allow civilians to seek shelter and gain access to much-needed assistance, as well as to collect and mourn their dead.

We call upon the political leaders of the opposing sides to tone down belligerent rhetoric, abstain from further military action and resume peaceful negotiations. We call upon all leaders of states with stakes in the region to refrain from exacerbating the conflict, but rather use their influence in order to stop the bloodshed, support a humanitarian ceasefire and pave the way for a negotiated resolution.

We insist other nations should desist from any intervention in the conflict, except in pursuing and encouraging its peaceful resolution and offering humanitarian aid. In the view of allegations and reports concerning the involvement of foreign mercenaries as well as the continuing influx of weapons to the region, we call upon all parties to finally respect and implement the OSCE’s request for an arms embargo dating back to 1992.

As organisations engaged in both humanitarian assistance and community development, we face the negative impact of the unresolved conflict on the local populations on a daily basis. We know that the lack of political will on the different sides of the divide to engage in serious and meaningful negotiations – as well as the failure of the international community to prepare the ground – has translated locally into long-term uncertainty and instability, a lack of perspectives for development, a growing hostility and deadly volatility along the line of contact, as well as the continuous suffering of many under the so-called ‘status quo’.

While continuing our efforts to minimize this impact at the local level, we call upon the international community – OSCE, EU, Council of Europe, NATO, UN and their member / participating states, and in particular upon the countries represented in the OSCE Minsk Group – to increase their efforts to revive the negotiation process within the Minsk Group format, and to fully back the Minsk Group Co-Chairs in their work.

The current military escalation constitutes a severe backlash for the peace process and exposes the extreme volatility of this unresolved conflict and its inherent risks for the whole region. But it also offers a new window of opportunity for more meaningful, more serious and more effective negotiations. Such meaningful negotiation will challenge all parties to take bold steps by showing goodwill as well as the readiness to compromise that others might interpret or depict as weakness.

As ACT Alliance whose actions are guided by faith, we stand together with and encourage our members in Armenia to engage in all possible actions that favour the peaceful resolution of the conflict that is acceptable for all sides and ensures safety for all peoples. We take pride in remembering the strength and courage of the faith leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan during their joint calls for peace in the past. Inspired by their leadership, we call upon all people of faith and particularly faith leaders, be they Christian or Muslim, to raise their voices and urge all parties to stop the bloodshed, as well as to encourage the swift resumption of peace talks.

The ACT Alliance is a faith-motivated, rights-based, impact-focused network committed to working ecumenically and inter-religiously, with the communities we seek to serve and accompany at the centre of our work.

Together, we strive for a world where all may live with dignity, justice, peace and full respect for human rights and the environment. The 2019 Annual Report is available for download below.

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