Just like the Kurdish Peshmerga soldier in this video warns, the crisis in the Middle East is spiraling out of control. The Islamic State threatens increasing numbers of innocent people every single day, and we take this threat very seriously.
We may not be taking up arms against the Islamic State directly like the Peshmerga soldiers, but we are combating the Islamic State campaign of terror by increasing our efforts to bring hope to the people their actions have affected. World Compassion is working overtime to respond full-force to this crisis.
When the Middle East crisis spilled over into Iraq from Syria this summer, our team was in place in Erbil, Kurdistan (northern Iraq), ready to respond immediately. In the last two months we have worked with urgency, emptying out our entire warehouse of food and aid in the last several weeks to help provide relief for the 850,000 refugees in the region.
These local pastors are truly heroes and have selflessly chosen to stay in this region to help at a time when even their own lives, and the lives of their family members, are at risk. The reality is, they are Christians only 30 kilometers away from the ISIS front-line, a very dangerous place to be. Yet, instead of fleeing to save their own lives, they are working tirelessly around the clock to save the lives of others, distributing aid for 12, 14, or 16 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Their determined efforts have already brought life-saving relief to 20,000 refugees. Refugee families living in parks, churches, and organized camps have received over 350,000 meals of rice, lentils, baby food, and other food products.
World Compassion partners around the world have been stepping into overdrive as well – helping us re-supply our warehouse with hundreds of thousands of meals, 26,000+ pairs of shoes, baby formula, bottles, toothbrushes, toothpaste, blankets and heaters for the harsh winter months ahead.
We are encouraged by the increased ministry opportunities our contacts have experienced as a result of picking up the pace of our relief efforts. Muslims are seeing the love of Christ in action every single day in Kurdistan, receiving prayer and requesting Bibles from our staff.
Thank you for your help in bringing relief during this time. The truth is, we are making a huge impact, but there is still even greater need. Will you help us increase our response this month in even greater capacity than we did last month?
