Mafraq, Jordan

Eerie stillness all around. No music, no vehicles on the road, no talking, just quiet. And then it starts. Four o'clock in the morning and the broadcast of prayers begins, the solo male voice calling out over the loudspeakers from the mosque a few blocks away. The faint echo comes back from far across the land.

The picture above was shot from the walkway on the fourth floor of the Alliance church, where I spent a week with four other Oklahoma lads, visiting Syrian refugees, working in a local school, and learning about the situations and daily lives of the displaced people housed in Mafraq. It was an eye-opening experience, and one that will not soon recede from my memory. I will not say much about my time there, as many others express the situation much better. I will, however, share a couple of photos and explain them.

The first photo includes Trait and two others working in the area. We were doing a home visit, which includes taking a box of food supplies, visitation, sometimes prayer and sharing of scripture. Upon entering the main hallway, we took our shoes off and were ushered into the "sitting room" which included...cushions on the floor.

That's pretty much how it was at every visit. Homes of Syrian refugees are severely limited in amenities, and although low cushions are the custom for the area, the rest of the apartments are very sparsely appointed. One of the ministries of the church is to provide some of the basics for refugees as they move from the tent cities to apartments, basics that include mattresses, a one-burner cook stove, and provisions of food on a monthly basis. The family that we were visiting here had received the basics when they moved in, but their stove had broken, they were still looking for work, and everything that they had back in Syria had been destroyed.

It was an eventful week, and there is much more to share, but that means I have more to write, and now's not the time.

Maybe next month?