Diocesan News09 Sep 15

Down and Dromore Bible Week offering collects £4,200 for Syrian Refugees in Lebanon

On the last night of the Bible Week Bishop Harold invited Jasper Rutherford (Church Army and Summer Madness) to share about his recent visit to Lebanon and the fundraising campaign he has run at this summer’s youth festivals.

Jasper has helped lead the campaign which was put in place back in the spring, focusing on Tearfund’s support of Syrian and Iraq refuges entering Lebanon.

We are pleased to announce that the offering lifted that evening totalled approximately £4,200. You can view Jasper’s Lebanon film at this link.

Introducing it, Bishop Harold says: ‘At this summer’s festivals I had the privilege of seeing the film that Jasper Rutherford made with Tearfund amongst the Syrian Refugees in the Bekaa Valley. I found it incredibly moving and it has become even more poignant in the light of the developing situation.

‘I urge you to watch it and be ready to respond, inspired by the generosity of our young people and young adults. They have raised most of the current total of just over £50,000 for Syrian refugees in Lebanon who, without the legal right to work, struggle to pay for even their most basic needs.’

Background

Today Lebanon bears by far the biggest burden of the Syrian crisis, proportionally: one in four people in Lebanon is now a Syrian refugee. Its economy is under severe strain from the huge influx of people and the conflict in neighbouring Syria constantly threatens to spill over the border. Life is extra hard for the refugees in Lebanon. No formal camps are allowed, so they have to pay rent or work for free for the space they occupy.

While the refugee crisis has become topical recently, Tearfund and their partners on the ground have been working with refugees and the most vulnerable for a number of years in Lebanon.

Photo credit: Dave Cavan, Tearfund NI