Simon Cox Blog: What Arab Leaders Think of USAID Funding Persecuted Christians

Thursday, 2 November 2017

What Arab Leaders Think of USAID Funding Persecuted Christians

Middle East believers pray more money won't mean more problems.

Ashty Bahro was one of the first to the scene in Alqosh, traveling 25 miles over mountainous roads from his base in Kurdistan to the town where 850 Iraqi Christian families had been newly displaced.

Only weeks earlier the families relocated to Teleskof in the Nineveh Plain, following its liberation from ISIS. But the Kurdish independence referendum sparked a new crisis in the region. The Iraqi government moved quickly to reclaim lands controlled by the Kurdish Peshmerga fighters. Shia militias linked with Iran also threatened the Christian areas, forcing families to flee once more.

“They are very tired. They just rebuilt their homes,” said Bahro, head of Zalal Life Civil Society Foundation and former director of the Evangelical Alliance of Kurdistan. “Now they are scared to remain in government-held cities.”

Zalal Life distributed 300 food baskets and bottles of water. The government of Hungary donated $2 million in aid for reconstruction. The United Nations wasn’t there.

“People are not happy with the UN; they are using money for administration,” said Bahro. “The help is coming from churches and Christian organizations.”

The Christian leader praised charities like Voice of the Martyrs, Tear Fund, Operation Mercy, and World Vision. And he welcomed United States Vice President Mike Pence’s statement that America will start to fund Christian groups directly.

“They are here in the area, they know what’s happening, and they go immediately to help,” Bahro said.

Maan Bitar, pastor of the Presbyterian church in Hama, Syria, confirmed concerns that UN aid was not reaching Christians in the Middle East.

“Christians receive only a trickle of the aid and other ...