Priority 2: Gazing On Our World With The Eyes Of Claudine, And Responding To Its Miseries - From Brigdes, USA

Sr. Helen Mary Haigh Provincial of Europe, shared the text of a talk given by one of our Syrian sisters, Sr. Annie Demerjian. During October, Sr. Annie was in England, speaking there to various groups on behalf of her people. An excerpt from her presentation is given below.

Sr. Annie Demerjian.
Syria

Iet me tell you that what we are experiencing in Syria, especially in the city of Aleppo, is indescribable and chilling. All human values given by God to man in order to live in peace and dignity have been obliterated from the scene.

We are faced with a broken city where life does not exist. What Aleppo is going through at all levels did not happen to any other city, in terms of living, or security. Aleppo has become the ‘city of death and devastation, destruction and violence’ as we live at the mercy of God between fear of the unknown and the hope for peace.....

There is overwhelming despair of life because of the crisis in Aleppo; there famili­arity with death is an everyday experience!

It hurts to wake up in the wee hours of the morning and hear the sound of rockets and shells heaped on residential areas, and find yourself among the piles of rubble and dirt and then having to flee, running everywhere from the intensity of the fear and panic. ...

We have seen children among the wreckage, instead of receiving education in the warmth of the school, they face instead the harshness of life turn on them and make them homeless on the pave­ments. Every day we see Syrian children going out, seeking some income, and looking for their livelihood, ‘Begging’, approaching a man or a woman, afraid of a painful response. Destiny has made of these kids a generation which does not know its way, looking for a livelihood in a time where most of the people do not know the meaning of hunger and oppression, so the only solution for these children is homelessness. ...

Pope Francis said in a message at the occasion of the World Day of Peace 2015, ‘We know that God will ask each and every one of us, What did you do to your brother? The globalization of indifference pressing down heavily on the lives of many sisters and brothers, require from all of us to be the makers of the globalization of solidarity and fraternity capable of giving hope again, and of enabling people to regain the courage to walk through the problems of our time with new visions that God puts in our hands.’

I carry a message from a people who ask you to be makers of peace and reconciliation in order to enjoy peace in my country and the whole world; a peace which is the gift of God to humankind. So, be peacemakers for us and for our children and for the children of the world.” 

If you would like more information, go to http://catholicphilly.com/2016/10/news/world-news/nun