Bleak Christmas for Iraqi Christians

“I’ve never been away from home for Christmas,” said Adith Abdul Ahab Abdo, an 83 year old from the Iraqi town of Qarakosh. “There won’t be a Christmas for us this year. We’ve no money, no clothes, nothing.”

His family fled in August when the self-proclaimed ‘Islamic State’ (ISIS) overran the town. The extremists targeted Christians and other minorities. Over one million people were forced to leave and are now living in tents, makeshift homes or have left Iraq.

Adith lives in a pre-fabricated shelter that Caritas provided to 50 families in a relief camp set up in the Akito school in Erbil. They offer better protection from bad weather, are more comfortable and secure than the tents in which many of the families had previously been staying.

Neshet Nani Jeji and his wife Eman Marzana Majif escaped in August with their week old baby. At first they lived in a tent, which flooded every time it rained. The bishop sent them to a Caritas shelter. Things are better, but still conditions are difficult.

“We need help. Not for our sake, but for the children. They’ve done nothing to deserve this. We need at least a stove or a heater to keep them warm,” said Eman.

On spending Christmas away from home, Neshet said, “At home we could afford to buy something for the children, but here we can’t afford anything.”

In Qarakosh, Christians would spend Christmas Eve buying clothes to give as gifts and preparing festive dishes to eat on Christmas Day, then going to Church in the evening.

Sahira holding her grandson, “It’s a tradition to buy new clothes at Christmas time but we can’t afford anything. We’re all so sad that this year it will be more like funeral. If you’re not in your own home then it’s not Christmas.”

Sahira holding her grandson, “It’s a tradition to buy new clothes at Christmas time but we can’t afford anything. We’re all so sad that this year it will be more like funeral. If you’re not in your own home then it’s not Christmas.” Photo by Sam Tarling/Caritas

“It’s a tradition to cook Kulicha (pastries) but this year we haven’t got any flour,” said Sahira Mansour, a 50-year-old grandmother who also lives in a Caritas-provided temporary shelter in Erbil.

“We’re all so sad that this year it will be more like funeral,” she said.

Caritas has been providing food, clothing, heaters, blankets and winterizing some of homes for around 10,000 Christians, Yazidis and Muslims in Iraq.

Twelve-year-old Youssef Hina Qraya doesn’t want presents for Christmas. “I don’t need anything. I just want to go home,” he said. “I just want to go to school again.”

Youssef and his family have lived in a partially constructed building in Ainkawa since arriving in Erbil in August this year. They have been provided with the place where they live and given blankets and bedding.

His father, Saddam, manages to find the odd day’s labour but otherwise struggles to provide for his family. “My home in Qarakosh was like a palace. Now I am sitting in a caravan. What kind of future do I have?” he said.

“When I wake up in the morning it’s so cold,” said Youssef.  They have also been given kerosene heater by Caritas but there is only enough money to buy a limited supply of fuel.

“We can’t buy anything for the children. We don’t have a Christmas tree,” said his father. “We need a solution. Either we have to go home or leave Iraq.”

The family of Saddam Hina Qraya eat a meal of soup made of boiled bones in the prefabricated container in which his family now lives, in a partially constructed building in Ainkawa, Erbil, Iraq, on December 3, 2014. Photo by Sam Tarling/Caritas

The family of Saddam Hina Qraya eat a meal of soup made of boiled bones in the prefabricated container in which his family now lives, in a partially constructed building in Ainkawa, Erbil, Iraq, on December 3, 2014. Photo by Sam Tarling/Caritas

Iraqi Christian communities can trace their history in Qarakosh back millennia to the earliest days of the faith. For many that history of interreligious tolerance came to an end with the arrival of ‘Islamic State’, known in Arabic as Daesh.

“All the families here are afraid for the future of Christianity in Iraq. We fear that we cannot live again in Qarakosh. Our neighbours who we ate with are now with Daesh,” said Nissan Petros, a pharmacist and Caritas staff worker of 13 years

He and his family of six fled their home in Qarakosh and they now live at a relief settlement in the grounds of the Saint Eliyah Church in Ainkawa, Erbil.

“My living situation has become better, our tent is bigger and the living conditions are better,” he said. “Still, the longer we stay here, the more frustrating it becomes and we want to go home. Every day we are praying with the other families that this will be resolved and we can return to Qarakosh.”

Nissan says it is hard to imagine not being at home for Christmas.

“Sometimes I cry,” he said. “We would be sharing our famous traditional foods with our friends. We’re missing all of that. The children will face a Christmas without Santa Claus.”

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