REFUGEE FACTS, FIGURES AND STORIES

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1 REFUGEE FACTS, FIGURES AND STORIES Prayer and knowledge allow us to explore our Baptismal call to strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being" This booklet is just a tiny portion of the information available. We hope it can be a starting point toward greater understanding of the Syrian refugee crisis and inform your response. God of protection, whose Son fled violence from his own home with Joseph and Mary and sought refuge in a foreign land, hear the cries of all who suffer because of hatred, war, violence, greed, and famine. Help us to peacefully mend our divisions, that all you have created in this world may be whole. Amen

2 We are committed to working with the people of Syria and all others who are finding it necessary to flee oppressive regimes in their homelands, that God will provide them with the help and solace they need as they seek out places of safety, peace, and welcome. We seek the grace of God as the people of Christ Church while we discern our role in helping to provide assistance, shelter, and welcome to all refugee people, especially those fleeing the country of Syria. ADVENT PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE AT CHRIST CHURCH For the people of Syria and all others who find it necessary to flee oppressive regimes and violence in their homelands, we pray that God will provide them with sustenance and solace as they seek new homes of safety, peace, and welcome. Lord have mercy For the people of Christ Church, we pray for discernment of our call to provide compassionate assistance, shelter, and welcome to our refugee brothers and sisters, especially those fleeing the country of Syria. We pray for the Holy Spirit to light the way. Lord have mercy

3 Refugees and migrants, packed aboard a fishing boat in the hope of reaching Europe, are pictured moments before being rescued by the Italian Navy as part of their Mare Nostrum operation in June The Italian Coastguard/ Massimo Sestini

4 Excerpts from: Many Child Refugees Travel All Alone. Here Are Their Stories. Angeliki Kougiannou HuffPost Greece 12/03/2015 Omar's brief life has been riddled with difficulties. He grew up in the Syrian city of Aleppo, where all of his relatives lived near another. Now they are scattered across five continents. Some uncles are left in Syria, others are in northern Europe, others are on their way there. His parents have been stuck in Turkey for the past three years. They are young -- his father is 42 and his mother is only 35. Omar also has two younger brothers. Omar said that before the family left Syria, he was jailed by the government. He didn't say why but said he was tortured for six days. When he managed to escape, his parents gave him a forged passport, which showed him to be two years younger than his real age, so he could avoid the military draft in Syria. His girlfriend, his teenage love, was left behind in Aleppo, Omar said. One year ago he heard that she was killed by a bomb. "What can you do? This is what war is like." Despite all he has been through, Omar has dreams for the future. He wants to reach northern Europe safely and reunite with his uncles there. He would like to finish school and study to be an engineer Mohammed has a bruise below his left eye, and blood is visible in that eye when he looks to the left. He didn t say how it happened. The boy was constantly cracking jokes, so fast that even the interpreter couldn't keep up. And he kept on smiling. Until he started talking about Syria. "Everyone is against everyone else. If you were out at night and a car came by, you would hide. If you encountered someone from ISIS and wore short sleeves, you were in trouble. One of my cousins worked

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6 Provide food for gatherings Provide transportation Other: PHASE 2 Family relocation initiative: Help a family relocate to the Exeter area. WHOLE PARISH Sponsor a family INDIVIDUALS/FAMILIES Help locate housing Connect family with community resources: health care, job placement, community activities Provide financial help Locate or donate goods: Furniture, linens, kitchen supplies, etc. Services: Transportation, child care Plan/participate in social activities Other: Please prayerfully consider your response. Forms can be placed in the offertory plate or returned to the office.

7 SYRIAN REFUGEE MINISTRY I want to support this ministry. NAME: PHONE: There are so many ways you can do this. Please check off those that are of interest to you and that you would like to know more about. Ministry Organizing Team Ecumenical and community outreach Parish education PHASE 1 Student Initiative: Bring 4-8 high school students to the seacoast to live in local homes and attend local schools. WHOLE PARISH Sponsor one or more high school students INDIVIDUALS/FAMILIES House a high school student Host family Act as an aunt/uncle to support the host family Plan social/educational events

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9 in a poultry farm, they dropped a bomb and he was killed. You can't live in that place," Hussein said. Mohammed interrupted: "If things were like before, nobody would leave. Things were good five years ago." Mohammed's parents didn't know he was in Greece; they thought he would stay in Turkey. But Mohammed wants to go to northern Europe. "I have 100 euros left. Is it enough to get there?" the boy asked. Someone I know said it took him 120 euros." He had paid a trafficker $1,200 to get to Greece. Amir, Ehsan & Ali In the early hours of the morning, the children were finally asleep, except for 14-year-old Amir. Unlike many of the others, Amir didn't have relatives in northern Europe or anywhere to go. He just wanted to get a job and send money to his parents, whom he left behind in Afghanistan. It's hard to imagine who will give a 14-year-old a job and what sort of job that will be. Two other 14-year-olds, Ehsan and Ali, were neighbors in Afghanistan and had started this trip together.

10 The World s Unprecedented Refugee Crisis by the Numbers By Lucy Westcott 6/18/15 Here's a breakdown of some of the numbers in UNHCR's report million people were forcibly displaced in 2014, compared to 51.2 million at the end of 2013 and 37.5 million at the end of The increase in forcibly displaced people since 2013 is the highest ever seen in a single year, according to UNHCR. The world s displaced population includes 19.5 million refugees, 38.2 million people displaced within their home countries and 1.8 million waiting on the outcome of an asylum application million people became newly displaced in 2014, four times the number in percent of the world s refugees are children; 34,300 applications for asylum were filed by unaccompanied or separated children, mainly those from Eritrea, Syria, Somalia and Afghanistan.

11 15 countries have seen conflicts begin or reignite in the past five years: Eight in Africa (Ivory Coast, Central African Republic, Libya, Mali, northeastern Nigeria, Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan and this year in Burundi); three in the Middle East (Syria, Iraq, and Yemen); three in Asia (Kyrgyzstan, and in several areas of Myanmar and Pakistan) and one in Europe (Ukraine). 7.6 million internally displaced people and more than 4 million refugees are from Syria, the world s largest producer of internally displaced persons and refugees. Afghanistan, with 2.59 million and Somalia, with 1.1 million, are the second and third biggest refugee source countries. More than half of the world s refugees came from those three countries million refugees have fled Turkey, which is now the largest refugee-hosting country in the world. Pakistan (1.51 million) Lebanon (1.15 million), Iran (982,000), Ethiopia (659,500) and Jordan (654,100) are among the other top host countries. 126,800 forcibly displaced people were able to return home in 2014, the lowest number in 31 years. 219,000 people crossed the Mediterranean Sea in 2014, three times the previous high of 70,000 people in More than 100,000 have crossed the sea. 3,500 went missing or died in the Mediterranean Sea in There are 232 refugees per 1,000 inhabitants in Lebanon, which has the largest number of refugees per 1,000 residents. Jordan has 87 refugees per 1,000 inhabitants and Nauru has 39 per 1,000 people.

12 SYRIAN REFUGEES IN THE U.S. from #RefugeesWelcome 23,092 Syrians refugees have been referred to the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program by the UNHCR since FY ,014 Syrians have been interviewed by DHS since FY ,034 Syrian refugees have been admitted since FY Syrian refugees that have resettled in the U.S. have been arrested or removed on terrorism charges. For a detailed breakdown of the demographics of the 2,034 Syrian refugees who have entered the U.U. since 2011 go to Recommended Resources: Episcopal Migration Ministries facebook page is updated almost daily with new information about the crisis and the possible actions Christians can take in response.. #RefugeesWelcome for Twitter users. PBS Newshour provides extended discussions from a variety of perspectives. Archives can be viewed on their website. Check out and Like the Christ Church Exeter facebook page for information and upcoming events related to how we are answering God s call to strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being.