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ATLANTA – It was an answer to prayer.

“Lord, we [may] not eat this year, but please make a way for our daughter, Marina, to start school this fall,” prayed an Iraqi mother and father living as refugees in Jordan.

Ten minutes later, a pastor called. There was a scholarship for Marina to attend Ashrafiya Nazarene School in Amman. That scholarship was one of 40 given to Iraqi children through funding from the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and other organizations.

“Whenever I visit an Iraqi family, I ask their children about the last time they were in school,” said Rod Green, who works at the Nazarene school. “The usual answer is two or three years.”
 
The Fellowship gave more than $8,000 to the school, which is affiliated with Nazarene Compassionate Ministries (NCM). The ministry began outreach to Iraqi families in 2003 by providing food, heaters, blankets and medicine assistance.

Millions of Iraqis have fled to Jordan and Syria to escape ongoing violence in their country. Most come only with what they can carry, and few can find jobs to afford basic living expenses, much less school tuition for their children. Until this year, Iraqi refugee children were not allowed to attend Jordanian public schools. The Nazarene school, located in a neighborhood where many Iraqi refugees live, was able to accept 70 students this year with $18,000 of outside support for tuition and books. 

“The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship was a big help in these expenses,” Green said. “Many students would be sitting idly at home without their help.”

Ayman, 11, and Shehad, 15, are two of the school’s Iraqi students. After bombing started over their Baghdad home and their kidnapped father was released, the frightened family fled to Jordan in 2003. Through the Nazarene church, the family found renewed hope in Jesus Christ, and through the Nazarene school, Ayman and Shehad are receiving the education that could give them a better future.

“Kids and their families uprooted from their homes because of war is a disaster,” said David Harding, the Fellowship’s international coordinator for disaster response. “We ought to follow them wherever they go to lend a hand in re-establishing a new life outside of harm’s way.”

The Fellowship learned about Nazarene ministries through Harding, who used to serve in Jordan and attend a local Nazarene church. 

“We have the church, school and volunteer resources and with outside support, we can do something to help families get through this difficult period in their lives,” said Green. “The refugees [reached by NCM] have seen the face, hands and feet of Christ in those who have provided help and hope to them in their home away from home.”

Those wishing to make a financial contribution to the effort can give by sending a check payable to Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, P.O. Box 101699, Atlanta, GA, 30392, indicating fund No. 17010 "Iraq response.”

CBF is a fellowship of Baptist Christians and churches who share a passion for the Great Commission and a commitment to Baptist principles of faith and practice. The Fellowship’s mission is to serve Christians and churches as they discover and fulfill their God-given mission.