Testing!

The Fight between Carnival and Lent

By Peter Bruegel

FRME Update - 4 February

Iraq and Jordan - An Update

Congratulations to Dr Sarah Ahmed, FRRME's newly-appointed Director of Operations in the Middle East. In her new role, Dr Sarah will help oversee operations in both Iraq and Jordan. 

Dr Sarah Ahmed, FRRME's new Director of Operations in the Middle East, receiving the FRRME Peace Prize in the House of Lords last week

Iraq - The situation in Northern Iraq is getting worse. Many NGOs, including the UN, are scaling back their operations and are only providing aid to the most needy. However, thanks to your support, FRRME is continuing to provide food packages, hygiene kits, medical care, and schooling for hundreds of Internally Displaced Persons. We are now working across 17 camps in the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan and will continue to distribute vital relief as long as we are able to. 

FRRME's team on the ground  in Erbil distributing aid packages last week

  

Jordan - As well as looking after 500 Iraqi refugee families now living in Marka (a suburb of Amman), this month we provided £3,500 worth of aid to Syrian refugees - the money was spent on heating, rent, food and medical relief. This support comes on the back of recent reports about Syrians starving to death in Madaya. We want to do what we can to help and so we are working with the Syrian Orthodox Church in Jordan to assist those we can. 

FRRME is now providing vital relief to Syrian and Iraqi refugees in Jordan

The Emergency Appeal for Iraqi Refugees - Our emergency appeal is at 17%, with £43,000 raised. Thank you to all those who have made a donation, your support is very much appreciated. To those who would like to make a donation, please click on the image below.

For more information about The Foundation for Relief and Reconciliation in the Middle East (FRRME), please click here.

Lighter evenings!

Really looking forward to the warmer and lighter evenings!   Must look at the barbeque tomorrow and check the fuel level.

Middle East Update 13 January 2015

Greetings and blessings from Jerusalem

Dear Friends, Greetings and blessings from Jerusalem. After several days of cold and snowy weather the sun has now returned to Jerusalem. When the Middle East is cold it is very difficult to keep warm. This is the dessert and it can't cope with the cold and neither can I in the midst of it. It is very difficult to keep warm and the country almost shuts down it was not possible to even have any serious meetings for several days.   Meanwhile life at St George's Baghdad continues to go well. The Church and Clinic are in good shape. The Bishop recently visited and appointed Faiz as the head chaplain and me as the vicar emeritus, this is indeed a great act for celebration. The situation in the Iraq however remains terrible. The refugees displaced from the homes and towns have been suffering so much in the cold of the winter. Our team up there have been doing a great job continuing to provide food and warm clothing to the hundreds in distress. Dr Sarah continues to head up the work. We will be going to see her tomorrow in Jordan where we also have a lot of work to do amongst our refugees there.   Our work may be rather overwhelming and depressing at times but it is truly awesome to do the work of G-d in this place, and see his glory is truly awesome. Yesterday I had three very different events. The first was with Rabbi Melchior, he got me along to a meeting that he did not really want, it was with the leader of the Universal Peace Initiative. It is basically an initiative of the Unification Church (the Meanies) and he and I don't like them. Maybe people are going to not like me for saying that but that is the truth. Then I met with Pastor Seven Koury our major Christian partner in Jerusalem and Bethlehem. We have decided to call our work Ishmael and Isaac moving forward. So there is a good foundation planned for much of our relief work here being done through the church. The final meeting was more than amazing I took my rabbi for dinner. Many of you will know that I studied at an Ultra Orthodox Yeshiva. My Hassidic Rabbi (pictured) was Shimon Naftalis. How I love this man, my teacher my hero, my tzadick. I have not been with him since the night of our wedding reception at our honeymoon in Jerusalem. Our meeting was just like we had never been apart I thank the Almighty for this meeting and I am sure we are going to do a lot together, starting with our Ishmael and Isaac project. The tragic events of the past few days in Paris just remind us of how much work there still is to do. I am now off to Jordan and there is much to do. Love and Blessings, Canon Andrew White

The proclamation of the date of Easter and the other moveable feasts

The proclamation of the date of Easter and the other moveable feasts on Epiphany is one of the many things that was a practical necessity in time of old, but is kept within liturgical use (similar to candles providing light at Mass). It is something that any parish can use this Sunday after the gospel.

There are two scores in the file, depending on which day your Diocese celebrates the Ascension.

www.musicasacra.com/cafemedia/yanke/2015-announcement-of-movable-feasts.pdf

Middle East Daily Update 31 December 2014

Middle East Daily Update 31 December 2014

Dear friends, 2014 has been an exceptionally traumatic year for the people of the Middle East, our team on the ground have heard so many tragic stories. As 2014 draws to a close we wanted to summarise what we have encountered and how we have begun responding to the crises and outline our plans for 2015. In Amman, Jordan we have been working with local churches supporting Iraqi refugees mostly from Ninevah. There are hundreds of families who have fled to Jordan, many of whom have received no or limited assistance. As refugees they are unable to seek employment and have to wait months to hear whether they will be moved. In the meantime they are relying on charitable support, but this only goes so far and we have found many families that have not eaten for days in order to pay the rent. Many of the children have been out of education for 6 months or more. A great deal of our time has been spent in Israel/Palestine following recent troubles both in reconciliation and relief. We have been providing aid to Gaza through the Adam Centre which is part of the reconciliation work between Israel and Palestine. We have also been supporting the Church in Bethlehem in providing for the welfare of Christian Palestinians, and the Joseph Storehouse Foundation assisting disadvantaged people in Israel. At St George's, Baghdad our work through the school, clinic and food relief programme continued and with many displaced Iraqis moving to Baghdad has increased. Many Iraqis have been displaced to the Kurdistan Region of Iraq where we have been providing relief such as food, blankets, bedding, and mobility aids. In 2015 we are supporting the construction of an IDP camp in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and in Baghdad. In Israel/Palestine we are partnered with Mosaica working towards a resolution to the conflict. In Amman we are seeking funding for a school and clinic for the Iraqi refugees, premises have already been located and urgent financial support is needed. We found despair, we brought hope and now through your love please help us. Wishing you a very happy new year, Terry Jones and Daniel Packwood