Story number 1 for 28 Mar 2003

(Iraq)–Topping the news, numerous agencies are ready and waiting for an influx of war refugees along Iraq’s borders. However, those camps stand mostly empty, and the issue is now being ready once the shelling stops. Christian Reformed World Relief Committee’s Andy Ryskamp. “There’s food-for-work kinds of things that they can help with, reconstruction activities; there’s ways that you can begin to rebuild some of the infrastructure; the community leadership that needs to be in place that just is not there because of the nature of the Iraqi government.” Ryskamp explains there is more to the rebuilding phase than buildings; there’s focus on hope, too. “Bringing in a testimony of reconciliation and unity based on our faith in Jesus Christ is something that is accepted, we have found. What is most important is that it’s built on both organizational and individual credibility that you bring into those situations.”