Losing Value

The economic and currency crisis in Lebanon means that compared to the dollar, the lira is coming in short. The exchange rate is close to 1500 lira for one dollar, but on the black market, the exchange rate is almost 2000 to one.

For Lebanese and Syrian workers alike, this poses problems. People don’t want the lira, and there aren’t enough dollars to go around.

Nuna with Triumphant Mercy says, “But the economical crisis is now taking a toll on all refugees because they can’t get jobs like before. Even Lebanese can’t get jobs now. The financial crisis is so bad, that Lebanese are being laid off work and cannot find ways to sustain their own families.”

Without enough money to buy necessities, for many refugees, returning to Syria is starting to sound like a good option.

Go Back or Stay?

The problem with going back is that many people came into Lebanon illegally the first time. For them, there is added fear if they cross the border legally.

Nuna says, “They’re afraid that at the border they will be caught, or they will be taken to prison because they are deserters. So they’re thinking about, ‘When is a good time for us to go back over the mountain and go back to their own villages?’ So there’s a lot of talk, much more than before [about returning].”

Yet even if a family or person makes it back into their home town undetected by the government, there is still the issue of physical and financial security.

(Image courtesy of upyernoz on Flickr https://bit.ly/2UprbIq)

“There are parts that are not so secure, but there are parts that are becoming more secure. Now the problem is also financial in Syria because of the dollar devaluation of the money, the Syrian pound. The same like Lebanon, the devaluation of the money is the same in Lebanon, and it’s also affecting Syria a lot.”

However, even with those drawbacks and the lack of public infrastructure like schools and hospitals, refugees are thinking of returning.

With the continued issues in Lebanon, their situation is not much better. In fact, in some places public opinion is turning against refugees, blaming them for the economic crisis. They fear crowds retaliating against them.

Whichever side they approach the issue from, refugees face similar issues.

Offering Hope

Triumphant Mercy tries to help refugees on either side of the dilemma talk and think through these concerns in a Biblical light. Often the situation feels hopeless, but Triumphant Mercy knows that is not the case.

“There is a hope that God has a plan.” Nuna states, “There is a hope that the plan is not just to stay in the position that you’re in, and in misery because this is not the gospel. Jesus came to give life.”

In addition to offering hope through Christ, Triumphant Mercy provides connections and contact information for other NGOs on the ground in Syria. This helps returning refugees find help when they return.

They also offer schooling and practical training for those going back. In addition to exam prep, they help students learn skills that will help them rebuild their cities, homes and lives in Syria.

Prayers for God to Reign

There are so many ways to pray for Syrian refugees and Triumphant Mercy but Nuna asks for prayers that God would be glorified and His name would be the only one that is proclaimed.

“That’s my prayer. And that’s what I encourage everyone to just pray, not against one country or against another or with a regime or … enough. It’s not that. It’s just God’s kingdom to come.”

Please pray that many Syrian refugees would praise God’s name and take the truth of the Gospel to their Syrian friends and neighbors.

Learn more about Triumphant Mercy here.

Image Courtesy of Anthony Gale on Flickr https://bit.ly/399vNGz

Protests in Lebanon

In October, a video of protestors singing “Baby Shark” to a frightened toddler humanized the people behind the chants. Weeks later, demonstrators continue to block roads, leaving the country at a standstill. Now, people are wondering what the protests are accomplishing.

(Photo courtesy of Triumphant Mercy-Lebanon)

Disruption from protests is adding challenges to daily ministry for organizations like Triumphant Mercy. Nuna of Triumphant Mercy says people are living with uncertainty.

No one knows what will happen on a day-to-day basis. Refugees are reminded of the Syrian revolution that forced them from their homes and into temporary makeshift tents in a foreign land.

“They were reminded of it and there was so much fear. They froze…they literally froze and not being able to think because of the fear,” Nuna explains.

“We have also a hard time at the ministry here to know what’s happening. Are we opening today? Are we not opening? Are we bringing kids? Are we not bringing kids? Will the parents send their kids? For the first few days, they did not want to send their kids with us because they were fearing that some people would be beaten on the streets…especially as Syrians.”

Syrian refugees are afraid the Lebanese might turn against them. Nuna says part of the financial problem in Lebanon is there are more people in the country than it can support. With 1.5 million Syrian refugees, Lebanon has the highest number of refugees per capita. The volume of refugees has made it harder for the Lebanese when searching for jobs.

Responding to Prolonged Protests

After weeks of peaceful protests, Nuna says the refugees’ fears have calmed some. Still, everyone is on edge. Roads continue to be blocked, and banks are closed. People are unable to make money transfers. Nuna is left wondering how to pay people working with Triumphant Mercy.

“It’s a question mark for all of us,” Nuna says.

What can Christians outside of Lebanon do? Pray.

“We’ve been intensifying prayer…prayer meetings every day. There’s a big fight going on just to see justice, to see corruption being broken,” Nuna says.

(Photo by Shahen Araboghlian, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons)

Triumphant Mercy set up a tent in downtown Beirut to hold prayer meetings. In the middle of the chaos, the organization offers a calm place to stop and ask for God to bring change. It is also a place for people from different backgrounds to share their prayer requests.

“I believe this is a turning point for the whole region, not only for Lebanon,” Nuna says.

Pray for government corruption to end in Lebanon. Pray for justice and the people in Lebanon to have the ability to afford daily life. Pray for Triumphant Mercy’s work to continue during the protests.

“Thank you for everyone who prays, really. Every prayer is added to this bucket before the Lord. I just thank everyone who stands with us in prayer, who sends us a letter of encouragement, or who says, ‘I’m with you. I’m praying’,” Nuna says.

To send an encouraging note, click here.

Header photo credit: Shahen Books/CC4.0.

(Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

Why is Lebanon pushing back so intensely against the Syrian refugees? The answer is the current economy, security, violence, and crime rates. The Lebanese people are tired and tense, and hostility is brewing.

Still, Nuna with Triumphant Mercy says the country’s reactions have made the Syrian refugees feel unsafe.

“[Lebanon] had a demonstration. People went on the streets and just demanded that Syrians go back home. We had banners saying ‘Syria is safe, go back home’, ‘we don’t want you here’…The situation is escalating in Lebanon.”

Returning Home Complications

But for refugees, returning home to Syria is not simple. Prematurely sending Syrian refugees home could cause more problems. If Syrians return home today, the men will probably either be imprisoned or forced into the army. Their sons could expect a similar future. Even if this threat did not exist, rebuilding takes finances, and money is something most refugee families lack.

“We are just trying to work in between but nobody really knows what the situation would be like and how long it will take. [It might be] three months, maybe six months, maybe a year. I don’t know,” Nuna says.

(Photo courtesy of Triumphant Mercy)

Triumphant Mercy balances obeying Lebanon’s laws with offering help in the Bekaa Valley and in Beirut. For them, that means providing informal education for refugee children.

Now, Nuna is searching for a way to legitimize this education through certificates or testing.

“We have contacted people inside Syria that could arrange for kids to come and do official exams inside Syria. That’s a new thing that we’re trying to do because that would help them when they go back home, to continue their studies…We do what we can for at least securing a future for some of the kids, securing a future for some of the families,” Nuna explains.

Triumphant Mercy is also connecting Syrian refugees with possible church contacts in Syria. These contacts can help welcome the refugees home and offer support when the time comes to rebuild their lives.

Refugees Find Hope

However, one of the greatest gifts Triumphant Mercy provides is an opportunity to know Christ’s love. Along with informal education, Triumphant Mercy also offers Bibles camps and Bibles studies for the kids and adults in the refugee camps.

“We have so many new brothers in the faith just around us. It’s amazing and we’re trying to even intensify this,” Nuna says.

(Photo courtesy of Triumphant Mercy Lebanon)

Still, hopelessness is penetrating the camps. People tell Nuna they feel abandoned by God because of their circumstances. A lot of refugees struggle to think about life beyond the surviving today. (Read about the effects of trauma here.)

But, Nuna counters this with, “this is where we come [in] and just install hope…we’re here for you. We [were] sent by God for you.”

Pray for opportunity and hope for the Syrian refugees’ futures. Ask God to strengthen Triumphant Mercy as it works on shifting ground. Pray the ministry clearly presents the Gospel and meets the need of those it serves. Pray for Lebanon’s economy, for the Lebanese anger to dissipate, and for peace between the Lebanese and Syrian refugees.

Learn more about Triumphant Mercy’s ministry here.

Header photo courtesy of EU Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations
via Flickr.

A Place of Waiting

Two years ago, Jo was in a season of waiting. She had come to a place in her life where she didn’t know what to do. She was ready for a big change, to do something for God, but didn’t know what.

She says, “And so I was just laying it all on the table and saying, okay if you want me to go somewhere and if you really lead this way, if you really can, then show me. And I heard Him say, ‘Wait.’”

Jo explains that during that time God taught her about His love and what it looks like to trust Him. To teach her this lesson, she needed a season where only God knew her next steps.

A Time to Go

She became content in her waiting, then without warning, God began to show her what her future held. Jo says, “Suddenly on a random Sunday morning, I walked into Church and Nuna was there. The church there had been praying with her for some of the situations here, in the refugee camp, and she wanted to come and update them about what had been happening. And so, I just happened to hear her update and thought, ‘This has nothing to do with me. This is for sure not where I’m called.’”

Photos Courtesy of Triumphant Mercy

But it was. After praying, talking with people at Triumphant Mercy and visiting the Beqaa Valley, she knew where God was leading her.

“It was very much just a go. Okay then, well then I’ll obey and I’ll go and see where it takes me when I’m there. And now I’ve been here two years and I really feel the Lord’s leading to put things into place to stay for a longer time than I have. So, I’m here for the time being, but I have no idea what that will look like in the long-term.”

Bright Hope for a Dark Place.

The call is clear to stay for now, but that doesn’t mean it is always easy. Triumphant Mercy is running informal schools for Syrian refugees in the Beqaa Valley. Many have seen very difficult things as they escaped with their families into Lebanon.

Yet, Jo senses God’s presence overcoming the dark situations.

“At one point, I felt like I had a picture when I was praying on some time out from being here, of this huge wall of darkness. And I felt like God asked me to come to this place that feels so close to this wall of darkness. But in recognition of who He is, I wouldn’t respond the way you would respond to the darkness. But I would respond the way I would respond to my dad who is God, and who is able, and who gives me joy and freedom and life.

“And so it was this picture of me dancing. And just the blindness when we look into His face to that wall of darkness and it’s not the same as denial, but it’s letting who He is conquer that sense of impossibility. And recognizing that the work is just 100% His.”

Help Bring Hope to the Beqaa

The battle to see God’s hope in dark places is real. Please pray for the teachers in the Beqaa as they seek to shine light into tough situations. Pray that the students learning in Jo’s classroom would see the source of her hope. Jo also asked that while praying for the conflict to end is good, people should pray for the students as individuals who have hopes, dreams and need the love of Christ.

If you want to learn more about Triumphant Mercy’s ministries or help support their continued work in refugee camps in the Beqaa, click here.

Photo courtesy Triumphant Mercy.

Dirty Boots

“I have this certain pair of boots that I wear to camp that is great. I’ve worn them so much in camp that… I can’t clean them. I have washed them. I have tried to clean them and it’s just, the dirt’s permeated to them that they just are dirty and I track it everywhere and I go everywhere,” Triumphant Mercy’s *Jessica shares.

“And I’ve noticed that whenever I go into Lebanese stores, the grocery store, the bank, or a restaurant, or somewhere with the boots, then Lebanese look down at my feet, they see my dirty boots, and they know that I’ve worked in the refugee camps.”

The immediate response—why? Why pour your time into helping Syrian refugees?

This question is underlined with the long history between Lebanon and Syria, and the most recent war. There’s deep-rooted tension built up on both sides, and it’s caused a division. Lebanon was under Syrian occupation for 29 years.

Lebanon, A History

In 1976, Syria entered Lebanon during the Lebanese civil war. Syria’s presence in the country was meant to be a part of an Arab peacekeeping plan. But things didn’t exactly go as planned. When it was time for Syria to withdraw over a two-year period, the country kept its presence in Lebanon another 15 years. Finally, in 2005 Syria left Lebanon.

(Photo courtesy Triumphant Mercy)

Fast forward six years to the Syrian civil war in 2011 and the Syrian refugee crisis which quickly followed. Lebanon then faced another Syrian occupation of sorts, this time not by the government, but by hurting people.

Jessica, who lives in Lebanon but works with Syrians, comes face to face with the tensions between the Syrians and Lebanese every day. For some Lebanese, it’s not hard to rationalize that the Syrians are getting what they deserve or they’re getting what they had coming to them. After all, many of them still have their own wounds which need healing.

“Now the Lebanese see foreign NGOs and different countries pouring in resources to the refugees, the Syrians. And that has taken away from the Lebanese economy and for jobs. It has made the poor poorer,” Jessica explains.

“Because such a huge influx of refugees has come that it’s been a huge burden on Lebanon and whenever foreigners come in and start pouring resources into something that’s been a huge burden on them they see it as so unfair because the Syrians are draining from them…they don’t see it as much as relieving pressure off of them, but kind of adding to the problem.”

Why Help Them?

In fact, when various Lebanese have confronted Jessica about working with refugees, they’ve said her work isn’t good. If it’s not good, then why do it?

How does one even begin an answer? Where does a response to the “why” questions concerning helping Syrian refugees in Lebanon begin to form? With and through grace.

“I explain to them that each person is valuable…and each person is worthy. That the Syrians are disadvantaged, so many of the kids and so many of the women and so many of the families don’t have an opportunity in life,” Jessica explains.

“And then I explain to them that I’m a Christian and that Jesus saved me. He saw me as valuable and he poured out his love for me and he saw me as worthy. When I came to that realization it changed everything in my life. And that I can’t see a distinction between people. If Jesus did that for me, then he did that for the Lebanese. And if he did it for the Lebanese, he did it for the Syrians…you can’t take a people group out of that.”

Jessica has become known for her boots. Now, when she enters the grocer or another place she habitually visits, if she’s not wearing her boots she’s asked, ‘Where are your boots?”

A Chance to Share

And every time she is asked about her dirty boots, whether they’re on her feet or not, it’s an invitation to share Christ, proclaim that Jesus loves both the Lebanese and the Syrian, and express how each Lebanese and Syrian are worth the price of the cross.

(Photo courtesy Triumphant Mercy)

“At the end of the day, I just say, well I think people are worthy to be loved and I think that Jesus loves people. He changed my life. He can change their lives, and I think that they are valuable,” Jessica shares.

“But, I also point it back to them and say, if they are valuable and you are valuable too, and you are loved too. And in the same way that I am pouring out my life for them, I would pour out my life for you…my life is to be poured out that the love of Jesus might be known.”

Be Prayerful

So please, pray for both the Lebanese and the Syrian. Pray for refugees’ eyes to be opened to the Bibles truth, that they’d realized Christ’s love, and that they’d have the courage to walk towards that love and truth.

For many refugees, believing in Christ means the foundation they’ve built their life and values on crumbles. It’s an entire worldview shift and different way of thinking. That gigantic shift can be scary. But then, their lives and values can be built on Christ, the true Rock and Foundation.

Pray for the relationship between the Lebanese and Syrians, their reconciliation, and for Jesus to enter the hearts of both nations. Ask God to heal the Lebanese and for these same people to come to a place where they can let go of their prejudices towards the Syrian people.

Find more ways to get involved with Triumphant Mercy here!

*Name changed for security reasons.

And the Syrian people? The hopes these refugees and displaced persons living in Lebanon had for returning home this spring or summer have been crushed. Instead, more Syrians are escaping the surge of violence by traveling over the unsecured mountain border and entering Lebanon illegally. Others are dying in their attempts to flee.

An Unfair War

“This is not a fair war; this is not fair for the civilians. It’s not just bombings in specific places because they’re underground,” Triumphant Mercy’s Nuna shares. “It’s not a military war [where] you have an army coming in and fighting one-on-one or anything.”

Triumphant Mercy works both in Lebanon and just over the border in Jaramana, Syria, outside of Damascus. Nuna says the people in Jaramana are in shelters because of the bombs in Damascus and its suburbs.

(Photo courtesy Triumphant Mercy)

“[Our team] discovered a whole new camp of people who just came in illegally into Lebanon. And they’re living in, I can’t even say a tent, it’s just a plastic cover,” Nuna explains. “It’s still cold, it’s still raining, so this is how desperate they are to just get out of hell.”

It’s hard to have a reference of how many refugees have come over in this new wave. Since people are entering Lebanon illegally, there is no official headcount.

“I can’t imagine the desperation of people to just take their little children, go over the mountain when it’s freezing cold, and die of cold. Nobody shot them, nobody did anything, they didn’t slip and fall. They just died of cold. That is such a desperation.”

The refugees whom the cold hasn’t killed need food, clothes, and shelter. But, Triumphant Mercy is already working at its capacity. And honestly, it’s hard for the ministry to know what to do to help because there is just too much need.

Refugees: Great A Need

In fact, Triumphant was looking at downsizing, not growing, when this unexpected and sudden wave of refugees flooded the border. This need has the ministry in constant search of God’s guidance on what to do with its resources to help.

And the one thing which continues to surface, regardless of tangible resources, is being present in Christ’s name and character and offering hope. As Nuna says, hope is the future. When refugees come, they’re living in despair. Things feel like they can’t get better. But, hope gives them something to look forward to and it conquers the despair.

Parents get to watch their children be educated by Triumphant Mercy and have hope for their kids’ futures. When women attend Triumphant Mercy’s literacy program, they get to look forward to the time they spend learning with others.

An example of refugee camps in Lebanon during winter.
(Photo Courtesy of UNHCR Photo Unit / January 2015 via Flickr)

“So when we go and tell people that God can do something about it, we just pray and we see what God has to do. This is the hope. So, we can bring hope with nothing. Even if we don’t bring anything physical, we can with our words, with our prayer, with our just being there next to them. And I tell them, just me being there with you, shows you that God cares.”

Given the history and pains between Syria and Lebanon, the fact that a Lebanese ministry is trying to help meet the needs of Syrian refugees stops people in their tracks. It’s an act which helps break the cycle of an “eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth.” And it tangibly shows Christ’s love and life transformation.

How to Help

So please, will you help? Start by praying for guidance, for the believers working on the field, and for the refugees. Pray for Lebanon because the country is on the brink of war. All the international pressure, the fighting in Syria, and the new wave of refugees continues to build and at some point, it’s going to be too much.

Pray for Triumphant Mercy’s work both in Lebanon and in Syria. Ask God to give the ministry wisdom in how to move and where to move. And pray that despite the terror and trauma these refugees have faced, that they would encounter Christ in undeniable ways and experience healing.

“The need is so great that I know that we cannot, nobody can, cater to all the needs. But, I can do something, whatever it is, I can do something. Even if it’s a small seed, even if it’s more prayer,” Nuna says.

The people still have physical needs like food, blankets, and mattresses. Right now, they have next to nothing. So please, will you donate to Triumphant Mercy’s “Basic Needs” fund?

Click here for ways to donate!