A UK-based organization called Aid to the Church in Need is working to rebuild a Christian village in Iraq.

Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) says in a release that rebuilding the abandoned village is an "immense task."

The village was deserted in 2016 due to a seizure by Daesh, also known as ISIS. 

While seizing the town, the group destroyed the church by smashing and decapitating alters and statues, wrote on the church's walls, and destroying the church's exterior.

“Even if the situation is not very clear, we see the importance of a sign of hope," ACN says.

ACN says that now their teams have been working to repair the local parish, a chapel, and covent, as well as create a kindergarten space for 125 children.

"Resettlement of Batnaya is seen as crucial for the recovery of the Christian presence in the Nineveh Plains," ACN says. 

ACN is hoping to bring people back home after the repairs have completed.

 

REBUILD THE COMMUNITY IN IRAQ

After three years of siege and civil war, in December 2017, Iraq was liberated from the Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham. The territories freed from the ISIS are wracked. Unemployment and economic decline still prevail, and millions of people are dependent on humanitarian aid. Thousands of Christians were killed in the war, and many more fled the country. Currently, about 250.000 Christians are living in Iraq. Christians in Iraq have always faced many challenges because they are associated with foreign forces. They endure discrimination, persecution, attacks, and some even pay with their lives the price for keeping their faith. "Christians in Iraq have the right to live with dignity and freedom. Nonetheless, this situation is a way of giving testimony in a world seeking hope," wrote Fr. Ragheed Ganni three years before he was killed in Mosul. ACN supports many projects in Iraq with prayers and financial aid. One of the 40 projects that we financed last year is the reconstruction of the Al-Tahira Church, which is of a great significance for Christians in Nineveh Plains. Stand by our suffering brothers and sisters in Faith in Iraq. https://martyrs.acninternational.org/

Posted by ACN - Aid to the Church in Need on Friday, February 28, 2020