Amidst Violence, Ministry Demonstrates Christ's Love, Reaches Out to Iraqi People
by Allie Martin
April 15, 2004
(AgapePress) - Recent kidnappings and attacks by terrorists have not kept workers from one ministry out of Iraq.World Vision, based in the State of Washington, currently has 67 staff members working in Iraq on a number of projects. The organization supplements its on-site staff by hiring local professional staff for much of its relief work, thereby providing employment, boosting the economy, and allowing community members to take charge of their own rebuilding.
Although violence against civilians in Iraq has increased in recent weeks, World Vision spokesperson Andrea Swinburn-Jones says much work is being accomplished in a hostile environment.
"In our programs in northern Iraq, we've managed to rehabilitate more than 200 schools -- and in excess of 100,000 children now have access to clean, rehabilitated schools," she says. "They actually have running water in their schools now; they have functioning toilets."
Swinburn-Jones says the workers actions are speaking very loudly to the Iraqi people. "In one of the areas that I travel into, they said when we first came [that] they weren't quite sure what to make of our organization," she shares. "They were very aware that we are Christian organization.
"We've brought education areas to their children, running water, that type of thing -- and they can see that it's our hearts that count."
World Vision is also sanitizing water systems and equipping health-care centers with basic medical supplies. "We're driven by work of Christ," Swinburn-Jones says.
