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20th June 2022

Nashwan from Iraq owned a flourishing business and a house, but militants who overran his area threatened to kill him and his family. They all fled their home and later moved to Egypt, but Nashwan can neither obtain a work permit and find suitable employment, nor enroll his daughters in school.

Nashwan is one of numerous refugees and other migrants across the Middle East and North Africa who are supported by SAT-7 through our programs and projects. Millions of people were forced from their homes by the protracted conflicts in Iraq and Syria and have never returned. Hundreds of thousands have fled from Afghanistan following last year’s takeover by the Taliban, while others are trying to escape economic meltdown in Lebanon. Some countries in the region, such as Turkey, are struggling to accommodate massive migrant populations.

Many of these displaced people have desperate needs for spiritual support and practical help. Yet so often they are not crushed by their hardships, and even have impressive and inspiring stories to tell. This year, SAT-7 is marking World Refugee Day on Monday, June 20 by sharing some of their inspiring stories.

In the Bible, when God’s people are scattered among the nations, He acts as a sanctuary for them where they have gone (Ezekiel 11:16). Many of today’s migrants are our brothers and sisters in Christ, and SAT-7 loves sharing about how God has transformed their lives.

Ashwaq, a young graduate from Sudan, came to Egypt to work but can earn barely enough to support herself and her young son. She tells her story in a powerful new series of personal documentaries, Refugee Tales, that relates the struggles and showcases the resilience of refugees in Egypt.1

Songwriting With Gilbert Web

Songwriting with Gilbert allows Iranian refugees’ praises to rise from a place of exile

Gilbert, whose family fled Iran after his father was murdered, devotes his life to ministering to suffering Iranian Christians through writing worship songs on the program Songwriting with Gilbert. These are written in collaboration with refugees from Iran living in Turkey, all of whom have fled their homeland only recently.

Boy With Rice Bag Web

Attending HOPE School is so important to Hany* that his family made him a makeshift backpack from a rice bag

Refugee children in Lebanon study at a HOPE school run by SAT-7’s partner Heart for Lebanon. The school uses our popular educational program My School to teach them Arabic, English and math.  The children have begun to thrive in every way – after six months of watching ‘My School,’ their grades are greatly improved. For some, this means being able to write their name for the very first time.

Please pray that in SAT-7’s programs, our viewers will encounter this God who is a home for the homeless.

 

 

*Name changed for security.

1 Part of a project funded by the Norwegian Mission Society to promote the rights of the marginalized.

 

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