Rebekah Reports

Thoughts on meals, media, momming and more

Empowering those ISIS wishes to eradicate – Part 1

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Some of the 12,000 Iraqi Yazidi refugees that arrived at Newroz camp in Al-Hassakah province, north eastern Syria after fleeing Islamic State militants. The refugees had walked up to 60km in searing temperatures through the Sinjar mountains and many had suffered severe dehydration. Photo credit: UK Department for International Development, Flickr
Some of the 12,000 Iraqi Yazidi refugees that arrived at Newroz camp in Al-Hassakah province, north eastern Syria after fleeing Islamic State militants. The refugees had walked up to 60km in searing temperatures through the Sinjar mountains and many had suffered severe dehydration. Photo credit: UK Department for International Development, Flickr

How do you just sit on the floor of a shipping container and just let these women carry this kind of terror alone — how do you turn away and go back to your neat little life of Wheaties and news reels and how does the church not stand up and howl?” – Ann Voskamp

Do you feel helpless in the face of the evils ISIS is inflicting? Do you feel like you can’t do anything for the Yazidis, Christians, and other minorities suffering in the Middle East because they’re so far away? Stop. No more excuses. The people ISIS is waging war against are just that — people. They’re not simply news headlines.

There is a way to help defy ISIS. Thank you, Ann Voskamp for helping shed light on the fantastic organization that is Preemptive Love. This one, Texas-based organization is doing more to spread love and healing — literally and figuratively — in the Middle East than any other I’ve seen.

(Full-disclosure: I have donated to Preemptive Love in the past. Also — A fun fact for my Austin-area friends: The organization’s founder, Jeremy Courtney, is from Central Texas. Go here for a recent Statesman feature on him.)

I highly encourage you to read Ann’s blog post. Then I encourage you to go here and join me in doing something to help empower the women and children ISIS is trying to eradicate.

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UPDATE: On Thursday May 21, 2015, Ann Voskamp and Jeremy Courtney hosted a live stream discussion moderated by Jennie Allen of IF:Gathering. Go here to read Part 2 of this blog post about that discussion and learn more about what you can do to assist Preemptive Love.

 

Lack of passion for the persecuted

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Kirsten Powers has done it again. She’s taken my thoughts and feelings and put them to print perfectly in this week’s article boldly entitled, “Kirsten Powers: Christians thrown overboard left to drown by Obama.”

When three North Carolina Muslims were gunned down by a virulent atheist, Obama rightly spoke out against the horrifying killings. But he just can’t seem to find any passion for the mass persecution of Middle Eastern Christians or the eradication of Christianity from its birthplace.”

This lack of response, or at best an unemotional nearly apathetic response, to Christians’ murders and torment (and other minorities like the Yazidis) in the Middle East is becoming an all-too-familiar practice for our current president and our country.

An old Christian church in Lebanon. Photo credit: n.karim, Flickr
An old Christian church in Lebanon. Photo credit: n.karim, Flickr

Don’t get too comfy on your couches with your Netflix, folks. Don’t think this persecution of Christians could come to America, the supposed “land of the free and home of the brave?” Guess again.

If a blind eye is turned to what’s happening overseas, it’ll be that much easier to grow numb to the issue and turn a blind eye to it once it’s in our own backyards. It’s time to be brave and stand up for those who are being killed for their religious beliefs. No matter your religion, you should not be murdered for it. That’s just wrong, plain and simple.

America has intervened around the globe to help the starving, the sick — those dying from AIDS and Ebola, for example — as well as the impoverished, those suffering in the aftermath of natural disasters. When do we intervene to lend a hand to the innocently hunted?

Related Story:

Go here to watch Lara Logan’s story from a March episode of “60 Minutes” on what life has been like for Iraqi Christians as of late. It’s well worth a few minutes of your time.

Will we ever “bring back our girls?”

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I planned weeks ago to write a story on Nigerian terrorist group Boko Haram in order to help keep the #BringBackOurGirls campaign on people’s minds, considering the 200+ teen girls that were kidnapped from the village of Chibok by Boko Haram last summer still have not been found. Unfortunately, the extremist group has placed itself back in the headlines recently with what’s been described as its “worst attack ever,” and I’m compelled to write.

While some local Nigerian officials claim 2,000 people were killed, others say that number could be in the dozens or hundreds. Accurate details are hard to come by, but here is some of what we do know about Boko Haram and its latest attack.

  • “On Saturday, January 3, Boko Haram fighters in pickup trucks drove up to a military outpost in Baga. The Nigerian troops immediately began fleeing.” – Vox.com
  • The Nigerian military has a history of not helping the situation between locals and Boko Haram, and in fact, they’ve made it worse by inspiring recruits to join Boko Haram as a result of the military’s tactics that have alienated the local population. – TIME
  • “The militants have been waging an insurgency to establish an Islamic state in the country’s northeast for five years.” – Business Insider
  • That said, motive for this specific attack may likely be the impending presidential election in Nigeria scheduled to take place on Feb. 14. That’s because Boko Haram condemns democracy. – Vox.com
  • Amnesty International has released sobering “before and after” satellite images of Baga and a second town, both seemingly wiped out following Boko Haram’s days-long attack.
  • Now, a week after the horrific events in and around Baga, Nigeria’s president Goodluck Jonathan (who is up for re-election in next month’s election) visited the troubled northeast region. – The Guardian

So with Boko Haram continuing to strengthen its hold on large portions of Nigeria, will we ever see the kidnapped Chibok girls again? I certainly hope so, though as this TIME article explains, sadly many more girls (and boys) may be abducted before the Chibok girls are reunited with their families. TIME speculates that by now the girls have been forcibly married off, used as camp hands, or might even been responsible for a recent rise in female suicide bombers.

It’s important not to give up on them, though, and not to think that the #BringBackOurGirls social media campaign was just a fad. As this author explains, the popular hashtag was successful in raising awareness about the girls, and it’s important the world to continue to do so. “It’s time to remind a distracted world that Boko Haram must be defeated,” he wrote last week. “Social media won’t return the girls, but the world’s attention can help.” Go here to follow the #BringBackOurGirls campaign on Twitter.

BONUS READ: This is an interesting read about the media’s coverage of the Charlie Hebdo attacks versus the lack of/sluggish coverage of the Boko Haram massacre in Baga. The author explains why he believes there’s a “clear double standard when talking about Western vs. non-Western and Muslim vs. non-Muslim victims of terrorism.”

Cover photo credit: Russ Allison Loar, Flickr