Your love brings hope to children in the Middle East

Rihav Osama learned to count using bullets. At 14, she can describe what it’s like to lose friends and neighbors to war, to see her community torn apart by violence.  

At age 11, Yahya Waadallah can already describe in vivid detail seeing someone shot to death. In fact, he sees it happening, again and again, whenever he closes his eyes. His school drawings show a body in the street, with crayon-red blood flowing into a gutter.  

At a time when they should be playing, learning and dreaming about their careers, too many children in the Middle East can’t see the path to the future because of the violence of the present.

Working in the Middle East can be difficult. Those in need are hard to reach, separated from help by seemingly endless instability.

And yet we must persevere, if we are to respond to the question that prompted Jesus to recount the tale of the Good Samaritan: ‘Who is my neighbor?

Our neighbors are these boys and girls  — and the husbands and fathers and mothers and wives who just want what’s best for the ones they love. They are children who long to run and play. They are families with traditions and memories. Through Lutheran World Relief, you are reaching these neighbors with love. And we won’t give up until everyone, everywhere can see it when they close their eyes.

Your love is a quilt wrapped around a family driven from their home by mortar shells. Your love is the listening ear of a counselor who heals a child’s wounded heart. Your love is a freshly dug well of clean water for a community rebuilding.  

Your love means our commitment to families in the Middle East can remain resolute.  

We believe in the promise and potential of all to rise above their circumstances—even in the bleak shadow of conflict. Here’s how your gifts make it possible.