Paul Calvert spoke with Saleem Anfous from Immanuel Church in Bethlehem

Paul: What is the mood amongst the refugees at the moment?

Saleem: You can definitely feel that they have so much pain and sadness. When we go to their homes they are still watching the news feeling how sad it is that they are outside of what is going on. They have nothing to do and have lost so much and they are living in an area that is not their home. It's not easy. There are a lot of people and they have so much stress on them; they are not allowed to work in Jordan so they can't make money to survive and they live in homes that are technically just one room with a kitchen and a bathroom and the rent is about 200 Dinars, so it is a lot for them. Yet you can still feel that despite those things, when we go visit them they smile, they welcome us, they give us tea and they like to talk with us. Even though they have so much pain, they are very welcoming.

Paul: Was it easy to minister to their needs?

Saleem: Yes, especially as we said, that as a Palestinian we come from a place where we struggle and we still have so much problems that we are facing. One of the Pastors told us our wounds are the same, but our wounds are older than their wounds and so we know what they are going through. When we go and talk with them and help them out and tell them, "Listen, you know how we suffered and we understand how you are suffering and we are telling you with our suffering we try to find hope and peace and we are finding it and so you could find hope too; you could find peace and find that one day you will have the strength to go back to your homes and see peace and hope".

Paul: Are you hoping to go again?

Saleem: Oh definitely. I would love to go not just once or twice, but as many times as possible and to encourage as much as possible either friends, family, teenagers, or couples, anyone who would love to go and help people there, because its not just helping them, its also encouraging us to feel very strengthened that with our simple visiting people to encourage, help and support them, it is enough to know that its even strengthening us in the midst of how we live.

Paul: Are you able to share your faith while you are there?

Saleem: Yes many times, almost every house that we go to, because they know that we are Christians. We do ask them, saying that as Christians we would like to pray for you and your needs and we pray for them.

Paul: What is your prayer for Syrian refugees struggling at the moment in the refugee camps?

Saleem: My prayer and my hopes is what we told them. One of the things I shared with them is Job when he suffered so much, yet he still had hope in God. He still believed and had strong hope in God. God did listen to him and not forget him. That's our prayer as well as an encouragement for them. With the suffering that they are going through, we hope that they won't lose faith in God, but to strengthen their faith in God and with that God will definitely hear their voices and he will one day give them back what they owned and send them back to their homes. Hopefully one day instead of going to Jordan to visit them, maybe we could go to Syria and visit them.