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Five years after the death of Frans van der Lugt sj, four Jesuits live in Homs again. What do they do there? And how are the other six Jesuits active in Syria?

Homs is the city where Father Frans van der Lugt sj was murdered on 7 April 2014. A few days after Father Frans's murder, the people who were locked up in the city were able to leave the besieged district under the guidance of the United Nations. 

The streets around the Jesuit house are still badly damaged, although there is no fighting anymore. In 'his house' in the old town - Boustan al Diwan - where Father Frans is buried, he was alone at the last minute. Now there are four Jesuits living here again. Father Paul Diab is the parish priest of the church. Not far from there, in Nouzha, are a church and a catechesis centre, once built by the Dutch Jesuit Father Michael Brenninkmeijer. 

In Nouzha there is little war damage, the church and the catechesis house are widely used by hundreds of adults and children. Here flourishes a large group "Foi et Lunière" where disabled young people are included. In Nouhza are homework classes and other activities with children. Father Magdi, an Egyptian Jesuit, is the priest in Nouzha and works for the Jesuit Refugee Service. The community is also home to Brother Michel (73) and a young Polish priest Andrzej who offered to help build Syria. Next to the church in the old town are two school buildings that used to belong to the Jesuits. One is completely broken, the other is slightly damaged: at this moment only the playground is used by playing children.

Al Ard

Al Ard is the centre that Father Frans founded outside the city of Homs. There was a vineyard and a farm where wine was made. In Al Ard people with intellectual disabilities were taken care of. Father Frans gave youth retreats and psychotherapy. Al Ard suffered badly from the war: the vineyards were damaged, the winery was destroyed; everything made of metal was demolished and sold as scrap. At the moment it is still too dangerous to think of reconstruction and staying the night is certainly not an option. Carefully agriculture and horticulture are being restarted. The Jesuit Order is prepared to invest in reconstruction, but not yet. 

Jesuit Refugee Service - where the need is greatest

The Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS), works in various countries in the Middle East: mainly in Lebanon and Iraq, and also in Jordan and Syria. In recent years JRS has provided much emergency aid: food and shelter. Last September the soup kitchen was stopped in Aleppo; when the need was greatest, 17,000 meals a day were made there. In the last year the emphasis has shifted to what is traditionally the strong side of JRS: education and psychosocial assistance. 

In Syria JRS is active in medical care. Two small hospitals in Aleppo are run by JRS, including internal medicine, gynaecology and paediatrics. JRS also finances the laboratories, quite a few medicines and sometimes operations. In Syria a total of 240 people work for JRS, including three Jesuits. Many of these people have themselves been displaced and driven from their homes and land. More than 300 women and 800 children take part in activities in different cities: courses to learn a trade, psychological groups for trauma processing, self-help and other lessons.  

Damascus - help and dialogue

Two Jesuits in Damascus work for the JRS: Father Fouad comes from the region itself and Father Goncalo from Portugal. The third priest, Father Rami, was responsible for religious education, and he helped war victims who needed a new prosthesis. He also did a lot of counseling - he was trained as a psychoanalyst. In Damascus, a new centre was built that will have two focal points: education, especially for refugees, and interreligious dialogue: meetings between Christians, Druze, Alawites, and Muslims. Hopefully the building will be ready by 2020.

Aleppo - training and community building 

Two Jesuit priests are currently in Aleppo: Father Sami, who remained in his post throughout the war, and Father Alvaro from Mexico, who has just arrived. Like the above mentioned Fathers from Poland and Portugal, the latter responded to a call for volunteers for Syria made by Father General one and a half years ago. Father Sami has done a lot for students in recent years: he set up study places - "study zones" - where students can quietly study together with electricity, heating, WiFi and a printer. These are things that few young people have in the places where they live and survived. There are also tutoring and computer courses and he helps people to apply for jobs. 

Antoine Audo sj, bishop of Aleppo for the Chaldean Christian, also lives and works in Aleppo. From 2011 to 2017 Bishop Audo chaired Caritas Syria which, thanks to the support of Caritas Internationalis' network plays an important role in humanitarian aid, particularly in Damascus, Homs and Aleppo. Caritas Syria has eight departments spread throughout the country to provide aid.

Finally, there is the Midan centre in Aleppo. It started a century ago as a neighbourhood centre for Armenians. Ten years ago refugees were received from Iraq. In the recent war the centre was badly damaged. One part was demolished, another part was repaired, and the sports field will soon open again with new artificial grass. In the coming years, the building will mainly be used by JRS for education and community building. What will happen to Midan in the long term is still open. 

So in 2019 there are ten Jesuits in Syria: three in Damascus, four in Homs and three in Aleppo. The number of employees is in the hundreds. 

This video was made by the JRS in 2014:

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