‘Why’? Is the one question that is uppermost in one’s heart and mind? Why the violence and war? the death and destruction that has ravaged Syria for more than six years now? A conflict which has left millions displaced, desperately seeking security in safer parts of the country or fleeing as refugees to neighbouring countries after braving many odds. Why? Why? Why?  Why is Syria in the doldrums today? Why have millions of children become a lost generation? Why is the economy in a shambles? And numerous without a livelihood? There are no easy, black-and-white answers. Most are aware that there are powerful vested interests who would like the conflict to continue. The tragedy however, is that the ordinary Syrian citizen is the one who continues to suffer. But as one journeys in the midst of devastation, one cannot but pinpoint some other dimensions:
 
Beauty
Syria is a country of amazing beauty! As one traverses the hilly slopes of the Al-Khafroun one is struck by the sheer grandeur of the region. At a distance is the picturesque and historic town of Safita: a city on a hill. Beautiful orchards with fruit-laden orange and apricot trees and vast expanses of olive trees dot the country-side. The road to Damascus from Homs has a world of difference: rugged, barren hills, with large tracts of desert-land. Syria is rich in flora: flowers everywhere are in full bloom. The Syrians consider the Jasmine as their national flower; but there are a variety of others including rare orchids. Syria has it all: just beautiful!
 
Faith
Faith is palpable among the Syrians. The muezzin’s call to pray is loud and clear. Most cars and taxis have either a masbaha or a rosary dangling from the front rear-view mirrors. It is quite normal to find a Syrian fingering a masbaha whilst doing business or just walking down the street. Old Damascus has several Churches and mosques alongside. The main street displays several vinyl banners welcoming the new Melkite Catholic Patriarch. At the House of Ananias (where St Paul was converted and baptized) on Straight Street a group of people are in deep prayer. On the Feast of St. Thomas, the Apostle of India at Bab Tuma (the Gate of Thomas) one cannot help but feel an aura of the place, from where it is believed that St. Thomas left for the shores of India.
                                                                  
Inspiration
Fr. Frans Van der Lugt, the Dutch Jesuit was killed in Homs on April 7th 2014.An iconic figure he was a source of inspiration and strength to many. Today he continues to live on, in their hearts and lives. He was deeply spiritual; a real bridge between persons, touching and impacting on their lives in a very profound way Frans loved nature; his hikes are still very much talked about. 

He ensured that everyone: Muslim and Christian; old and young were welcome at the Jesuit Centre in Homs. This continues today. He lived among his people; took a visible and vocal stand for them and ultimately he had to pay the price! At his graveside one only experiences a serene peace and the inspiration to do much more.
 
 
Resilience
Sunday 2^nd July was one of those violent days in Syria. The people woke up to three explosions that rocked Damascus City; the one in the Tahrir Square area of the city was particularly severe: leaving about 19 dead, several others injured and with much destruction in the vicinity. It was the first working day after the holidays for the Eid festival. By early afternoon however, there was an apparent air of ‘normalcy’ in several parts of the city. The well-known Shaalan Street was bustling with activity late evening: with the eateries rather crowded and the shoppers on a spree. People from all walks of life: children, women and men; young and old, visibly from different cultural and religious backgrounds thronged the street. The resilience of the people is remarkable, inspite of a reality which make their lives consistently insecure and unsafe.
 
Hope
There are numerous stories of hope in Syria. Ordinary people who want to live in peace and harmony; who want the war and violence to stop immediately. The Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) in Syria is one such organisation that enkindles hope in the lives of thousands who are affected.JRS does phenomenal work especially in education, child protection, livelihood training, medical support and being in the midst of the most affected. The field kitchen in Aleppo provides nutritional food to thousands of the most needy. The JRS team reaches out to those affected at great risk. The Missionaries of Charity (Mother Teresa’s Sisters) care for the destitute: those who have nowhere to go. Beacons of hope everywhere!
 
Joy
The children who frequent the JRS Centre in Homs have brought their parents along for an afternoon of fun and games! It is a delight to watch the expressions of joy on their faces. At another JRS Centre ninth graders celebrate their accomplishment. An elderly lady, who has suffered from the trauma of displacement, insists that we listen to her reading and to see that she can now write. She is effusive about the programme which has been providing her the necessary literacy skills. A ten year girl comes running up just to say how happy she is to come to a place (the Albert Hurtado Centre in Jaramana, Rural Damascus) which is like a second home for her.
 
Rebuild
To ‘rebuild’ is like a catch word in Syria today- and urgently needed. As one leaves the country towards Lebanon, the billboards along the way speak about the need to rebuild Syria and of a forthcoming Exhibition to be held in September (www.re-buildsyria.com) the regularization of commercial activity is perhaps an important step in helping restore Syria’s multi-cultural and pluralistic society.
 
So as the world still pursues the elusive answer to the tragedy of Syria today and the lack of political will to ensure peace and stability in the region, one can certainly take consolation from the fact that there is a wealth of values that still thrive in the hearts and lives of the people.
                                                                                                                               
* (Fr Cedric Prakash sj is a human rights activist and is currently based in Lebanon and engaged with the Jesuit Refugee Service(JRS) in the Middle East on advocacy and   communications. He can be contacted on cedricprakash@gmail.com)             
 

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The Paris Agreement on Climate Change was signed on December 12^th 2015, as a historic result of COP21, which for the first time after 20 years of UN negotiations, provided the world with a legally binding and universal agreement on climate which intends to keep global warming below 2℃, with leaders committing their country to lowering planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions to help stave off the most drastic effects of change. Significant work is already being done by several countries to address climate change.

Scientists and other experts are convinced that the implementation of this agreement is critical if the planet is to have any chance of tackling the catastrophic climate change, which is having disastrous effects in so many parts of the globe.

The 23^rd Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP23) to the UN Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will be held in Bonn coming November. The tiny Pacific island nation of Fiji will be presiding over COP23. Fiji has been severely impacted upon because of climate change; so COP23 is bound to demand greater action from all countries in the world.

Trump has consistently pooh-poohed this ‘agreement’ referring to the climate change science as a hoax and he is convinced that its “bad for business”. Pulling out of the Paris Agreement was one of the promises he made during his election campaign. In just about one hundred days in office, Trump has reversed course on nearly two dozen environmental rules, regulations and other Obama-era. Citing federal overreach and burdensome regulations, he has prioritized domestic fossil fuel interests and undone measures aimed at protecting the environment and limiting global warming.

During his White House press conference on June 1^st, Trump literally thrashed the Paris Agreement and outlined his reasons for withdrawing from it; his reasons however, were based on very questionable and insufficient data. The main reasons Trump gave are job losses in the US; that there is in fact only a tiny temperature increase; that there will be a negative impact on the US economy; there will be ‘blackouts and brownouts’ (justifying the need and the use of fossil fuels) and the that the US is already paying, “billions and billions and billions of dollars” to keep the Paris Agreement going. And of course that he wants to put “America First” and “make it great again!” These reasons were severely thrashed in editorials and opinion pieces, in mainstream and social media, both in the US and throughout the world and Trump has been criticised for misleading statements, for manipulating facts and even for blatantly lying.
 
In an unprecedented joint response to Trump’s withdrawal, the German Chancellor Angela Merkel, President Emmanuel Macron of France and Prime minister Paolo Gentiloni of Italy said they regretted the US decision but went on further saying that, “we deem the momentum generated in Paris in December 2015 irreversible and we firmly believe that the Paris Agreement cannot be renegotiated, since it is a vital instrument for our planet, societies and economies.” Several other world leaders voiced similar sentiments. Late in May, in their meetings with him, the G7 leaders had urged Tump not to pull US out of the Paris Agreement on climate change.
 
Pope Francis and US President Donald Trump met for the first time in the Vatican on May 24^th 2017, the Pope gave Trump two significant gifts: a copy of his encyclical on the environment ‘Laudato Si’ and a medallion of ‘peace’ (together with his message for the World Day of Peace 2017). In doing so, Pope Francis emphasised the interconnectedness between ‘environment’ and ‘peace’. In a lead article entitled ‘The Pope’s Gifts to Trump Send Some Clear Messages’, the ‘New York Times’ of May 24^th opined, ‘Francis left no doubt about his message in the gifts he gave to his guest, notably the essay on the importance of the environment, which stands as a rebuke to the climate change scepticism espoused by Mr. Trump. Francis also presented him with a medallion engraved with the image of an olive tree — “a symbol of peace,” he explained. “We can use peace,” Mr. Trump said. Francis replied, “It is with all hope that you may become an olive tree to make peace.” As he bade the Pope farewell, Mr. Trump told him, “I won’t forget what you said.”’

In June 2015, a few months before the Paris Agreement, Pope Francis gifted the world his manga carta on the environment with his Encyclical ‘Laudato Si: On Care for our Common Home’. In the opening statements, he makes his intention clear “to address every person living on this planet”. “This sister (mother earth) now cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God has endowed her.  We have come to see ourselves as her lords and masters, entitled to plunder her at will. The violence present in our hearts, wounded by sin, is also reflected in the symptoms of sickness evident in the soil, in the water, in the air and in all forms of life” and further, “the earth’s resources are also being plundered because of short-sighted approaches to the economy, commerce and production” Laudato Si’ is path-breaking, radical in nature; it makes one uncomfortable and touches every single dimension of our human existence.  The Pope invites all to an ecological conversion, to change directions so that we can truly care for our common home; he challenges all “what kind of world do we want to leave to those who come after us, to children who are now growing up?” Apparently Trump has not yet read what Pope Francis has written about the environment.

In his speech yesterday Trump faulted not only China’s role with regard to climate change but also India’s; India he said was taking millions of dollars in aid but its response to the environment is ‘contingent’. It is true that India has been faring very poorly on environmental issues. The ‘Environmental Performance Index’ (EPI) developed by the Yale and Columbia Universities in collaboration with the World Economic Forum and the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission in its Report of 2016 ranked India a poor 141 out of 180 countries. This is not surprising. Ever since, it came into power three years ago, the NDA Government under Narendra Modi has demonstrated that the environment can be destroyed at the whims and fancies of the powerful and vested interests.
 
 Gautam Adani is regarded by many as Modi’s right hand man. When Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat, Adani built a coal port and power plant in Mundra which resulted in an unimaginable destruction of the environment that had sustained local fishing and farming businesses for generations. So when the Modi government goes all out of the way to support Adani’s venture in the destruction of the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, which poses a huge risk to the reefs already vulnerable eco-system, it comes as no surprise to many. Inspite of protests from celebrities in Australia (including two former cricket captains) Adani seems to be having his way with the Carmichael coalmine in the Queensland State. Fishermen of Gujarat, who have suffered greatly because of the Mundra port, recently sent a powerful message to Australia saying that the Adani project is harming them and killing off sea life.
 
In a few days from now, on June 5^th , the world will once again observe Environment Day on the theme ‘Connecting People to Nature’, imploring us to get outdoors and into nature, to appreciate its beauty and its importance, and to take forward the call to protect the Earth that we share. There will certainly be plenty of hoop-la, cosmetic activities like tree-planting and the ‘politically correct speeches’ given! Everybody knows that these certainly do not scratch the surface of what needs to be done to address the serious environmental issues, which plague us. Too many of the powerful are actually playing games with and like Trump, thrashing our environment. Parrikar the CM of Goa wants to fine anybody using plastics (that’s okay) but he will allow his cronies to continue with their nefarious mining activities. A good percentage of the world are too afraid to take on these ‘thrashers of our environment’. Many are content with playing a goody-goody role: grow trees, have manicured lawns; but do not risk disturbing the ‘status quo’ as ‘Greenpeace’ has done, else like them, you will have to face the consequences!
 
More than ever today we are called to protect and care for our common home!
 
* (Fr Cedric Prakash sj is a human rights activist. He is currently based in Lebanon, with the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) in the Middle East, on advocacy and   communications. Contact: cedricprakash@gmail.com )     
 

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Nevertheless, walking today in the rain with Esraa and Mohamed, two volunteers with the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) here in Jordan, was indeed a very special experience. ‘Camp Hussein’ not far from downtown, in north-west Amman, was set up in 1952 to house thousands of Palestinian refugees, after the Arab-Israeli war of 1948. Today, the winds of change have blown over this sprawling area. It however continues to be one of the poorer quarters of the city; the people who live here are not only Palestinians but also refugees from other countries like Iraq, Syria, Sudan, and Somalia besides poor Jordanians.

Esraa and Mohamed had prior appointments with six refugee families, who had contacted JRS sometime earlier. As a ‘Family Visit’ team of JRS(there are four two-member teams) this ‘first visit’ is important : to make a personal contact with the family, to listen to their pain and suffering, to assess their needs and above all, to see in what ways JRS can serve, accompany and if needed, to advocate for them.

There was always a warm welcome at every house. As one listened to the heart –rending stories of these refugee families, one often wondered if compassion and love were just dreams of the past. Everybody had fled war and violence; their travels to Jordan were arduous, but somehow they made it. Once here, there are issues of loneliness and isolation, of not being easily accepted, of education for the children and of employment. The rented ‘homes’ they now lived in had the minimum of facilities (one could see it); the rentals kept increasing. Most find it extremely difficult to make both ends meet.

We listened to the Iraqi woman who fled Mosul and also a violent husband; to the Syrian woman with three children, whose husband is now taken away from her and now detained far away in another camp, because he was ‘working’ and that is against the law; then, there was another woman whose husband has been deported back to the country from which he had fled- and the family has absolutely no knowledge of his whereabouts. Some want to die; others feel totally helpless and hopeless.  Listening to their pain, seeing their tears, made the rains and chill, the steep climbs and the slippery slopes, pale into insignificance. As one walked on, the words of Charlie Chaplin kept tugging at my heartstrings “I always love walking in the rain, so no one can me crying.” We did however experience the refugees crying.

For the refugees, JRS represented by Esraa and Mohamed, comes as a life- line. The two of them listened with their hearts. The bonding was infectious, the warmth was palpable. One could feel this, as Esraa embraced an elderly woman and as Mohamed took out some sweets from his bag to give the little children. Today was also ‘Valentine’s Day’, when the world celebrates ‘love’ – even if it is very commercial and cosmetic! (Plenty of reminders in the shops, newspapers and WhatsApp messages). One could not help reflecting on the real meaning of ‘love’: the courage to reach out in compassion, to our sisters and brothers who are displaced, excluded and marginalised. In a very extra-ordinary way, through seemingly ordinary deeds, I was part of an experience in which   Esraa and Mohamed communicated to those they encountered, what love actually means!

When I was young, there was a popular love song ‘Walking in the Rain’; it was a boy-girl romantic song. Today, in a very different context and a more challenging reality, I cannot but help remember the chorus of that song:

“Feels like I'm walking in the rain
I find myself trying to wash away the pain
Cause I need you to give me some shelter
Cause I'm fading away
And baby, I'm walking in the rain”

14^th February 2017
Amman Jordan

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April 7, 2016

Today Homs is a devastated city: bombed, battered and bruised by five years of a bloody civil war. Thousands have fled their homes to Damascus and even abroad. Many from here have died. For those who stay on in the midst of ruins, skeletal bombed-out buildings in a ghost-town, there is a feeling of hopelessness, of not knowing what to do and where to go. The children smile-but they seized with a fear which is palpable: those five years and below only know war. The youth talk aimlessly-searching for ways and means to escape from a world of hopelessness. The adults are still tongue-tied for any meaningful conversation. Many of them just want to wake up from what they hope –is just a bad dream. Sadly, enough, the tragedy which has gripped their lives is real!

However, there is a sudden   change in the moods of the adults and youth when they talk of one man: Fr. Frans van der Lugt. Their eyes light up, a sense of nostalgia envelops them, as they latch on to the person and message of this great human; because he still lives on in their hearts and minds, some of them do feel that there will be a new dawn!

Who was this ‘Abouna Frans’ as he was fondly referred to? Fr Frans van der Lugt, was a Dutch Jesuit priest who devoted his life to the people of Syria; when civil war erupted there in 2011 he chose to remain in the country, suffering the shortages and terrors of the conflict alongside both Muslims and Christians. He was born on April 10 1938 in The Hague, Netherlands- the son of a banker. He joined the Jesuits in 1959 and seven years later went to the Middle East. With the exception of a short break to complete his doctorate in Psychology, he spent the rest of his life from 1976 in Syria. In Homs he founded the Al-Ard institute, where handicapped children of all religions and ethnic groups found a home –of warmth and acceptance.

His twilight years however were shattered with the civil war. As the fighting intensified, Fr Frans moved to the Jesuit residence in Boustan –Diwan (the inner city). From there he shared the suffering of the inhabitants, refusing to leave, even as that part of the city continued to be bombed from all sides. His centre before long became a home for those who had nowhere to go: Muslims and Christians; women and men; old and young. It was a haven for them and Fr Frans was their refuge. His message to all was one of hope: of mercy and reconciliation, of justice and of peace! Listening to those who knew him, those who experienced his warmth, his love, his courage to give “all-of-himself” to those in need- would easily touch a heartless person.

Because there were several rebels in the old city- that part was under siege. There were no food supplies coming in nor were people being allowed in or out. Though a relatively ‘normal’ life continued just streets away, in the government-held zones, starvation was claiming lives in the rebel enclave. Fr Frans existed on olives and broth fortified with weeds picked off the streets. “The faces of people you see in the street are weak and yellow,” he told a journalist “Their bodies are weakened and have lost their strength.” With his training in psychology, he documented the spread of mental illness among those who found themselves besieged: “I try to help them not by analysing their problems, as the problems are obvious and there is no solution for them here. I listen to them and give as much food as I can.”

Frans was a healer – he touched the broken spirits of a battered people; he did not care for himself, if someone was physically sick, he did all he could (with the little he had) to make them well again. His forte   however, was to soothe the mental and the spiritual suffering they were going through. They sought his guidance and his direction- when they overwhelmed by the brutality around them.

Very ironically he was gunned down on World Health Day, April 7, 2014, by those who felt that this healer had no right to live to heal the brokenness of Homs and Syria. It was just three days before what would have been his 76^th birthday. On hearing about his tragic death Muslims and Christians came together despite the hostilities around them – to bury him in the compound of the Jesuit Centre.

Fr Frans is revered as a Saint today by both Muslims and Christians. His tomb is visited today by people from all walks of life. They pray to him: so that he intercedes with his creator that justice and truth triumphs in Syria and in other parts of the Middle-East; for lasting peace and security in the region. They will never forget his words “the Syrian people have given me so much, so much kindness, inspiration and everything they have. If the Syrian people are suffering now, I want to share their pain and their difficulties”. This he did in full measure: he lived with them, he died for them.

On April 9,  2014 Pope Francis at the General Audience in Rome said “last Monday in Homs, Syria, Rev Fr Frans van der Lugt one of my Dutch Jesuit confreres was assassinated at the age 75. He arrived in Syria some 5o years ago and always did good to everyone generously and with love. He was therefore loved and highly esteemed by Christians and Muslims.

His brutal murder has deeply distressed me and has made me think again of the many people who are suffering and dying in that tormented country, my beloved Syria, which for too long has been the prey of a bloody conflict that continues to reap death and destruction. I also think of the many people who have been kidnapped, Christians and Muslims, Syrians and those from other countries, including bishops and priests. Let us ask the Lord that they may soon return to their loved ones and to their families and communities.

From my heart I invite you all to join me in prayer for peace in Syria and the region, and I launch a heartfelt appeal to the Syrian leaders and to the international community: Please, silence the weapons, put an end to the violence! No more war! No more destruction! May humanitarian laws be respected, may the people who need humanitarian assistance be cared for and may the desired peace be attained through dialogue and reconciliation.”

On February 10^th 2014 The” Erasmus “blog in The Economist had a powerful article on Fr. Frans entitled ‘A Voice Crying in the Wilderness’- of the courage he demonstrated to tell the world of the pain, hunger and suffering of the people around him; a person who would never desert his people. Two months later the ‘Erasmus’ blog had these very moving words, “by staying in the heart of besieged Homs, during a takeover by rebels who included militant Islamists and then during a government siege, he was offering succour to all victims of the conflict—and a kind of reproach to all the belligerents.

He knowingly risked his life by remaining in a place where some Islamist rebels were active; but he also bore witness to the cruel consequences of the siege by refusing to leave when it would have been so easy to do so, and nobody would have blamed him. From the perspective he offered, all civilian victims were worthy of compassion, and fighters on both sides bore a share of blame. That sounds like a truth worth dying for—and it goes a bit further than religious dialogue.”

In a world torn asunder by violence and   hate; by discrimination and divisiveness; by powerful vested interests who do all they can to destroy the lives of ordinary mortals, Fr Frans is a beacon of hope; not only for the people of Syria-for whom he gave up his life- but for people everywhere –who yearn for a new dawn, a better tomorrow. He was relentless in his struggle to establish that better “tomorrow” for his people. He did NOT succeed in that endeavor. Despite the hopelessness and fear that have gripped their lives, many in Homs and in other parts of Syria are convinced that his martyrdom will not go in vain.

5^th April. 2016
(Fr Cedric Prakash works with the Jesuit Refugee Service(JRS) in the Middle East. He recently spent some time in Homs, Syria where Fr. Frans lived and died)

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