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‘We Are Living Through the Worst Period in Our History’

The escalation of international conflicts, the Covid-19 pandemic, lack of employment and exorbitant price rises, the isolation of the Syrian people from the outside world by means of the embargoes and sanctions, and the lack of the barest minimum for survival – the list of sufferings enumerated by Sister Annie Demerjian, a Syrian religious sister of the Congregation of Jesus and Mary, is long indeed. Her sad summary speaking to the international Catholic pastoral charity and pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN): “All these factors are bringing the Syrian people to the point of sheer desperation.”

“Without doubt, we are living through the worst period in our history, as a result of ten years of bloody warfare”, says the religious with Armenian roots. “I don’t know of any other society in the Middle East whose members are living in such appalling conditions at the present time”, adds Sister Annie, who for over seven years now has been coordinating ACN’s aid campaigns in the cities of Aleppo and Damascus.

“Throughout all these years, the help of ACN has been a lifesaver and a source of hope for our Christian families, who are living in truly inhuman conditions. The poverty is all-pervasive, there is a lack of medicines, sometimes we have no electricity or even water for lengthy periods. For many people, life is almost unbearable. Most Syrian families feel afflicted by the psychological and material pressure”, she explains.

Praise the Lord

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