I have taken a bit of a blog holiday while I revise my blog site.  However I thought I would take this lull as an opportunity to give you a bit of an update on what has been happening with my sister, Suzan ,and her family who are at this moment part of the mass of refugees fleeing Syria.

If you have read Road to Damascus you will know that Suzan has seven children.  Five of them have already left Syria and have settled in other countries this year.  Suzan’s two remaining children are still in Damascus.  Solim, Suzan’s eldest boy has had to remain in Damascus, but his wife and two young sons made a perilous boat journey across the Mediterranean Sea to Greece and are now in a refugee camp in Frankfurt, Germany.  I know little of their story, but I will update on this blog as I know more.

Shereen is Suzan’s youngest daughter who married a Palestinian and has two girls. Being married to Palestinian has made it difficult for them to settle in any of the surrounding countries for reasons I have yet to fathom.  Plans are afoot to get her and the girls to Turkey to join her older brother, Mohamed, who has settled there with his wife and family. Suzan went to the US to be with her other three children living there earlier this year. However, she is planning to join Mohamed in Turkey soon and help settle Shereen and the girls when they arrive.

It reads like a Arabian soap opera, and I’ve suffered a few of those over the years on various trips to Damascus.  But this is real life and its happening now to people all over the Middle East and they are coming our way.  These are people who  have left everything in order to survive and they need our prayers, support and practical action. Write letters, form local groups and gather supplies.

If you know a local councillor, MP or anyone with influence in local or national government ask them what they are doing to help plan and support the 20,000 refugees who David Cameron has said Britain can home.  Its not many, but its a start.

When I was a child I  was haunted by images of the Vietnamese Boat People who came to our shores looking for refuge.  Britain was there then to help and we can do the same now.

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