Hope in hard places E3 - Huda from Syria
In this episode, Embrace’s Revd Su McClellan speaks with Huda Nassar, the Middle East Director of the Awareness Foundation. Huda lives in London, but she is from Syria and visits the country regularly.
Above: Huda Nassar
In this conversation, Huda begins by sharing what life is like for people in Syria. She speaks about the deep financial challenges that people face, and encourages listeners to put themselves in the shoes of those who struggle to access their basic needs.
Huda also speaks about the challenges that come with being a Christian in Syria and urges western Christians to reflect on what it means to authentically live out their faith.
Listen to the episode:
Interview transcript:
Su: Hello, my name is the Reverend Su McClellan and with me today is Huda Nassar, the Director for the Middle East at the Awareness Foundation. Huda, it's so lovely to have you with us.
Huda: Thank you so much for having me.
Su: I just wondered if we could start, because I think this will be a question that a lot of our listeners would be really interested in, what is life like in Syria now since the fall of the Assad regime?
Huda: As you know, I live in London, but we are in touch with our people every day and every minute since the 8th of December. It depends in which area you live in Syria. The situation is really not good. And people are suffering from the lack of especially money because they didn't receive their salary or pension. Yes, some prices went down. But there are no money to buy food or to buy gas or anything else. And especially they don't have electricity. Imagine in 10 hours they will have just 30 minutes’ electricity. I contacted yesterday our Middle East coordinator and she said at the end I took a shower with cold water and it was freezing. It's so cold now in Syria.
Su: Goodness me. Electricity, power are things that we really take for granted.
Huda: Absolutely. People try to save a little bit fuel for cooking and they try to wear as much clothes as they can or they, you know, they put blanket on or whatever. So, it is difficult, as you said, we take for granted our life here, and we don't appreciate, to be honest, what we have. Always we moan about many things here in the West, but let's put our shoes in the shoes of other people who are suffering from a lack of everything.
Su: Yes, putting ourselves in the shoes of other people. I think that's a really important thing that you have asked us to do because it is so easy, isn't it, to just rely on our comfortable life here. So thank you so much for saying that. Can you tell us a little bit about the Awareness Foundation and how it was set up?
Huda: Awareness Foundation last year we celebrated our 20th anniversary. We started in 2003. Unfortunately, since we came to England 27 years ago until now, still people, when they know I'm from Syria, they think I'm a converted Christian from Islam to Christianity. They think that Syria was Muslim country, it is Muslim country, but they don't remember that Christ was born in Syria because Palestine was a region in Syria. So Christianity has started in Syria. So they asked me the first question. They say, when did you become a Christian? So in the beginning, it was for me so frustrating. But we know that the ignorance is huge between East and West. So my brother, Father Nadim Nassar, established Awareness Foundation to build peace through education. And to link east and west and to know more about each other. And we work with young people, with women and with children through programmes to support them and especially during the war and until now.
Su: I just wonder, Huda, if we could just go back a little, a few minutes, when you were talking about the Christian heritage in Syria. Because at Embrace the Middle East we base a lot on that verse in Ephesians chapter 2 verse 19 that we are all part of the one household of God. So that Christians here in the UK should be concerned about Christians who, as you say, are living in the cradle of our faith in the Middle East. Is there any particular message that you would like to give to the church here in the UK?
Huda: I'm really glad you asked these questions. I want to tell not just here in England, in the West: Imagine that Christianity will disappear from the Middle East. What does mean your faith anymore? If there is no Christian in the Middle East, and your heritage and the core of Christianity will disappear from the Middle East. What is the meaning of your faith? What is the meaning of Christianity in everywhere in the world?
Su: That is actually a very disturbing question. As part of Embrace's Lent Study Guide this year, Hope in Hard Places, one of the passages that we're looking at is that story from Daniel chapter 3 when King Nebuchadnezzar puts out the decree that everybody's got to worship him. And Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, when they refuse to do that, they're placed in the fiery furnace. It's a horrible thought that people have to stand up for their faith at great risk to themselves. But as numbers dwindle in the Middle East, the risks for the Christian community would get greater. What would you like to say about that?
Huda: If we look to the story about the king and the three men in Daniel chapter 3, imagine this is written before Christ like 500 BC or maybe less, it doesn't matter. And we live now in 21st century. What happened to these three men? It's exactly what is happening now. I want to tell you about three young men in Ma'lula and Sidnaya near Damascus, where still people speak the language of Christ, Aramaic. When they were in the church, three young men, ISIS entered the church, and they said, ‘you have to be Muslim, you have to say al-Shahadi, al-Shahadi’, this is the, when you say it, then you became a Muslim. And they said, but we are Christian. And they said, if you don't become a Muslim, we will kill you. And they stood with faith that they don't want to change their faith and they trust in their God. But unfortunately, they killed them. So they paid a price of their faith. Yes, sometimes we pay price when we take our decision. Are we ready to take this decision in our life? Are we shy from our faith? I never ever hide my cross when I was in Syria. By the way, we were in Syria. We go there. And we never stop going to Syria because this is what we believe that we have to be there with the people to give them strength and power. We go there and we trust God that God will protect us. And this is what we want to say. Really, is our faith is priority in our life or my faith is like a list of shopping? When I need something, I go to God and I take one, two, three. This is a big question to everyone, not just to the people in the West, but even to the people in the Middle East. Are you ready to face these challenges? Is your faith a priority? This is the problem that the king - he took advantage of his power and a lot of politician leaders, they do the same. They use religion to strengthen their grip. Religion became, unfortunately, a part of political agenda. And this is a big issue in the Middle East.
Su: Yeah, it's interesting that you say that because, of course, it's also becoming an issue in the West as well, where certain forms of religion are being used to wield political power. What would you say to Christians? How do we keep ourselves focused, truly focused? How do you keep your eyes focused on God?
Huda: It's very good questions. First, questions we have to ask ourselves. Is the church a social club I will go every Sunday, listen to the sermon, and there are really nice hymns and after that a cup of tea or coffee, biscuits, and then goodbye. And we are waiting for another day to come and to see our friends. Is this the church which Christ died for that? I want to raise a challenge the people and challenge myself also with different questions about my faith. What is our faith is priority? Where is God in our life? Is God part of our life? Part of our agenda? Part of plan? We put a plan for the week. Is God there in our plan? How much we trust him? If we have any trouble, do we really trust him? And also, when do we approach God? How we approach God? Just when we are in trouble? Faith is the power to our soul. The power for everything in our life. This is my feeling. I mean, this is, I want to talk about myself. I cannot live without my faith. I feel in every way and in every time when I go to Syria, when I go to Lebanon, when I travel, that God is beside me. Even if you don't, even you don't see God. But the trust, it's very important. How much we trust God in our life.
Su: That is just an incredible testimony, Huda. And it leads very nicely into the next question that I'd like to ask you. You are working in a complex and difficult context. So where do you see and find hope?
Huda: If we don't have hope, I don't think we could do anything. Through hope only we can do our work. Only through hope. If you don't have it, you cannot give it. If you don't have it, you cannot deliver it in the right way. If we don't have hope, we cannot encourage young people and women and children to have hope. Only through hope. The culture of death to culture of love and the culture of life. With this story from Daniel, I want to tell you so that we look at the Old Testament through the spectacle or the lenses or the eyes of Christ. We cannot stay there and forget about the cross and the resurrection. We have to live our life every day and our eye should be on the, not just the cross. If you will stop at the cross, this is not Christianity. We have the hope that Christ was risen. And if we believe in that, you cannot live without hope. If we talk about Easter, we have to concentrate on the cross and the resurrection. As a Christian, it is not easy to be Christian, Su. It is so difficult for this. It is a decision. Do you want to be with Christ or not?
Su: I'm feeling as if I would just like to go away and really ponder everything you have said, but I was just really struck by you saying that if we do not have hope, how can we give hope? And it's a little bit like, isn't it, that thing that they say to us all when we get on an aeroplane, you know, put your own oxygen mask on before helping others. And so there's something in there about us being truly rooted in Christ and really internalising the hope that we have in him so that then we can go out and serve our neighbours and our communities.
Huda: Yes, definitely. In the letter of John, chapter 4 verse 18, they say ‘there is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear’. Fear destroys everything. Only through love, we could do and change the world. Please love as much as you can and trust in God. And we don't know God without Jesus Christ who died and rose forever. For us and for everyone. Not just for me and for you, for everyone on the planet and everywhere. Don't be afraid. Don't be ashamed or shy of your faith. Live your faith to the full. But only through love and through respect and through accepting one another and then we can live in harmony in anywhere we go.
Su: That is just an incredible message and it's a real message for our times. When we're living in an increasingly polarised world, we're facing so many challenges and yet living our lives in love, in faith and in hope. I was just really struck by everything that you've been saying about living this Christian life and living it as if we really mean it. And that's a real challenge for those of us that live comfortable lives.
Huda: Yeah, this is what we, when we said that you put yourself in the shoes of the people in the Middle East. As I said, Christianity is not easy. You live here very comfortably, without any challenges, without any, you know, test your faith. Imagine If somebody persecuted your faith, what do you do? How do you react? What do you, what is the first thing come to your mind? Christianity is not to be relaxed. Christianity, it is to go out. Christianity is not inside the church. When we go and praise God, it's wonderful to go to the church and meet other people and to sing together. But our Christianity starts outside the wall of the churches. We have to dig our hand in the mud of the society. The society needs every one of us. Look at the young people with drug addicts, with gangs, with horrible things. What the church is doing? The church is unfortunately so comfortable and I cannot say zero, but Christianity is to go out and help the society and help each other to be really a good citizen and a good person wherever we are.
Su: Yeah, it's the great command of Jesus, isn't it? Go into all the world, baptizing people in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Huda: Let people see Christ in you through what you do, through what you see, through what you say. This is what is important. I cannot impose my faith on people, but I want people to see Christ in me, shine in me.
Su: That is a real message for the world and for our times. Huda, thank you so very much for joining me today and I really do wish you well in all that you will be doing. We will of course continue to pray for you and the work of the Awareness Foundation. And when Easter Day comes, it's my prayer that you will truly know resurrection joy. Thank you so much for being with us today.
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Explore Christianity in Syria
Find out more about the history of Christianity in Syria - as well as the challenges that many Syrian Christians face today and the impact they have on society.