Iraqi woman who met the pope sees little chance for change
BAGHDAD >> The story of Doha Sabah Abdallah’s personal tragedy and loss deeply resonated with Pope Francis during his historic visit last weekend to the northern Iraqi town of Qaraqosh, once devastated by Islamic State group militants.
Back in 2014, her son’s death alerted the town’s Christian community to the impending IS onslaught. A mortar shell fired by the militants as they approached Qaraqosh struck outside Abdallah’s house, killing her son and two cousins playing in the front yard.
The pope heard Abdallah’s testimony at a church ceremony in Qaraqosh last Sunday.
But just days after the pontiff’s visit — meant to give hope to Iraq’s dwindling Christian community and encourage its members to stay — Abdallah doubts the realities of life in Iraq will change.
She said she would also leave if given a chance.
“The pope doesn’t have Moses’ staff, he can’t part the seas and solve our very difficult problems,” she
told The Associated Press over the phone on Thursday. “If I had the resources or if someone gave me the chance to leave this country, I would never come back.”
Years after Iraqi forces declared victory over IS and drove militants from the area, Abdallah’s disabled daughter still cannot attend proper schools, homes are still shattered and in ruins. Jobs are hard to come by, and none of Abdallah’s relatives abroad plan to return.
Iraq’s Christian population, which has existed since the time of Christ,
has dwindled from around 1.5 million before the 2003 U.S.-led invasion to just a few hundred thousand today. Estimates put the current population between 250,000-500,000.
As churches and Christian communities were increasingly targeted by extremist groups at the height of Iraq’s sectarian war that followed the invasion, the country saw an exodus of Christians. Even more fled after the brutal 2014 IS onslaught that emptied out entire Christian villages across the northern plains of Ninevah.
Francis’s four-day visit to
Iraq ,including Qaraqosh, aimed to encourage Christians to stay, rebuild and restore what he called Iraq’s “intricately designed carpet” of faiths and ethnic groups.
Qaraqosh, a majority Christian town in Ninevah, is just one of many that was attacked by IS seven years ago. The militants overran the town, damaged its church and scrawled the proclamation “Islamic State will remain” on town walls.
The few Christians who returned after the liberation of Qaraqosh in 2016 found bullet-riddled mannequins and other signs that the militants had used the church premises as a firing range for target practice. Many homes were leveled in the battles to oust the group and basic services have yet to be restored. Most of the town’s Christians remain scattered elsewhere in Iraq or abroad.
Abdallah remembers vividly that August 2014, when IS militants rampaged through Christian communities across Ninevah. She remembers her son and his two cousins. “Their souls saved the whole city,” she recounted to the pontiff on Sunday.
Like many people, I am outraged by what’s happening in City Hall regarding the antihouseless ordinance. Between the messy way the Temporary Outdoor Living Ordinance (TOLO) has been brought forward and amended, to the relative silence of certain councilmembers, to the dismissive and downright condescending tone of Renee Golder to her own constituents, TOLO is really the death knell of anything resembling true compassion from our current majority.
Everyone on council got there by making promises around houselessness, but much of what was talked about Tuesday was deflection of responsibility and ridicule to the public. No one thinks the status quo is working, and we all want solutions. But TOLO is not an answer. Enforcement-first approaches don’t work. It’s disheartening that our officials talk enough game to sound “liberal,” even “progressive,” but in reality only push moderate-toconservative policy to protect an affluent way of life. People deserve honest compassion, not platitudes.
— Kelsey Hill, Santa Cruz