The small open pickup truck, laden with large boxes, made its way cautiously down Alexander Fleming Street, an offshoot alley of Mar Mikhael Road, and just a few minutes walking distance from the Port of Beirut. “Hello! Hello,” Norma Irani warmly greeted Elias Habib, a youth leader of the Joint Christian Committee (JCC). “And you brought my new gas stove!”
Since conflict and violence began in Syria in 2011, at least two-thirds of Christians and two-thirds of health professionals have left the country, according to the Jinishian Memorial Program (JMP), a long-time partner of World Mission and Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA).
In February, the Rev. Elmarie Parker left her home in Beirut, Lebanon, to attend meetings in the U.S. She was not able to return until August 20. The Lebanon she returned to was very different than the one she left.