Open Doors USA
Editor’s note: Hanna is a Christian woman living in Damascus, Syria, with her husband. She and her husband have two young daughters. Hanna, who works in a school, tells us what daily life is like in Damascus.
The schools have started again, so we get back to the uncertainty. We are getting up very early to pray and fast whenever our daughters are not at home. Every day when I walk to the school I work at I hold my breath; every minute something can happen. Many streets are closed and when you walk the streets you see the traces of the battle: little fires all over the streets. Also in our house you see the traces of the war: we already noticed a bullet hole in our guest room, but recently I also discovered one in the room of my girls.
A few days ago when I passed one of the churches on the street I saw a man on the phone in front of it. I don’t know what it was, but somehow I felt that there was something wrong. I overheard him talking on the phone, he said: “Aim close and very near to the main door of the church. I am here now, aim exactly at this place.” When I came home I told my husband: “They are going to attack that church, I know it.” My husband thought I was wrong, but half an hour later we heard that the church was attacked by a mortar. It wasn’t the first church that was attacked. In fact attacks on churches happen a lot now. They are also targeting Christians. Many of them are killed or kidnapped. When they are kidnapped they ask their families for ransom or they force them to convert to Islam.
Read more at http://www.religiontoday.com/blog/syrian-christian-mother-should-i-leave-or-stay.html