Lebanon (MNN) – For refugees in the Middle East, the thought of a better future can seem like an impossible fantasy. The horrors they’ve experienced have left many vulnerable and desperate.
The construction of Triumphant Mercy’s education and literacy program for children who are completely illiterate. (Photo courtesy of Triumphant Mercy)
One ministry, however, is assisting them on a variety of levels. Triumphant Mercy in Lebanon is meeting physical, mental, and spiritual needs of refugees throughout the Middle East.
“We have so many refugees in our area. We are living in Lebanon and we have so many Syrians and Iraqis in Lebanon on top of all the Lebanese we help,” *Nuna, the founder of Triumphant Mercy, says. “We’re mainly working with education and do some distributions…But we plan Bible studies, we plan groups and evangelistic events, et cetera.”
Nuna founded Triumphant Mercy in 2007. For the first few years, the ministry focused on feeding poor, elderly, and sick people. The ministry expanded when the Syrian refugee crisis began to include spiritual and academic training.
“We have a distribution center, we have many people on staff,” Nuna says. “We have many workers, volunteers that are coming. Also, teams are joining from all over the world, from the States, from England, from Switzerland, from China, coming to volunteer for a month, for a few weeks, whatever it is.
“We just started opening schools. We have schools and educate 400 refugees in…the camps, and we have about a thousand kids we are working within the Beirut area.”
The work, however, doesn’t come without its challenges: “Politically, it’s hard to explain, but there’s lots of tension politically in Lebanon to work with refugees,” Nuna says. “The second one is financial. We do have lots of financial struggles because you have to understand, you have more than a million-and-a-half Syrian refugees and about 50,000 Iraqi and 400,000 Palestinian refugees. So, [you have] about 2 million refugees in Lebanon, and the whole population of Lebanon is about 5 million.”
Nuna says with so many challenges, many refugees have lost hope for a better future. That’s why Triumphant Mercy is putting Christ’s love at the center of its work.
(Photo courtesy of Triumphant Mercy)
“A lot of people ask me why? Why do we do this? Especially in Lebanon, because of the history in Lebanon,” Nuna says. “In the old times, we had the Syrians invading Lebanon and staying in Lebanon for a while. So people would ask me why we do this, and my comment and response is because God tells us to do so. He just pushes us to go forward and to just bless people and to forgive others and to work with others.”
Interested in how you can come alongside this ministry? One way you can help is through prayer. Nuna asks that you pray for a change in the political situation in the Middle East and for safety for those fleeing violence. Also, pray that Triumphant Mercy would continue to be effective in reaching refugees for Christ.
There are also plenty of other opportunities to get involved, whether by teaching a foreign language to students in the Middle East, or by giving financially. Email info@tmlebanon.com to learn more.
*Name changed for security purposes.