Vicar’s Viewpoint March 2023
This time last month, people in Turkey and Syria were going about their daily business – work, chores, school, preparing meals, meeting friends. Then on the 6th February, a devastating earthquake struck. 44,000 people (over four times the population of Teddington) lost their lives. Many more lost homes, family, friends, possessions. Hospitals, schools, businesses – all destroyed, It’s hard to take it all in, to grasp the enormity of it or consider how the survivors are making sense of it. It’s even harder to think what we can do to help.
Tearfund is a Christian charity based in Teddington. It works in the poorest and most vulnerable parts of the world. As part of the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) it is working now with others to get aid and relief to Turkey and Syria, to be part of the very long process of helping people restore their lives and homes.
In this season of Lent, please consider:
- giving financially (through Tearfund or the DEC) to help bring relief and assistance to those who
are desperately in need in Turkey and Syria - giving time to pray for those affected and those who are responding to their needs.
The Christian hope is that even in the darkest of situations, the light of God is never extinguished. May our sisters and brothers in Turkey and Syria see signs of hope in this darkest of times through the help and compassion being given from around the world.
Rev. Mary Hawes