#savesyria13 - Mission accomplished!

These last few weeks have been mental so I thought I would share a blog post that I wrote for Open Doors Youth reporting a very exciting day that I had!

On Tuesday 10th November the voiceless and practically invisible Christians in Syria were finally heard. Over 300,000 signatures from around the voice, voices crying out for the Syrian church, were recognised and accepted by higher authorities.The prayers of those I had spoken to and who attended a seminar at Soul Survivor about the Syrian church were ringing loudly between my ears and we rejoiced on earth as we saw answers to some, and hope for many more.  

As a youth advocate for Open Doors since last October,I have relished the opportunities that have opened for me to raise my voice and learn more about the plight of persecuted Christians around the world, but this was a greater opportunity than I had ever hoped - we presented that day to four embassies (“working our way through the Superpowers!”), No. 10 Downing Street and the UK Foreign Office.

A street full of embassies! (Bad quality photo but there was a security man following us ha!)

Our experiences at each place could not have been more different. On Russian soil we were taken into the ambassador’s “Winter Garden” before being seated in an elaborately decorated room where we drank tea (obviously!) and related more information about the petition and Open Doors. The ambassador even gave us plenty of advice, and there was even time to share a joke about the communists as we told him about how Open Doors started out when Brother Andrew started smuggling Bibles into Moscow.

I got a little souvenir - not quite sure what I am going to do with the Russian Ambassador's business card anytime soon, however.

On American soil we were greeted by men with guns after we stood taking a photo with the huge lightswitch signed by those at Soul Survivor. It’s not as bad as it sounds, as they contacted those we had an appointment with inside and we had a meeting telling them about the petition and handing over our letter outside the embassy. It was a little chilly, but for this we were joined by Nadim Nassar, the only Syrian-born Church of England priest, who spoke passionately and personally to them. They, too, seemed receptive to the petition (just not enough to invite us into their Winter Garden).

We then hopped on a tube to Westminster to present the petition to Downing Street, where it was confirmed that men with guns are surprisingly friendly (although perhaps only in this context!) While we did not get onto the actual street, we handed in our petition though the gates and the lightswitch gained a small crowd and I overheard a few of the public starting to discuss our issue after reading our slogan on the bottom of it, which reads “Save Syria. Church on it’s knees”.

Not the best quality photo because I had to steal it off the Open Doors Youth website, but tis I in front of Downing Street a la lightswitch!

Following this we went on to the French embassy, which was probably the low point of the day as they refused to even let us into the building. After a lengthy phone call on the doorstep of the embassy and an attempt to hand in our petition to reception, we were denied access. We later posted the letter and petition through a letterbox in Westminster on the way to the UK Foreign Office, where we attended a Human Rights Day reception (nibbles included - the cranberry and brie parcels were a particular highlight).

At this, we were warmly greeted and were the first of many to speak to Baroness Warsi. She made an encouraging speech where it was made clear that religious freedom was one of the six main priorities for next year within the UK Foreign Office, and stressed her personal passion fighting for these rights, too. She also took our petition and warmly engaged in a discussion with us. It was a very interesting event, and we networked with other charities and those who worked at the foreign office. I particularly enjoyed the brie and cranberry parcels. More of those next time, Prime Minister.

While at times the day felt very far removed from the cry and the desperation of those in Syria, and in particular the church that was never attacked prior to the outbreak of the war, I felt honoured to be able to participate in such important moves and be able to witness such a positive response to the issues we highlighted.It was a little different from my usual work on the streets of East London and engaging with needy communities personally, and at times felt a bit like the men in big suits were being entrusted with huge decisions that affected struggling minorities rather than the minorities being able to communicate what they wanted. But then I was reminded that the petition was worded and shaped around those minorities so that the men in big suits could get their decision right (or at least, be a contributory factor).

So, after 10 tube journeys (at least for me!), a slightly worse for wear lightswitch, and sore feet, our day was complete. I trust and pray that God will use the 309,195 voices who signed the petition at a higher level of authority and hopefully at the impending Geneva 2 conference in order to protect the growing Christian minority.

There were official press photos taken during the meeting with the Russian Ambassador and while we were talking with Baroness Warsi at the Foreign Office which should be mailed to me soon. Hopefully I can update this post asap with them!

-Antonia