The villages of Wadi Al-Nadara enjoy Christmas celebrations

The different towns and  villages of Wadi Al-Nadara have been witnessing daily events and festivals marking Christmas since the beginning of December hoping that this year will be a year of peace for all the Syrians and a message to the whole world that Syria deserves life.

Various cultural, artistic, social and recreational events have been held to mark this occasion . To know more about these events , The Syria times e-newspaper met Father. Boutros Hazouri, who said: “The aim of these events, in addition to celebrating, is to bring joy  and happiness to the hearts of everyone, both children and adults and  to provide all that is necessary to them through the various initiatives that we carry out under the sponsorships of the Archdiocese of the Valley. We have held an entertainment festival in Al-Shahara Church for the children of Al-Mouzina and the neighboring villages, where  more than 400 gifts were offered to all participating children and to the poor children who could not have gifts because of their families’ harsh living conditions. Love, Gratuitously and Giving are the values that we want to instill in these children because they are the builders of the better future.

A Santa Claus carnival was also held where about 60 young men and women dressed in Santa Claus walked in the streets of the town, offering gifts and sweets to children . They also provided financial assistance to poor families in addition to performing  Prayers in which we ask God to bring peace to all the cities and villages of Syria, to protect the army , have mercy upon all martyrs and bring back all the kidnapped and missing people. All of us will tolerate the wounds because our country deserves life and we deserve to live peacefully  in the land of peace.. We will eliminate the culture of death and rebuild what has been destroyed by terrorism”.

Father Hazouri went on to talk about the initiatives that were carried out in Al-Wadi region to alleviate the consequences of the crisis and its difficult circumstances that affected the life of the citizen. He explained: “There have been several initiatives in Wadi  Al-Nadara region, including the important initiative we have been working on for several years, which is the initiative of the Muslim and Christian clergymen. It is sponsored by the Bishop of the Valley and the Director of Endowments, Mr. Issam Al-Masri. This meeting was repeated almost 3 days a week. Our meetings  were very successful and had very important positive results. We discussed  our common concerns arising from this crisis . We interact with people’s suffering and doing our best to meet the needs of the wounded and the families of  the martyrs and the missing people. Each of us had a message to do in order to build both, the human and the homeland.

Several important initiatives have been also undertaken by young university volunteers such as: Homeschooling, you’re not alone and Your home is my home,  where volunteers, regularly , visit and inspect the needy people  trying to create a kind of social communication with people who need financial and psychological support.

In addition to the  initiatives they  made on media, the most important of which is, “ Who

does not want to live?”.  We also have initiatives related to Facebook, where some songs and short films are produced to stress the need to forget the past with all its sorrow and look forward to a better future, forgive each other and overcome our differences to build the best tomorrow. But the best initiatives we’ve ever made are the CPC and CPY.”

 To shed light on this initiative we met, the Center’s head, Mrs. Nathalie Akkari Hazouri, who said:  “CPC, is one of the events we have carried out since the beginning of the crisis in 2011. We met every month with about 40-50 children representing all the religions and sects of society  in Wadi al-Nadara region. We were working to strengthen the feelings of love, friendship and cooperation among the children and try to integrate them through carrying out a number of cultural, artistic, social and entertaining activities. We organized visits to Islamic and Christian religious sites.

This activity has lasted for several years and thanks to the wonderful results of the CPC, that made it a model for working for peace, we have set up the CPY, the Center for Peace for the Youth, where the same kids who started with us in 2011 joined the center. We now have about 600 participants who are now university students. Our work has provided a wonderful example of Syria’s diverse religions and social spectrum. We have helped to remove some stories and backgrounds that exist  because we do not know the others. Our main goal was peace and anything else is worthless”.

 “What pleased us is that when we met these young people we found that he same values that we planted in them for years have emerged in the most appropriate way in their behavior and their interaction with each other and with others. This has brought joy to our hearts because our work and effort has bloomed inside these young people,” Mrs. Nathalie concluded.

Interviewed by Amal Farhat