Refugees. We’ve all seen them, and we all thought to ourselves “It’s such a shame that they have to go through all this”. Few are the ones who actually stopped to hear their stories. They live all around us, yet they have no voice.
Today I want to speak for those that are not able to talk about the situations they are fleeing from.
Let me tell you a story: Last week, I met a Syrian family. They looked tired and sad. You could see it in their eyes, and from the way they speak, yet they welcomed me with a smile.
They looked like a normal family: a man, his wife, and two daughters. Little did I know I’d tear up when they started sharing with me what they went through around six months ago.
Al Nosra attacked their house, took the daughters captive and destroyed the place. It was a traumatic experience to them all. The parents had to find refuge and were terrified for their daughters. Just Imagine losing your children.
Their dad kept searching for them and did not give up. He knew that as usual al Nosra sold Christian girls to Muslim men as sex-slaves and that was taking place every three month, so he grew his beard, shaved his mustache, and dressed just like one of them. When the time of the auction came, he looked just like the men that broke into his house.
The girls were standing in line, blindfolded, shaking, scared. They were just a labeled item to be sold. How inhuman men can become without God. As soon as the auctioneer started, their dad stood up and said he wanted to buy them.
They started shaking even more, knowing what these people can come up to; they could imagine how hopeless their situation was going to be. “SOLD” the auctioneer said.
The guards put the girls in the car, with the piece of cloth still on their eyes. They left. Halfway to their house, their father stops the car, turns around, and removes the piece of cloth. They see their dad. They start weeping. All fear was gone. Their father has paid their redemption and they were restored to their family.
