'We're Trying to be the Hands and Feet of Jesus': Christian Aid Groups Working Round the Clock to Help Syrian Victims of Chemical Attack
Christian humanitarian aid groups including World Help and Aid to the Church in Need, are working around the clock to deliver emergency aid to Syrians who were struck by a deadly chemical attack Saturday night.
Men women and children were left gasping for air and foaming at the mouth in the city of Douma after exposure to what monitoring groups describe as a mix of chlorine gas and the nerve agent sarin.
World Help is providing medicine, food and clean water for Syrian refugees fleeing the violence and the artillery barrage that occurred after the chemical attack. The supplies are being delivered through World Help's partners on the ground, located not far from where the attack happened.
"We have a mobile medical clinic that's less than a mile from where this recent chemical attack took place and they're treating Syrians as we speak. And we're providing food and medicine and clean water and clothes and hygiene and infant formula... whatever we can get in their hands to help them survive," Vernon Brewer, World Help founder and CEO told CBN News.
Brewer described the scene as a war zone. Many homes have been destroyed, forcing countless families to flee with only the clothes on their backs.
World Help is doing more than providing emergency aid. The organization is also tending to the spiritual needs of wounded Syrians as well.
"We're intervening and mobilizing prayer. We're praying for these refugees as if they are our own children and our own grandchildren," Brewer explained. "We're trying to be the hands and feet of Jesus. Not only save lives, but show them the love of Jesus Christ by being the hands and feet of Jesus on the ground."
Many Syrians feel betrayed by the global community and are caught in the middle of a seven-year bloody civil war.
"They don't know who to trust. There is an atmosphere of distrust and certainly an atmosphere that their government has not only failed them, but that their government is behind all these brutal attacks," he shared.
Brewer says Christians in the West can help by praying for peace and supporting humanitarian efforts on the ground.
Catholic Charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) is also helping in Syria, sending emergency aid well as pastoral help to those affected by the constant violence.
After visiting the war-torn country, John Pontifex from the charity, told Premiere: "The people of Syria have been living through unimaginable pain and suffering for the past seven years, as the conflict has caused terrible devastation.
ACN has completed 143 aid projects in Syria over the past 12 months.
Saturday's chemical attack is the worst one in Syria since more than 80 people died in a similar attack in Khan Sheikhoun in early April last year.