A lament for the children

The world stopped for me on April 14, 1991, on a mountain pass between Iraq and Turkey. I was there to coordinate the relief effort by the Middle East Council of Churches to the Kurdish refugees following the Persian Gulf War. The date will always be frozen in my mind--it was my daughter's third birthday.

That day in 1991, hundreds of thousands of Kurdish people were fleeing the fighting in Iraq and were stopped in these mountain passes without food, blankets, tents or warmth. Cold, wet snow was falling, covering the mud with a white paste. In the corner of the field, a little girl stood alone, looking for something to eat. She looked to be three--and I wept.

I wept because I was missing my daughter and her birthday celebration. I wept because the inequities of the world were so starkly staring me in the face. I wept because I realized that so many years ago, when Mennonites were starving in the Ukraine, that little Kurdish girl could have been my grandmother, and that mountain pass could have been the Ukraine.

Today I think of the many children in Iraq--whether they live in areas controlled by Saddam Hussein or in areas opposed to his regime. I think of the insecurities in their lives as the Iraqi government and the US government move once again toward war. The language of politics, stealth bombers, proportional response and no-fly zones will not mean much to them. They do understand the language of hunger, disease and pain that the sanctions have caused. Like my relatives did in the Ukraine, they feel the results of the macro politics that force them to be hungry and to watch family members die. Like my grandmother who had no control over the politics of Stalin, these children should not be held accountable for the actions of Saddam Hussein. Recently I was asked why, given the regime of Saddam Hussein, Mennonite Central Committee would help Iraqi people. My mind went back to the mountain pass, then to the Ukraine so many years ago. Stalin, like Hussein, was a leader who chose a path that led to starvation and hardship for many of his people. Stalin's policies led to the mass deportation of Mennonites into slave labour camps.

There are many parallels between Stalin's rule and Hussein's. I wonder if people back th2n asked why MCC, given the regime of Stalin, would help suffering people in the Ukraine. I somehow doubt it, and I wonder at the question today.

Sometime in the near future, US bombs may again drop on Iraqi targets. Those children, like mine, like my grandmother so many years ago, will begin to cry. I, too, will weep.

Ed Epp,
MCC Middle East Secretary

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