RAHAL Dergham understands the Syrian refugee crisis better than just about anyone else in Australia.
When the Sydney Catholic priest arrived from Syria almost eight years ago, he says he left a country that was “moving forward”. In his home town of Hama, the young clergyman freely held masses, his family worked happily and worshipped freely, and the children went to school for a decent and compulsory education.
Now, he says, it’s a completely different place. Every time he speaks to his family or friends who are still there or have recently fled, or even when he checks up on how the conflict is progressing online, there are some terrifying reminders of how bad it’s become.
“He was a peaceful man, a kind man,” Father Dergham says of his close friend and former colleague Father Francois Murad.
The Catholic priest one of the earlier victims of Islamic State’s broadcast beheadings.
“They taped it when they decapitated him and posted the video on YouTube. We saw it even before the media started talking about it. Now whenever you search Syrian crisis or anything about Christian persecution, you will see him.”
Father Rahal Dergham gives communion at his church in Syria.Source:
The 33-year-old has seen, heard of, and counselled his friends over more atrocities than any man his age should have encountered.
There’s the time a teenager from his town was tortured and murdered trying to visit his family at Christmas.
“One of the last ones we lost was a young man, he was about 18,” he says.
“He was not even armed. He had run away from the compulsory army service and was working in Lebanon but he was smuggled back to the country to be with his family on Christmas Day.
“At the checkpoint they, ISIS, found him and took him from the car. They took him out and they beat him and he was killed. His family didn’t get to see him for Christmas Day but they did see him again.”
When the parents of that young man saw him again, Father Dergham explains, his body had been delivered to them in a plastic bag, chopped into pieces.
“We’ve received many of our people in parts,” he says.
Like the time a taxi driver the young priest used to work with was returned to his family.
“He disappeared and they found his taxi on the side of the street and we never heard of him for three months,” he says.
“He was rich so they asked his family for a lot of money to have him returned. The family paid but still he was killed. He was returned though, in a plastic bag. They received his decapitated body. He had been tortured.”
He describes bodies found in shallow graves cut up into pieces and piled on top of each other. Men held captive working as slaves and being fed only a piece of cheese or a chunk of bread each day, and women sold as sex slaves.
Father Dergham described more atrocities than can be listed here, and many too distressing to publish. But he says people need to know about the reality of what is going on in Syria to understand that the people there just need leave.
“The situation in Syria is now nearly unbearable and that’s why people are leaving,” he says.
“They are leaving in masses and probably no one will stay, even in the safe areas because they will no longer be safe. Anyone, any Christian who is still there lives in constant fear and they are right to be in fear.”
A family of migrants walk through rain and low temperatures as they make their way to Hungary. Pic: Christopher FurlongSource:Getty Images
Since the civil war and the infiltration of ISIS, Father Dergham says everyone he knows who was happy in Syria has left or is trying to since their cities have been taken over.
They make up some of the 4.1 million Syrians fleeing their homeland after more than four years of civil war, making it the worst refugee crisis the world has seen since the genocide of Rwanda.
Their desperation and the reality of their journey has been revealed today in the faces of children in Hungary, sprayed with tear gas as they try to cross the border into Hungary.
On Monday, 10,000 migrants crossed the Hungary Serbia border. Their treatment by protesters and police have angered human rights groups, but also serve to show the reality of Syrians’ struggles.
A migrant girl is overcome by pepper spray and tear gas after Hungarian police repelled an attempt by migrants to break the border post gate and pull down the razor wire fence on September 16, 2015. Pic: Christopher FurlongSource:Getty Images
This is what Syrian asylum seekers are faced with... police fired at least 20 tear gas grenades into the crowd of Syrians and protesters. Pic: Christopher FurlongSource:Getty Images
Former prime minister Tony Abbott last week began discussions about resettling 12,000 refugees from the conflict in Syria and Iraq.
When Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull took the top job earlier this week, he praised Mr Abbott for his generosity towards Syrian refugees, but he’ll now likely be under pressure to take more.
The US is looking to resettle at least 10,000 refugees Syrian refugees — a marked increase to the 1800 it has taken in since the conflict erupted.
European countries have been praised for their willingness to accept asylum seekers, with Germany saying it is prepared to take up to 800,000 asylum seekers entering its country this year.
Father Dergham says he would like to see Australia take in “many thousands of Syrian people”.
“I feel sad because I don’t think Australians would like to leave refugees with no choice,” he says.
“I would like to see Australia take many thousands, I know that they are pushing for another 12,000 and we are for even more. We ask Australia to be more generous and have a hand in history in helping immigrants here.”
Saying mass at St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney.Source:
Attending a protest in Sydney.Source:
While Father Dergham said he supported a much-criticised proposal last week for the government to prioritise Christians, he justified this saying he had seen Christian people be personally persecuted in Syria, and (non-christian) militants causing disruptions.
“I’m aware that some migrants, refugees, do somehow disturb the social order and some do more for the progress of Australia and that needs to be considered,” he said.
“The Christian community here, they want to see Australia bring more persecuted people here and make sure they are safe.”
He said he also wanted Australians, and the Australian government, to not be afraid of taking in more of his people.
“The majority of the Syrian community here arrived before the Syrian war, they arrived for economic reasons, they are well established. Many of them have degrees, they are policemen, they have businesses, they are willing to help with everything they can offer and provide, and they are hoping to see Australia take a positive direction and contribute to the release of these Syrians who are suffering, and help everyone back in Syria.”
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