Iraqis gratefully receive food boxes sent by Baptists in Texas & beyond_111703

Posted: 11/14/03

Iraqis gratefully receive food boxes sent by Baptists in Texas & beyond

By Mike Creswell

SBC International Mission Board

CENTRAL IRAQ (BP)–Iraqis cheered as a volunteer team moved through their neighborhood to give out cartons of food sent by Southern Baptist churches across America.

Children ran up to the five men from Calvary Baptist Church in Winston-Salem, N.C., like they were long-lost uncles, giggling and jostling to get close. Mothers handed over their babies to be held, and the few men around extended greetings.

If there were any anti-American feelings, they were well-hidden in this impoverished Shiite Muslim village, where some families had relatives killed or tortured under the regime of Saddam Hussein.

Muslim women in central Iraq carry home boxes of food provided by Texas Baptists and Southern Baptists in America. Many families have lost husbands and fathers in Iraq's wars, leaving widows and children struggling to survive. Baptists sent 45,000 boxes of food like these to Iraq.

“It reminded me of kids coming up to Jesus,” marveled Jim Walker, a digital press artist from East Bend, N.C.

The 10-day project in late October and early November was one part of a massive, months-long Baptist effort to help the Iraqi people.

During late October, the last of 69 truckload-sized cargo containers–carrying a total of 45,000 boxes of food–arrived by truck and were off-loaded in a warehouse for distribution to needy people across Iraq.

Many thousands of Baptists in America had stuffed each carton with about 70 pounds of flour, sugar and other basic foodstuffs, enough to feed a family of four for several weeks. If all 45,000 cartons could be stacked up, the pile would have been more than eight miles high.

Distribution of the cartons was halted in August because of fears that supporters of Saddam Hussein might target humanitarian workers. Even during this period, however, a small crew of workers continued to distribute food, working through Iraqi churches, community councils and other organizations.

Under the leadership of a retiree from Greer, S.C., about half the food has been distributed, and the rest should be delivered by the end of this year.

In one neighborhood, hundreds of food boxes were delivered to a school building in a poor area far from downtown. People have built modest homes of mud bricks on land taken by squatter's rights. Raw sewage runs through the dirt streets, and livestock wander unimpeded.

Village council members had determined the most needy families to receive food boxes. Volunteer team members went with the government leaders, who carried lists of eligible families. The families were given tickets entitling them to claim a food box.

At one home visited by volunteers Larry Ledford of Winston-Salem and Hal Newell of Lewisville, N.C., , a man dressed in a working man's uniform humbly accepted the gift while his family peeked from the door of their simple mud-and-brick home. “There are seven children in this household, and they have no food at all,” a village leader said through a translator. Two of the volunteers prayed for the man after giving him a voucher for a food box.

Although few people in the community spoke English, they understood who was bringing the food.

One man said it was the Christians from America bringing food. “Where are the Muslims?” the man asked, recounted volunteer Doug Wells, a sales analyst with a baking company in Winston-Salem. “It struck me that the people realize we're trying to help them. And we're trying to show them the love of Christ.”

Some food boxes were distributed through Muslim mosques, which function as community centers. One local leader said the mosque maintains a list of needy families and delivered food to those.