“You shared our sadness” – hope and healing in Syria

Your support put Jenny on a path of healing after her father was killed in the June 2025 bomb attack on Mar Elias Church, Syria. Now, she’s helping other believers traumatised by persecution.

Jenny was chatting with a friend outside her home, enjoying the warm evening, when an explosion ripped through the quiet – and her world changed in an instant. 

Suddenly, messages started flying around. The blast had come from Mar Elias Church, where a suicide bomber had attacked. Sounds of guns and bombs were very familiar, but that didn’t stop fear from taking a hold of her. She knew her father had been at the service, but he wasn’t answering his phone. 

“At that moment, I felt everything ceased to exist,” remembers Jenny. “The first thing that went through my mind was that I needed to reach my father in any possible way because I knew he was there. I was shaking all over. I sat down because I couldn’t stand.” 

Jenny raced to the church in the Dweila area of Damascus. “I had to get to church no matter what,” she says. “The road there seemed to be taking an eternity. It was one of the hardest moments. I reached the church and saw security forces surrounding the building; people were everywhere, some lying on the side of the street. It didn’t seem real.” 

Anyone who attempted to get into the church was turned back by security forces. Unable to find their father, Jenny and her sister went to the hospital. He was in surgery, badly wounded, and they couldn’t visit him. “I sat there, waiting and praying.” 

But soon the news came: he had not survived. 

Looking back 

In the aftermath of the attack, memories of her father flooded Jenny’s mind. She describes him as ‘my companion, my advisor, my shield and my safety’. She and her family note his absence with acute awareness. “Our house lacks safety because he’s not there. We miss him a lot; the house is dark without him.” 

And yet, she looks back and sees evidence of God’s goodness. “When the old regime collapsed in December 2024, my father resigned from his job,” she explains. “Being at home all the time made us even more attached to him. It feels like the Lord gave us this period with him.” 

At that time, Jenny moved from Suwayda in northern Syria back to her parents’ home in Damascus. “Maybe the Lord wanted me to live out this period with my parents. My agony would have been much greater if he had died while I was away.” 

Though the grief she and her family bears will not fade easily, Jenny also looks forward with a profound hope, one that attackers cannot take away: “One day, we will be resurrected as well. Death is just a slumber, with the hope of resurrection.” 

The path of healing 

“We were shown affection by everyone, including all churches worldwide,” says Jenny, thinking back to the days after her father’s death. “We knew there were people who loved us, who shared our sadness, who were affected by what we’d been through.” 

Your support has helped to train trauma counsellors in Damascus, and Jenny is one of them. The techniques she learned helped her process her own grief. “I knew I was experiencing trauma and post-traumatic stress,” she explains, “so I tried to help myself using methods that would support me.” 

Now, strengthened by your aid, she is volunteering as a counsellor to help other victims, especially women and children affected by the violence in and around Suwayda. “It is important for me to help the people who went through the same experience as I did. It’s my duty to stand beside them and support them, just as I received support along the way,” she says. 

Your generous gifts mean trauma healing is available to children and adults, through group or individual sessions. The programme mixes biblical teaching with counselling methods, and the focus is on bringing people back to God. Faith can help people heal – but persecution, like the church attack, can spark doubts. 

“The fear people faced needs time, but time heals,” says Jenny. “I cannot stop attending church because they have always been trying to persecute the church and terminate it. Christians are being persecuted all over the world, but the Lord is on our side. 

“God is all goodness,” she continues with conviction. “When we go to Him, there is no better place. I hope the churches will go back to being full to the brim. Prayers are what we need most right now. We need divine help to get through what we are facing.”