Andrea’s Kurdistan Trip
Hello family and friends 😀
I’ve arrived safely back to socal from Kurdistan. Sharing an update now that I recovered from jetlag. Thank you so much for praying for me and the team! God heard and answered your prayers. God used our team in amazing ways for the Yazidi refugees who were persecuted by ISIS. We were able to perform urogynecology surgeries for a few women who were brave pioneers in a culture that has a lot of shame around urogyn issues. Also over 7 cleft palate surgeries for kids and young adults!! At first the urogyn women all backed out due to cultural faux pas but after we had a team-wide prayer that night, the next day, we had a set of eager women who said yes! They lived with immense pain from prolapse, incontinence, endometriosis and more–some as long as 15-30 years long. And now after the surgeries, their pain will be gone. This is just one of many amazing stories that I’ll share with you in the future. I was filled with so much peace, joy and purpose (even in the midst of the gray’s anatomy ER type of surgery stress) in Kurdistan. The Yazidis are such wonderful, kind, humble, grateful people and I miss them. These refugees all live in camps and are fed by World Food Program. They’ve all been displaced for 8 years and yearn to go back but stuck there and most with no jobs. It’s not a real town…it’s literally tents and dirt so there’s no economy, transportation, ads (bc they don’t have money or jobs to buy stuff), etc. One of the cleft lip young adults who was waking up from anesthesia after surgery was mumbling in his subconscious a bunch of nonsense and then started recounting the history of the 2014 ISIS raid in his Yazidi hometown. Even after that it took him a long time to become lucid. That moment broke my heart and showed me how deep the wound of trauma is in these peoples’ subconscious. They experienced murder, rape and other terrors. Some women there even survived after being captured by sadam hussein. TBH I was too nervous to ask for more details beyond that because i’m a Highly Sensitive and didn’t want to fall into depression upon hearing. There’s def hopelessness but I think amidst that the local NGO we partnered with, Habibi and our team of 9 ppl responded with so much hope and love that during the trip that I felt the spirit very palpably. I felt Jesus’ heart break for each of them and that He was telling me He knew them each by name and loved them so deeply. Without an economy, upward momentum, hopes, and dreams everything there felt stripped down to a simple life of just family, survival, and existence. Meeting the Habibi team who are just like you and me (grew up in US or Singapore) but dropped everything to live alongside refugees and love and know them so well was one of the best parts of the trip. When we had dinner, took long car rides along the dirt paths of the area, they exuded the same peace and gentleness–the fragrance of Jesus Christ. They serve and love so earnestly and I feel honored and blessed to have met them.
(More pics to follow later!)
As soon as I landed in LAX yesterday it was a stark contrast where I felt bombarded with consumerism from the ads in lax and overheard conversations to buy, strive and pursue the American dream. I actually started feeling nauseous from the jarring contrast and I miss the purpose I felt in Kurdistan. I now see my old selfishness so clearly before the trip and figuring out how to return back to my normal American life. The problems that concerned me before don’t feel exactly the same anymore so friends, pls keep me accountable. I feel sadness for the Yazidis and their stories but also a small flame of hope and dreams for these people. I now also want to learn more about other more destitute countries like Sudan and Somalia so if you guys know people who partner with NGOs or other orgs in Africa lmk. I am still parsing through all these different emotions–it’s exhausting. I am going to be MIA for the next few days to process all of these emotions so that I can eventually fan this flame into actions and confidence in a healthy and holy way to aid the people that God puts on my heart and live out His purpose for me here at home. But for now, I want to thank you so much for your prayers and for partnering with me on this trip. Love you all!
-Andrea
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