By Peter Bugden
BRISBANE Catholics Edmund and May Jabbour, heartened that their archdiocese is preparing to welcome hundreds of Syrian refugees, are hoping and praying members of their family may be among them.
The Jabbours are among the many Syrians in St Clement’s Melkite Catholic Parish, South Brisbane, anxiously waiting for relatives to gain safe passage out of their troubled homelands.
They were over the moon earlier this month when the Australian Government announced a one-off humanitarian intake of 12,000 Syrian and Iraqi refugees from Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon.
They were even more pleased when Brisbane Archbishop Mark Coleridge pledged that the archdiocese would welcome at least 100 of the refugee families.
Although it is 27 years since the Jabbours migrated to Brisbane, what happens in Syria and neighbouring countries affects them daily as they share the pain and fear of their relatives.
“For the last five years, my body is living in Australia – I work, I socialise with people, I work full-time, everything – but my spirit and my heart … is there (in Syria),” Mrs Jabbour said of the reign of violence which began in 2011 when anti-government rebels started fighting and which has worsened in the past year with ISIS forces driving Christians out of their homes.
“I think all of us are suffering the same way. It’s so hard.
“My sisters are still in Damascus with their families and both of them are in the line of fire.”
Mrs Jabbour said her two sisters were trying to leave but they couldn’t apply to the United Nations for refugee status because they were still in Syria.
“They are trapped,” she said.
She and her husband have relatives who have managed to flee to Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey.
“My cousin, for example, is already in Lebanon and is registered with the UN but he doesn’t have a chance yet to go anywhere,” Mr Jabbour said.
“I’m trying to put in an application for him, and I’ve been asking a lawyer if he can help.
“I hope some of our relatives can get out and be accepted into Australia.
“I’m trying hard to see what I can do.”
St Clement’s parish priest Fr Elie Francis said the community had many refugees from Syria and Iraq, and every Sunday they prayed for the people of those lands.
“Lots of (our) people are stuck in Jordan and Lebanon, waiting for visas to come to Australia,” he said.
Mrs Jabbour’s mother Georgette was staying with her and her husband in Brisbane and could have remained here but she chose to return, for love of her country.
The grandmother, a widow of almost 15 years, had been living alone in the large family home in Damascus and after the violence erupted one of Mrs Jabbour’s sisters moved in to be with her.
As the violence intensified, Georgette became more disturbed and was having nightmares so Mrs Jabbour’s sister asked if their mother could come to Australia.
She stayed with the Jabbours for almost a year.
“And then, this is when ISIS started … and we asked her to stay here,” Mrs Jabbour said.
“But she wanted to go back. She wanted to go back and help the people.
“She wanted to go back to cook for the people.
“At church, she was very active so she just wanted to go back and do something for the country before she dies.
“That’s what she did.”
In the end, the fighting took the 75-year-old’s life.
“Mum was going to the shops to get some medication and a bomb went off very close to her and she saw the people being killed,” Mrs Jabbour said.
“She drove home crying. She couldn’t talk, and that was it; she went into the hospital that night.
“She passed away eight days after that; she went into a coma straight away.
“It was too much for her to see what she saw.
“On the 11th of October it will be a year.”
In the meantime, the ones left in Syria live with the violence.
“One of my sister’s sons is studying to become an engineer, and at (his) campus, (fighters) always target this campus,” Mrs Jabbour said.
“For the last few weeks they targeted it a few times and they’ve killed at least 20 students.
“They’re all living with trauma – (my sister’s) son goes to that uni every day.
“If you’re sending your son to study, you don’t know if he’s going to come back.
“If you’re going to buy tomatoes from the shops, you don’t know if you’re going to come back.
“Sitting at home, you don’t know if you’re going to stay alive till the evening.
“Every day they say in the morning when everyone goes to wherever they’re going to, they kiss each other like it’s the last time,” Mrs Jabbour said through the tears.
“It’s not a life.”
