The Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East

Diocese of Cyprus and the Gulf, including Iraq

Mothers' Union, Baghdad, was founded on Easter Sunday 2006 by Canon Andrew White, Vicar of Baghdad, himself an enthusiastic member of Mothers' Union for over 15 years. It forms part of the diocese of Cyprus and the Gulf, under the province of Jerusalem and the Middle East.

Based at the most dangerous parish in the world, St. George's Church, Baghdad, the membership has quickly grown to over 400. It is not easy to be a person of faith in Iraq; people of all faiths face the risk of attack every day. Members of the congregation have suffered bombings, attacks, threatening letters and 11 members of the church staff have been killed. More and more of the members come to church in black because their husbands have been killed. More and more children are being left without their fathers or mothers.

Yet despite, or perhaps because, of the danger and the difficulties, the members faithfully come to meetings. Mothers' Union forms the mainstay of the church. Members meet together every month, then smaller groups meet up to three times each week, for fellowship and outreach work. The members take great pride in being part of a worldwide movement. All of the Mothers' Union materials are translated in Arabic and the MU has taken on a very active role within the church, organising all the services and events.

The group are particularly strong in putting their faith into action by demonstrating to the surrounding community every day the hope and motivation that Christ's presence brings to them. Funding from FRRME and from Mothers' Union branches in the UK are used to undertake social outreach projects with the local orphanage, a local home for disabled childrenand with bereaved children and widows in the community providing provisions they lack or cannot afford.

In December 2006 the MU was part of a drive by the church to make St. George's accessible to all local people. They held the first ever church bazaar. Most of Mothers' Union members took part, and worked for more than two months making goods for sale. The event was a huge success, and boosted people's spirits.

Promoting Stable Family Life is not possible in Baghdad, where Mothers' Union members don't have stability themselves. But they do everything they can to allieviate the instability's affect on the local community through the provision of meetings and services, mutual membership support, and fundraising for their community outreach initatives, such as distributing food aid to those in need in the local community.