Bishop visits Northern Iraq two years after Daesh were driven out

Bishop Paul McAleenan, our Lead Bishop for Migrants and Asylum Seekers, has recently returned from Northern Iraq - an area ravaged by Daesh, so-called Islamic State, in 2014. The Bishop was in the region with an Aid to the Church in Need delegation, at the invitation of the local Churches involved in the Nineveh Reconstruction Committee. He witnessed first-hand the reconstruction efforts in the predominantly Christian towns that were overrun by Daesh and spoke to many returning Christians who were displaced by the violence. He visited Al Qosh, Teleskof, Batnaya, Karamless, Qaraqosh, Bartella, Bashiqa and Erbil. About half of the displaced families have made it back to their homes, but over 90,000 people are still displaced in the Kurdistan Region - many others have left the country completely. In this podcast we speak to Bishop McAleenan about what he saw and did during the visit.