Shadi Martini - the Syrian businessman who became a refugee

Shadi Martini is a Syrian American businessman who has worked tirelessly for Syrian Refugees. He grew up in Aleppo with doctors for parents who owned a private hospital in the city. He didn't follow his family into medicine, instead establishing a manufacutring business in Bulgaria but later moved back to Syria to run the family hospital. When the war began in 2011 they worked hard to distribute medicine. As the conflict worsened they began relying on a smuggling network to get it to the people in need. After his activities were discovered by the secret police, he was forced to flee and relocated to the US. He returned, and in 2013 founded the Multifaith Alliance a US-based non-profit organisation which tries to support Syrian refugees with humanitarian aid and advocacy. There are currently over 12 million Syrians forcibly displaced in the region, including almost 6.8 million within Syria and 5.4 million living as refugees in neighboring countries. It's one of the largest displacement crises in the world. But there is hope. The UN says to date nearly two million Syrians have been able to return home. Babel Undone is produced by Premier. For more podcasts which help Christians grow in their faith head to www.premier.plus/podcasts This podcast is created in partnership with the Good Shepherd Church of India. For more details head to www.gsi.org