Beaten for bearing a Muslim name – the harsh realities facing Iranian refugee children: Mission Network News

By Joanne Khmel

Iran (MNN) — Iranian believers often flee their homeland in search of safety. But for their children, the journey doesn’t end with escape — it begins a difficult process of adjusting to a new country, often filled with hostility.

“One of our young people, a fourteen-year-old boy, was in the hospital for a long time after being severely beaten. He suffered internal bleeding, organ failure, and other complications — simply because his peers, other teenage boys, decided he shouldn’t be a Christian because he has a Muslim name.”

This is just one of many heartbreaking stories Lana Silk from Transform Iran has encountered in her ministry to Iranian refugees. This particular incident happened in a Muslim-majority host country, but the harsh experiences of refugee children are often universal.

That’s where Transform Iran steps in, with a ministry specifically focused on children. Silk explains, “We work very hard to minister to them and surround them with love and community to help strengthen them.”

The need is urgent. “I was speaking to someone [who told me about their] nine-year-old child. The teacher was spitting on his face, insulting him,” she adds.

Out of this growing crisis, a ministry was born.

“This is one of the reasons we’ve been so active in the children’s ministry lately — because we’ve noticed that children need a strong, loving, non-judgmental, non-oppressive community around them that will hold them tight and love them,” Silk says.

Transform Iran hosts weekly gatherings for refugee children, filled with activities, games, and therapeutic exercises designed by psychologists to support their mental health. “And of course, it’s always the Gospel,” Silk says, “with worship and prayer to help these children cope with the pressures that are on them.”

Another heavy burden these children carry is the fear of sudden deportation. “We have children in our group who have said that they’ll be sitting in class, and suddenly the police will turn up and take children out of class and send them to deportation camps,” Silk shares. There’s a constant fear among the children that, at any moment, authorities might come and take them away. These overlapping layers of anxiety and trauma severely impact their mental health and well-being.

The first thing you can do to help Iranian refugees is this: do not forget them. This is one of the reasons Transform Iran provides a monthly newsletter with updates that you can subscribe to. Knowing that the global community of believers cares gives strength to both parents and children in asylum as they endure immense suffering.

Pray for the safety of Iranian believers and their children, and for the resolution of their cases. Pray that the trauma these children face won’t drive them away from God — but draw them closer to Him. 

Header photo: Iranian boy in a green jacket (photo courtesy of Hiva Sharifi via Unsplash)

Inset photo: Iranian boy (photo courtesy of Atiyeh Fathi via Unsplash)

Originally published on: Mission Network News