Lebanese parish prepares young Iraqi refugees for first Communion

Published: 2008-05-06

BEIRUT, Lebanon (CNS) -- Last September, Sondrine and Raymond Khamo lived with their parents in a two-floor house in Mosul, Iraq. Their uncle had been shot in the head when he was driving, and their mother, Haifa Khamo, was afraid to let her children go outside. Today, the family of four lives in a one-room dwelling in Beirut. The children's father, Basel, an accountant, recently found work as a stocker in a supermarket. There's not much left from his $200 monthly salary after he pays the $100 rent. Yet in Lebanon the family is able to practice their Chaldean Catholic faith. Sondrine, 12, and Raymond, 11, were to make their first Communion May 10 at St. Raphael the Archangel Chaldean Cathedral in a Beirut suburb. Of the 38 children preparing for their first Communion at St. Raphael's this year, 24 are Iraqi refugees, ranging in age from 11 to 13.

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