Participants in the Dialogue and Knowing the Other Camp visited the towns of Hamdaniya and Karamlesh in the Nineveh Plains. The visit included a tour of both towns, with stops at the Church of Saint Barbara the Martyr and the Church of Mar Addai the Apostle in Karamlesh.
The camp delegation was welcomed by Chorbishop Adday Babka, who accompanied the participants on a tour inside the church, which was restored after being destroyed by ISIS in 2014 during its control of the town.
The Dialogue Knights team viewed the church’s relics that document the terrorist attack, and listened to key accounts of its reconstruction. The church is regarded as one of the town’s heritage sites and a center of many miracles, as described by Chorbishop Adday.
The campers also toured the Church of Saint Barbara the Martyr, explored its architectural design, and lit candles, praying for peace and security for the town, its people, and all of Iraq.
In Hamdaniya, the Dialogue Knights visited the Church of Al-Tahira, where Pope Francis held his historic prayer during his visit to the town in 2022.
The participants met with Father George Jahola, who accompanied the delegation and explained the reconstruction efforts of the church destroyed by ISIS in 2014. He described the engineering work carried out to rebuild it using the same construction methods and types of stones used when the church’s foundation was laid in 1932, preserving its architectural style and historical value.
The campers also presented souvenirs to their hosts, consisting of handicrafts made by participants in the Citizenship Education Camps organized by Masarat Foundation.
It is worth noting that the “With Dialogue We Remain and Rise” Camp was launched in Baghdad with the participation of youth from Sinjar. They were later joined by young people from Baghdad in the first phase, before moving to Basra, where local youth also joined. The journey continued to Dhi Qar, then to the Nineveh Plains, and later to the Old City of Mosul. The camp will soon continue its tour in other Iraqi cities as part of a program that seeks to promote dialogue as a means to build peace among followers of religions and to counter hate speech.
