Story of Hope || A Reason to Hope

A 15-year-old girl named Miray* fled to Turkey to escape the violence of the ongoing civil war in her homeland of Syria. While there, a much older Turkish man took Miray as his wife and brought her to Istanbul. To her dismay, she discovered he already had a wife and three children.

“They used to treat me like a housemaid, and his wife treated me very badly,” Miray told the Women of Hope response team.

She now is 22 and not formally married. Despite having two children of her own, she has no identity card and no one to help with her many needs.

Miray fled to Turkey knowing very little of the language. She said, “I was listening to the radio to learn some Turkish, and I found the Women of Hope radio program. Through the program and through Christ, I have overcome my fears.”

The number of Syrian refugees in Turkey reached 3.7 million by December 2019. Many girls like Miray have become child brides who are raped or beaten by their husbands. Still children themselves, they suffer complications during childbirth because of their undeveloped bodies and may even die.

It is easy to despair when one lives in such turmoil. The Women of Hope radio broadcast provides the reason for people like Miray to again become hopeful.

  ‘’Jesus helped me to grow through hard times and is still strengthening and helping me,” she shared. “Please pray for me.”

* Miray is a pseudonym used to protect the listener’s privacy