Frances Fuller, award winning author of 'In Borrowed Houses', has issued an open letter to President Obama regarding the refugee crisis in the Middle East.
A recent article on The Washington Post website detailed Pope Francis' call to Europe's Catholics. He requested that every sanctuary, monastery, parish and community take in at least one refugee family. The Vatican will be taking in two families.
On their website, US News and World Report reported that France will welcome 24,000 refugees. In the same story it was reported that German Chancellor Angela Merkel said all European countries should work to accommodate refugees. What about the US? Frances Fuller's letter to President Obama asks two questions that are in the minds of many Americans.
"What’s the plan, Mr.President? What is the USA going to do about that tidal wave of people from the Middle East looking for a place to be?"
"We owe the refugees a home, because we did a lot to create the chaos from which they are fleeing. We know it. And now that our hearts are broken by images of dead children and weeping fathers and women lying down on railroad tracks in hopes of stopping a train, we have to do something kind and constructive or we will die of guilt and shame."
"We have empty bedrooms and full pantries, but we can’t offer them to Syrians or Iraqis unless they can get here and unless our immigration department will give them visas. So send airplanes to get them. Open the doors. Step up and speak up, like Pope Francis and Angela Merkel."
"We are sick of war, Mr. President. Give us a plan for building the world. Then get in front and see us follow."
Told in short episodes, Fuller’s book reveals the alienation, confusion and courage of civilians in the Lebanese civil war, introducing to the reader a variety of real people with whom the author interacts: editors, salesmen, neighbors, refugees, soldiers, missionaries, lawyers, shepherds, artists, students. With these people she works, studies, plays games, prays, laughs and cries, all to the accompaniment of gunfire. Together these small stories tell what war is like for civilians caught on a battlefield, and they create the impression of the Lebanese as a fun-loving, witty, patient and resilient people. They also compose, not a political history, but a historical document of a time and a place.
Critics have praised ‘In Borrowed Houses.’ A judge in the 22nd Annual Writer’s Digest Self-Published Book Awards called 'In Borrowed Houses' “…a well written book full of compassion…a captivating story…”. Another reviewer described the book as “Wise, honest, sensitive, funny, heart-wrenching…”. Colin Chapman, lecturer in Islamic Studies at the Near East School of Theology in Beirut said, “….western Christians and Middle Eastern Christians need to read this story…full of remarkable perceptiveness and genuine hope.”
Frances Fuller is available for media interviews and can be reached using the information below or by email at frances0516@att.net. Fuller's book is available at Amazon and other book retailers. A free ebook sample from 'In Borrowed Houses' is available at http://www.payhip.com/francesfuller. More information is available at her website at http://www.inborrowedhouseslebanon.com.
About Frances Fuller:
Frances Fuller spent thirty years in the violent Middle East and for twenty-four of those years was the director of a Christian publishing program with offices in Lebanon. While leading the development of spiritual books in the Arabic language, she survived long years of civil war and invasions.
Contact:
Frances Fuller
frances0516@att.net
http://www.inborrowedhouseslebanon.com
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