Refugee Sunday Video

It's Refugee Sunday... and in this tragic crisis causing so much heartache throughout the Middle East, it's not all bad news.

Check out this short, compelling video of the work being done to build communities of hope in Iraq.

Christmas & New Year in Oz

Christmas is definitely a favorite time of the year for the Buxton family. The tree is up and the kids are asking every day if it is Christmas yet. 

This year we will be waving goodbye to the snow-capped mountains of Kurdistan and heading to a hot Australia to be with Tim's family. We will be tagging on a few extra weeks and taking an extended break after what has been a huge first 18 months in Northern Iraq.

We will be sharing at churches in Brisbane, the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast. We can't wait to catch up with all our Aussie friends, so please shoot us an email at tim@flickerflame.org to find out where we will be during our visit.

Watch out Australia, here we come!!

Fall in Love With Learning

The last three months at the community center has seen the incredible development of our school for refugees. We like to call it "The Love Does School", a place where the lives of these children can be healed and their future restored. We are so grateful for World Challenge and the ongoing partnership of Restore International. Together we have been able to introduce computer classes, Math lessons, and craft and sport activities in addition to the English course.

We have big dreams for next year, with hopes to increase the student hours from 6hours/week to 20hours/week. To do this we need to hire more teachers, expand our curriculum and purchase more resources. If you want to be part of educating refugee children visit www.therefugeinitiative.org to donate. 

Winterization is Under Way

The mountains are covered in snow, the weather is in the 30's (single digits celsius) and we are tasked with making sure all the refugees and those in dire need are going to survive the bitter cold months of winter. This includes purchasing barrels of kerosene, distributing warm clothing and blankets, and making sure homes are insulated and warm. 

One of the most heart-warming gestures came from a grandma in New Zealand who knitted by hand 130 woolen hats for the refugee children. The joy on their faces as they picked out their unique beanie was priceless - Thank God for grandmas!!!

That being said, thanks to the generous support of friends all over the world we are off to a great start. If you would like to help us keep refugees, widows and orphans warm this winter than visit www.therefugeinitiative.org to make a donation. 

Our Fall eNewsletter 2015

Once again, we want to thank every one who has supported us this year. Your love, prayers and encouragement has given us the ability and strength to serve here in Northern Iraq... we made it through another year only by the grace of God.

We hope you enjoy getting up to speed with all that we have been up to here in Northern Iraq in this, our Autumn edition of the flickerflame eNewsletter. (Click on Image below)

Fall in Beautiful Kurdistan

As you can see Kurdistan has some of the most striking scenery that the world has to offer. We are so fortunate to live here and with every opportunity we do our best to enjoy God's magnificent creation. Our valley town is completely enclosed by imposing mountains, now covered with snow. There are beautiful gorges and remote villages to explore. One of our favorite things to do on our "Family Day" is take a long drive and enjoy a picnic with our Kurdish friends. 

Tents to Homes Update

In October a masive storm ripped through our refugee camps, all but flattening the tents and causing widespread damage. Refugee families were forced to take shelter in a nearby soccer stadium and wait out the storm. We knew that we had to do something to build them stronger homes with winter just around the corner. 

How cool are the piggy bank homes (pictured above) built by the kids ministry of Mitchelton Presbyterian Church!!

We created the #tentstohomes campaign and within a few days churches from Australia & the UK and USA jumped on board and helped us get started on the urgent project to convert 70 Yazidi tents to concrete homes. 

Needless to say we have been overwhelmed by the support that we have received and on Thanksgiving Day (Nov 26) we completed the last concrete home at the Rwandz Expansion camp. A huge thanks goes out to The Legacy Collective for getting us across the finish line.

Happy Thanksgiving from Soran

It goes without saying that we have so much to be thankful for. God continues to provide for our family and ministry here in every way. We have some wonderful friends here in Soran that we can do life with. But most of all, we are grateful for Jesus... the One who has rescued, loved us and who is the Hope of the world.

Worldwide Visitors

We had one of the most epic season of teams this year with guests from Australia, Switzerland, Tennessee, Portland, New Zealand, Egypt, Colorado, Canada, Pennsylvania, London, Greece and Norway. We did the math and we have hosted almost 130 guests since January... thats a lot of meals and beds to be made. Let me just say that my wife is amazing!

The teams were wonderful; conducting medical clinics and maternity classes, painting buildings, installing kitchens, teaching music lessons, distributing aid, climbing mountains and generally causing mayhem all over Soran (good mayhem, of course). 

Finding Paradise in Kurdistan

After a scrumptious picnic with dear friends we set off to discover one of the most beautiful hidden locations in all of Kurdistan. A stream, the greenest grass you have ever seen and trees wiry leaves turning golden brown. This is Fall in Kurdistan.

Fall = Filming Documentaries

We hosted a few film-makers this fall that are shooting documentaries of the work that is being done amongst refugees and the work of the Gospel in the Middle East. One documentary by FAI Studies called "Sheep Among Wolves" was released on December 1st. You can check out the trailer below.

Ian Pratt (pictured below holding the Yazidi girl), is in the final stages of producing a short piece on The Refuge Initiative. We can't we to share that with you.. so stay tuned! Ian has a pretty cool Instagram account, check him out @ipratt.

I had a blast spending three days filming with my good friend Robi Sonderegger and his two film-makers from Switzerland. They are shooting a documentary about trauma rehabilitation amongst refugees called "Beyond Zero" and it's gonna be super! They even brought with them a cool drone to get some stunning ariel footage of the region, and wherever they launched it they sure did draw a crowd. 

Stay tuned and I'll let you know when these documentaries are released.

Making New Friends

The last couple weeks have been challenging, dealing with the wind storm that caused widespread damage at our camps. However, what has been wonderful is the new friends we made that visited us here in Soran. 

Thanks so much Mike, Melissa, Ian, Kyle, Jessica, Beth & Betsy for hanging out with our family and friends and the refugee camps. It was so much fun having you stay with us, it was never a dull moment and these photos are the proof.

(all credit to @micaheldeanmcdonald for the superb photography)

Project Tents to Homes

Project Tents to Homes has begun! Ever since a major wind storm caused extensive damage at three of our micro-camps we have been working hard to upgrade these camps by converting the tents to stronger concrete homes. 

This is by no means a small job, but thanks to World Challenge, Inc. we have been able to begin working on the first 25 homes. We still need an additional $80,000 to complete this critical upgrade in the next few weeks. Winter is just around the corner and snow has already been seen on one of the mountains within view of the camps. 

I doesn't take much to provide a strong and safe home for a refugee family. Support our Tents to Homes project today!

To donate click on the following link: https://interland3.donorperfect.net/weblink/weblink.aspx…

Charlie's Fire Fighter B'day

In October Charlie became a big 3 year old, whilst also graduating Fire Fighter school to become "Chief Charlie"!! Sarah, raised the bar once again with her incredible party hosting skills. It was such a blast celebrating with our friends and also Ma & Pa.

Ma & Pa Buxton Visit Kurdistan

There isn't much that can compare to a visit from your parents (grandparents) when you live in a far away land. In September, Ma & Pa traveled all the way from Australia to spend a week with us, immersing themselves in our lives here and the wonderful Kurdish culture. We experienced, weddings, funerals, a million dinner invites and experienced first hand the work that we are doing with refugees, widows and orphans. We even got to take a 6 day trip to Turkey with them. Boy, did the kids just love having their grandparents around.

Inside Look at Our Life in Iraq | Video Update

Check out this 3min video if you want to see what we've been up to over the last year. Iraq is an amazing place, with amazing people and some real big needs. It has become our home. Thanks Ryan Unruh for putting this together. Enjoy.

Serving refugees fleeing persecution. An inside look at a family that has placed themselves where the need is big.

Drum Roll Please For Our Big Announcement

Well folks, the moment to share our "Big News" has arrived. Drum roll please.....

Now you can make a real difference in the lives of refugees here in Northern Iraq. Visit www.SponsorARefugee.Com to learn how you can Build Communities of Hope in Northern Iraq.

#TheRefugeInitiative #WorldOrphans 

Dalton & Anna Visit Soran

We were so blessed to enjoy the company of Dalton Thomas and his wife Anna, who were checking out Soran on a scouting trip.

Dalton filmed and produced the documentary "Better Friends Than Mountains" and is currently working on a 5-part series called "Covenant & Controversy". If you liked BFTM, then you are going to wanna check out the first installmet in his latest project called the "The Great Rage".

Check out our Photo Gallery for some cool images of Kurdistan taken during their recent visit.

Meet Tim: WO Staff Video

A few months ago World Orphans communications director, Nicole Leeper quizzed me on life in Northern Iraq and my role here as a part of the World Orphans team. Check it out if you have a couple minutes.

A School for Refugees Begins at The Refuge community center

There was a lot of joy at The Refuge Community Center last week as we launched English classes for the children living at all of our micro-camps. That's almost 100 children learning from some great local teachers. To think that just a year ago these kids had left everything fleeing from ISIS... Special thanks to everyone who is making it possible for these kids to get an education.

Our goal is to roll out programs for additional ages (3-5yrs & 16-18yrs) and increase to from once-a-week to three times per week. That means over 150 children will soon be getting lessons in English, Math, Art, Gym, Science, Computer Technology and Social Studies.