Open Doors partners in Iraq are dedicated to strengthening and supporting the persecuted church in that nation, whatever that looks like – one way that can be done is providing Christian books to church libraries.
The library is built in an L shape.
Once you enter you see two rows of big tables for reading and discussions surrounded by a couple dozen comfortable chairs.
Librarian Randa sits next to the entrance on the right side. White wooden shelves of five levels divided in sections go around the walls. The library is well equipped with air conditioning and music speakers. The place is quiet, very clean and nicely organized. A few plants help decorate the place. Yellow and white spotlights give the library a warm glow.
There are few resources more important to faith development than good Christian books, so Open Doors partners in Iraq were glad to take the opportunity to help stock the libraries of Iraqi churches.
Through our local partner organization’s support, this library provides opportunities and space for different activities. On reading group, “Bagdida Reads” includes reading and discussing the Bible on weekly basis, with around 35 regular attendees.
“The library is a legacy, an enrichment to youth, children and people of different ages in the area. It helps them grow in their Christian faith but also intellectually, socially, culturally and scientifically."
There is also ‘Bagdida Writes’ where young writers meet in the library and discuss stories they write in a competition. At the end, the stories are judged by a jury and a winner will be chosen.
At the start in 2001, the library was smaller and simpler at another location. The current location, established in 2017, has enough space for around 9,000 books and is open six days a week.
Randa says that the library meets the needs of the readers. She tries to always make sure the newest versions of books are available. She says that the most frequent visitors are either the youth or older folks, but students also use the library for reference and study.
Randa noticed that people who, in the past only skimmed books, have now developed a habit of reading. Sometimes books are available on the internet, but the readers mostly want to hold a book in their hands.
Randa is a librarian in an Iraqi church library, supported by Open Doors’ partners.
Malak, one frequent young visitor who prefers borrowing books over buying them, comes every three days. He shares with a big smile, “It is very helpful to have a library in my area which makes it easy to reach and borrow books. I appreciate your donations and hope you continue in your support.”
Randa adds, “I would like to tell the people who supported our library that reading should be a fundamental part of human life when they want to learn about new cultures, knowledge, peoples’ habits around the world. Reading makes a human live more than one life. I thank all donors for their support which enriches people’s Christian faith.”
Dani, mid-twenties, visits at least once a week. “The library has a big importance for me and for a long time I wanted that we have one. For me it’s like a treasure.”
Mazin, in his sixties, says “The library is an enrichment to the area. It’s a crucial initiative for youth to read, get in touch with other people about their Christian faith, but also to learn about science and literature. A book is like a friend and reading nourishes the spirit.”
He explains the influence of your support saying, “Thank you very much for the initiative. It is an excellent, amazing and most prestigious support to help people of the area to stay in the region and stay connected to their roots, their faith and have tools to reach out to other cultures through books.”
Through your support, our local partner supports fourteen libraries and bookshop either in rehabilitation or with books in different areas. A representative said “The rehabilitation started after 2019 when most of the libraries were burned and messed up by ISIS [so-called Islamic State in Iraq and Syria] attack in 2014…the ultimate goal is to see people reading the Bible and grow in their faith, also that people get educated on different levels.”
Randa asks for your prayers as she continues her work running the library.
