The Baghdad Appeal has been making the news recently with coverage in The Stockton and Darlington Times and The Northern Echo.

In the following article, originally published The Catholic Herald and re-published here by kind permission, the man behind the mission John Hinman, a Trustee of the Middlesbrough Diocese, explains how the people of our diocese have rallied to the aid of beleaguered doctors in strife-torn Baghdad.

On the Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time our parish priest Fr Damian Humphries OSB reminded the congregation of the need to love our neighbour in the widest possible sense, and that this should include our enemies. We should in fact pray for our enemies. The Homily was carefully interwoven with examples of parish and diocesan initiatives which are aimed at reaching out to “our neighbours”.

One such project, which was initially a parish project and is now a diocesan project, is aimed at sending medical aid to Baghdad Central Training Hospital for Children. Following a particularly harrowing BBC News report I made contact with the medical team interviewed in the BBC feature and since then we have sent paediatric oncology drugs and other medical supplies requested by the medical team. We have sent over £110,000 worth of medical aid to the hospital thanks to the generosity of parishes within the Diocese of Middlesbrough and also through donations made by Catholics in other parts of the country.

One key factor in sustaining support for the hospital for over two years is the relaying of messages from the Iraqi medical team to our donors, supporters and the organisations that ensure the drugs reach the hospital by air transport. Most of the supplies require careful handling and must be kept at a low temperature. All six consignments have arrived in perfect condition.

We are full of admiration for medical teams in Iraq. According to the Iraqi Ministry of Health, more than half the doctors have left the country and over 2,200 doctors have been killed and thousands of other medical staff. It is remarkable that the remaining medical teams work tirelessly to save life and do their very best for children in the hospital we support.

We are raising funds for the seventh consignment and each item requested by the medical team is vital to the needs of children suffering from cancer. We can only imagine the stress to families, patients and their carers by the other pressures in their fractured city.

When we speak of loving our neighbour, that commandment can be translated into ensuring we seek to provide for the basic needs of others, especially children. At a major event for the NSPCC Tony Blair, then Prime Minister, said: “The private passion we feel for our own children should become a public passion for all children.”

We want to do the very best for all children and our support for children suffering from cancer in Baghdad has made a difference. William Hague, the Shadow Foreign Secretary, applauded the “outstanding charitable work undertaken in Baghdad” by the Diocese of Middlesbrough in a speech given at Westminster Cathedral early last year. We know that officials in our embassy in Iraq and the Iraqi Ministry of Health believe our project to be wortthwhile and productive.

Sustaining life in a conflict zone is a measure of our Christian instinct to care for others and to help safeguard the sanctity of life. We hope you will consider supporting our project and helps us send our next consignment to Baghdad.

All of the donations we receive are spent on vital aid specifically requested by Professor Ibrahim Al-Nassir and Dr Jaffar Al-Ghaban, brave and resourceful medics working under the moist difficult of circumstances. There are no overheads or hidden costs in this particular initiative.

We believe in the importance of looking after the needs of “our neighbours” and we are constantly reminded of other good works carried out by faith communities across the country. We will do everything we can to promote the welfare of future citizens in this troubled city.

Please can we request that you undertake to provide a gift for the children of Baghdad? Please exercise the will of Jesus in this way and demonstrate our compassion for all humanity

Donations can be sent to the Curial Office, 50A The Avenue, Linthorpe, Middlesbrough TS5 6QT. Please make cheques payable to “Diocese of Midlesbrough Baghdad Appeal”.