Three years after being kidnapped by ISIS, six-year-old Christina Abada finally reunites with her family. Her parents and many other Christians in Iraq and around the world have been praying for her return and safety since her abduction when ISIS fighters stormed the Northern Iraq city of Qaraqosh in August 2014.
The city, not far from Biblical Ninevah’s ancient ruins, is home to over 50,000 Assyrian Christians as the largest Christian city in Iraq. Though ISIS fighters occupied the city for two years after its conquest, Iraqi Christian forces drove them away in October 2016 and regained control. The city is deserted, but its residents have resumed church services and are slowly trickling in to begin recovery.
A Powerful Testimony
Dozens of Christians including Christina’s family members danced and praised God when she returned to her parents on June 9, 2017. Steven Nabil, a local Christian journalist, captured the moment on camera. “I’m so happy,” her mother, Ayda Abada, proclaimed in the news reports. “I thank God.”
Nabil translated her praises to Jesus to English, “I’m happy that people were praying for her,” Ayda told Nabil while on camera. “People were praying for Christina and others to come back.” ISIS had captured thousands of men, women, and children in their wake of destruction.
Young Christina appears to be processing a boatload of information in Nabil’s video as the people celebrated. Her sixth birthday is very soon, yet her overwhelmed face conveys that she’s seen a lot more than many people would at that age.
“Although everybody was very happy, it was also sad to see that Christina herself is in shock about all the people around her,” an unnamed woman in the group shared with World Watch Monitor. “Everybody is asking questions and speaking to her, but she does not say anything back, really. She also seems to be overwhelmed by the huge crowd of people welcoming her.”
Christina’s blind father Khader Touma, however, believes his daughter will readjust. “She stayed three years with the terrorists,” Touma stated. “Of course she forgot who her mother is, who her father is, that we are her family, but she will learn again.”
Sure enough, it didn’t take long for Christina to begin warming up. She readily received her mother’s embrace, smiled, and played with her siblings. “I’m with mum and dad,” said Christina while playing with her doll.
Besides her initial bewilderment, Christina appears to be in good condition. “She looks OK, quite healthy,” the unnamed woman continued. “I believe she must have been in the house of a family who took good care of her. She was even wearing gold earrings, so it must have been a wealthy family.”
Persecution, Perseverance, and Answered Prayers
The Abada family lives in a mobile home at a refugee camp near Erbil. Their home in Qaraqosh sustained heavy damage in the onslaught against ISIS. Most of the residents, Including Christina’s older brother and sister, had already fled when the jihadists arrived there in 2014, but Christina and her parents stayed behind with the disabled and elderly, hoping for mercy.
Instead, ISIS forced them to either pay for protection, renounce their Christianity, or die. They herded the Abadas and other families into dirty buses under the false pretense of medical checkups, then stripped them of their valuable possessions – including Christina.
“Then one of the Da’esh (an Arabic slang term for ISIS) came and inspected the people on the bus. He walked up to us. He took my little girl from my arms and just walked away,” Ayda Abada said in July 2015 to Open Doors International. “My biggest joy would be when my child Christine would return to us.”
That day came when Christina was rescued by Iraqi Special Forces on June 2017. They found her in the poor Hayy-al Tanak neighborhood in Mosul, a city that U.S. and Iraqi government forces are currently fighting to regain control of. Ground sources there indicate that Christina was taken care of for three years by a Muslim family who found her alone in a mosque.
“My family of nine has lived in a caravan for over two years,” Yaz Khedher, Christina’s brother, stated in Iraqi Christian Relief Council’s report. “With all that we have been through, we are overjoyed that our Christina has been returned to us safely. I thank all those who have prayed for her safe return.”
Christina’s parents say they hope to emigrate and put the ordeal behind them.
~ Christian Patriot Daily
