Right now the situation of all those who have fled ISIS' violent attacks since their initial June 10 launch in Iraq "has become much, much more difficult than before," Fr. Baho observed.
Some having been out of their homes for nearly two months or more, many of the refugees are currently living in tents on the street in camps, and winter is approaching.
In addition to the loss of houses and work, children are now beginning to lose their schooling, he explained, because the year is starting and they have nowhere to go.
"Life in refugee camps for these people…one can stand it for one day, two days, 10 days.But after two months, what hope is there for them? It's true that some help arrives from Caritas, from the U.N., and from so many other organizations. But life in a tent is not a normal life."
Fr. Baho pointed out how the situation is especially problematic for women, children and the elderly, so their primary concern now is not that they have lost everything, but simply to find a place to live.
"They have lost their work, their houses, their money that they have in the bank that right now they can't get. So in this situation the people are desperate."
"We don't want to leave our land," he said, but if this situation continues the way it is, "in one month people will begin to lose hope in a future in Iraq."
Although hopes rose with American and British military intervention, "we have learned in these two months that if we don't see with our own eyes, and we don't return to our own cities, there is little hope," the priest observed.
Further intervention, he said needs to happen on several different levels, the first being to help thousands of refugees who are living "in difficulty."
"There are thousands. In Iraq maybe more than a million refugees. Christians are more than 100,000. But also our brother Muslims who are not in favor of this current of ISIS, also they find themselves as refugees in Iraq. So the first intervention is to help these ones…everyone, not only some organizations."
A second intervention would be to stop the advancement of ISIS, "but not only block them, drive them out," the priest explained.
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We also need to create "a way of changing this mentality of hatred toward humanity, to create a mentality of love," he said, noting how this is the mission that every Christian throughout the world is called to.
"They create hate. We need to create love. This is our war as Christians; not war with weapons but war of creating a society of love, a culture of love, a culture of accepting the other even if he is different."
"This is very important for us," he said, however "blocking their advancement depends on world powers."
[Editor's note: This article is the second in a series of two interviews with Fr. Ghazwan Yousif Baho. The first story can be found here.]
Elise Harris was senior Rome correspondent for CNA from 2012 to 2018.