Disaster Response Iraq Project #19668

Relief for 1900 displaced families - Northern Iraq

by RED International

Project Report | Dec 22, 2015
Distribution of Food and Hygiene Packs to Families

By Andrew Sinclair | Development Director

Meeting with representatives of local community

Following the regular distribution of nutritious fruit and vegetables to 701 families in Bozan earlier in 2015 Our partner, Operation Mercy is now focusing on supporting the needs of at least 1000 families in a village community in Northern Iraq.

Located about 20 kilometres outside of Dohuk, Var City is currently home to well over 5,000 people in more than 1,000 families. Community leaders had estimated that, 690 were Syrian refugee families and 370 were internally displaced Iraqi families from Mosel. Many of the Syrians have fled Syria after the start of the civil war in March 2011. Others, like the internally displaced people from Mosel fled from ISIS’s brutal invasion during the summer of 2014.

"Var City" means "future city" in Turkish and is not an official camp, but an apartment complex that is mainly rented by Syrian refugees and Iraqi IDPs. Because it is not a formal camp setting, it has received little attention and assistance from the UN and the international community. Due to lack of funding, the World Food Program had to stop providing food rations in September 2015. This pressure to meet their basic needs is one of the factors which have caused an estimated 200 Syrian Refugee families to attempt migration from Var City to Europe in search of hope. Our partner organization in the settlement, HOME is one of the few organizations continuously providing services such as English- as well as Health and Wellness Classes. Var City was chosen in part because our partner organization shares our long-term vision to see sustainable relief and development with a transformational impact through empowering, training, and mentoring relationships in the community.

Operation Mercy has already conducted a gymnastics camp in Var City this fall to help relieve some of the stress of the children, while also encouraging them to enrol in the school that is run by another partner aid organization working with Save the Children. Operation Mercy has also launched a women’s fitness program with HOME and wants to continue supporting the needs and investing in relationships in Var City. The food & hygiene kit distribution will supplement the existing educational and medical programs while meeting some of the strongest felt needs.

An informal community assessment revealed that the lack of resources limits the ability of the families to purchase food and hygiene products. Community leaders confirmed these needs as the greatest priority, especially as the World Food Program was forced to stop providing food. A medical clinic which has treated over five hundred patients from Var City also confirmed the need for hygiene kits. They will help prevent the spread of disease along with the medical education courses run by HOME.

The lack of physical provision has contributed towards feelings of hopelessness and a desperation which has driven the dangerous migration of about 200 Syrian refugee families from Var City to Europe.

Project Description:
The main project components are the distribution of hygiene kits and food packs. The exact components of the kits will be determined through a focus group that is a representation of the community in consultation with community leaders. This focus group will meet several times: first to determine which specific items should be included in the both the hygiene kits and food packs and then to evaluate if any changes need to be made to the contents of the distributions or how the distributions are run. Operation Mercy will conduct three food and hygiene kit distributions each on different weeks, making a total of 6 distributions. Pending approval from internal security forces the first distribution will start in December, and then alternating between food and hygiene kits every two weeks for the duration of the 12 week project.

Our partner has now received an updated list of 1210 families from local community leaders. This includes 740 Syrian Refugee families and 470 Iraqi IDP Families . They will purchase enough food supplies for 1250 families for their first distribution to ensure that no one is left out. A more complete assessment will be completed during the first distribution. That will give a more accurate number of families for the next round of distributions

Further Support for the Project
We have just received the very encouraging news of a grant awarded from the Global Giving Syrian Refugee Relief Fund for the relief work in Northern Iraq which will be enough to support one of the monthly food pack distributions to at least 1000 families. This complements the grant already received in October from the Isle of Man Government's International Development Committee for this project.

We are also very grateful to everyone who has been supporting this project individually, especially in the last few weeks and we have been very encouraged by the generous support we have seen for this project from a growing number of people. As Northern Iraq faces winter the need is still very urgent to support families in these communities and provide them with items which will help them to remain in the region.

Thank you again for your generous support, please continue to share this project with your friends and colleagues.

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Nov 3, 2015
Progress report on Relief work in Northern Iraq

By Andrew Sinclair | Development Director

Children carrying bags of vegetables.

Bozan Produce Project
Our partner Operation Mercy met the urgent need of food in the village of Bozan by providing 6 kg of nutritious fruit and vegetables to 701 families in Bozan, once a week, for 8 weeks. The project met a need which became a higher priority as the World Food Program drastically cut the out-of-camp food distributions in half, due to lack of funding. The food provisions added nutritional content to their diet that they wouldn't have been able to obtain otherwise. For IDP's who are struggling to provide for their family, the produce distributions alleviated some of that burden for those who didn't know where their next meal was coming from.

Garmawa Produce Project
Our partner began the Garmawa Fresh Produce Project at the recommendation of the World Food Program, UNHCR and the Governorate of Dohuk. The World Food Program wanted to see more diverse food distributions in Garmawa to supplement the dry goods they provided. UNHCR advised OPM that Garmawa camp’s security restrictions hindered the food security of residents, and Dohuk Governate was looking for iNGO partners in Garmawa camp, Ninewa province, calling it the region’s most underserved camp. Operation Mercy distributed fruit and vegetables once a week, for 13 weeks in Garmawa. In total, 307 families were served by a total distribution of approximately 21 tons of fresh produce.

Medical Clinic Partnership
Several ancient churches in Dohuk run the Mar Narsai Charity Health Clinic for Refugees, providing free, high-quality healthcare regardless of religious or ethnic background. Operation Mercy partnered with this clinic by contributing towards the purchase of a high-quality ultrasound machine enabling specialists to administer free, on-the-spot tests needed for accurate diagnoses.

Gymnastics Camp
Operation Mercy facilitated a gymnastics camp for 50 children between the ages of 7-12 in Waar City in the Dohuk Governorate of Iraq. The project accomplished its goal of offering Syrian refugee children an active and creative outlet to relieve stress and interact positively with their peers. The majority of the current members of the Waar City community are refugees from Syria. A partner organization happily told OPM that the attendance at the local school increased during the week of the gymnastics project.

Further Support for the Project
We are very grateful to the Isle of Man Government's International Development Committee for a second grant for the relief work in Northern Iraq. Operation Mercy will use these funds for the provision of food packs and hygiene supplies and if required Non-food items for Winterization to Internally Displaced People (IDP) and refugees in urgent need. The situation is constantly changing with some resources provided through the UN. The actual needs on the ground will be assessed by meeting with community leaders in the area where this project will be focused.

This project is in a new location where there are 800 Syrian Families and 400 IDP families. The aim is to meet the most relevant and felt needs of this community by doing three distributions of food packets and hygiene kits. This location was identified after an informal needs assessment done through a medical clinic and people that work there. The initial goal would be to do a distribution each month at the end of November, December, and January.

Thank you to all who have supported this project so far your donations have been very much appreciated. As Northern Iraq heads towards winter the need is still very urgent to support families there and provide them with items which will help them to remain in the region. Please share this report with others and encourage them to consider supporting the project as we head towards the end of 2015.

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Aug 6, 2015
Fruit & Vegetables for Families in Northern Iraq

By Andrew Sinclair | Development Director

Children carrying bags of vegetables.

Operation Mercy in Northern Iraq distributed fruit and vegetables for eight weeks in the small village of Bozan in April and May 2015. Bozan has been flooded with IDP's (Internally Displaced People) seeking refuge from ISIS. This distribution was made possible thanks to a grant received from the Isle of Man Government International Development Committee.

Each week around 700 bags, each with 6 KG of nutritious fruit and vegetables was distributed, one bag to each family. Each IDP family living in Bozan (mainly IDP's, plus about 120 vulnerable families-mostly widows-from the host community) received a bag of produce. Our partners felt that it was important to give to the vulnerable and neediest in order to bless the host community. The number of recipients increased slightly from week to week. The families were thankful to receive fresh fruit and vegetables, which they used to cook nutritious food.

The initial plans for the project had been to help 500 families but in the end around 700 families received the bags of fruit and vegetables representing 3700 individual beneficiaries. The initial plan had been to distribute food packs with dry goods. However due to the changing nature of need in IDPs, our partner decided to meet the basic need of food with fruit and vegetables in order to supplement the dry goods IDPs had received from the World Food Program.

One young man was attending university in Mosul, and aspiring to become a surgeon when his direction changed. When the destruction of ISIS swept into Mosul and later into his home town of Sinjar he piled into the back of a pickup with 30 people leaving behind all of his medical books but escaping with his life. One of 9 children, his family now lives in an unfinished house in a small village. There is no work for them and their future is now very uncertain. The vegetables and fruit distributed by Operation Mercy helped to supplement the food allowance they share to sustain their large family.

The World Food Program has now drastically decreased their distributions of staple food items in recent months due to budget constraints. As the amount of non-perishable food they receive has decreased, the IDP families were especially appreciative of the fresh produce as many do not have enough food to eat and cannot afford to buy fruit and vegetables.

As a result of the success and at the request of the World Food Program and the UNHCR, our partner is replicating this project in the most underserved formal IDP camp in the region.

The funds from the grant received have now been used up and so more funding is need in order for these displaced families to continue to receive this kind of food distribution.

Thank you for partnering with us to bring such a tangible benefit to these needy families in Northern Iraq.

Links:

Northern Iraq Relief Project Page

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