Due to COVID-19, the team in Northern Iraq have been limited in their outreach and we have put the project on pause.
We want to give a BIG thank you to all of our generous donors!!
Because of your support, we have been able to raise over $18,000. This support has helped so many families, who fled their homes with only the clothes on their backs. You can look back at some of the work your donations have made possible here.
We are currently in the process of establishing additional partnerships with organizations who have the same objectives and focus as GHNI to expand and continue the work that is being done in Northern Iraq for these refugees and so many other communities. We are excited to begin these partnerships and continue the work of long-term sustainability!
We will update you as the work continues! Thank you!
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Syrian Refugees in Northern IRAQ Feb.'21
Covid-19 has greatly limited access to refugees these past months. Regardless, our associates in Northern Iraq / Kurdistan, have done an excellent job of getting into camps and refugee areas outside camps, to distribute needful humanitarian aid.
Ari and Aram, with the financial backing of GHNI, have on numerous occasions, been able to assist refugees in the Bardarash Camp, Kurdistan, near Erbil. Refugees there spoke openly of how grateful they were for the fresh produce and fruit, provided by our staff and associates helping in that geographical area. I myself (Daniel Emig), have been there a number of times, and attest to the need of refugees for fresh food. While many of these camps have provisions of food, very few are able to have fresh food, such as those provided by us.
As funds are provided specifically for such, GHNI will continue these types of humanitarian aid provisions. Yet, our focus in GHNI is always for long-term sustainability. This is our goal! We call this TCD - Transformational Community Development. And it works extremely well!
Thanks for your crucial and active part in both the aid provided, as well as the steps we are all taking to move those in refugee camps such as Badarash, to sustainable lives, whether remaining in these camps or moving back to their post-war-torn homes.
Grateful for you in this and so much more ... GHNI
With your support, our team in Northern Iraq has been able to continue COVID-19 relief efforts in spreading awareness, prevention, and distribute food packages.
Even with limited resources, we were able to provide short term food assistance to 41 refugee families, like the one pictured above. We are very thankful for the assistance of local partners who stepped in and helped supply food assistance to the remaining 20 families.
There is still a civil war going on in Syria, and the Kurds have been some of the hardest hit. Thousands are languishing in refugee camps. There is a shortage of fresh fruit among refugee families. Our team was able to take a couple of pick-up trucks full of fruit and made sure that all residents got some fresh fruit – especially the kids.
Due to COVID-19, many regions throughout the world are facing issues in food security. Last month, in response to COVID-19, we launched a new campaign, Harvest of Hope, to address both the short-term and long-term food security problems. The short-term food packages will help alleviate the acute suffering these families are facing. Our long-term goal is to increase and protect existing crops through training and resources like seeds and emergency food supplies. We hope to provide these families with sustainable solutions.
It would be impossible to reach these families without your help. We are grateful for supporters like yourself who continue to support this project!
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As you know the world has been overtaken by Coronavirus. Iraq is having a delayed outbreak; cases didn’t start to increase until June, but they have been climbing steadily ever since. Many of the communities don’t have adequate health services and there is concern the whole system will be overwhelmed.
Recently, over two intense days in this environment we were able to present health seminars on COVID-19 among the camps and communities for Yezidi Internally Displaced Peoples (IDPs) with whom we are working. Through these lessons we were able to share information on the seriousness of the disease, how it is spreading, how to protect oneself from it, and recommend hygiene practices to prevent the spread of this deadly virus. The possibility of its coming will likely affect the IDPs all around this region in northern Iraq, in the camps they moved into after the most recent offensive.
We did this in a training course so that they can be aware of this deadly virus and how to protect oneself. Afterwards, we started distributing masks, sanitizers, and latex gloves to the Yezidi families. Then we started distributing some short term food relief packages, including rice, cooking oil, meat…. etc. among some of the groups to help them for the next several weeks.
The work was successfully carried out in accordance with local law and guidelines issued by the governor and the district commissioner to protect the people. We worked with a great number of the families we help, gathered them in smaller groups and gave them the lessons. Then we asked them to do their part and help pass on the lessons to their kinsmen and communities. This way, we did not create a large crowd that could have spread the disease and to demonstrate the recommended guidelines. During each training we provided the required masks, latex gloves, sanitizers and soaps, which are very necessary, to those who participated.
And our strategy is to continue serving these Yezidi families, who together with a number of other minority families, were victims of the war in the Middle East that began when ISIS rose in power.
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Each person and family has a story. Severe loss and trauma escape none of their personal histories or lives. You and I are on a journey with these precious ones.
Sometimes it all seems like a drop in the bucket … $6K spent on food here … $2.2K spent on heating fuel there … … $150 given for a severe case of asthma in another place … $150 given for X-rays for a fallen damaged elbow of an 8-year-old girl … $200 given for location permanence costs … it can never end.
Yet none of this life we live is really about funds.
Relationships, yes.
Some relationships are ever so brief, only a half-hour interview, at times leaving one with a type of vacuum of heart … what just happened back there? Another has been built over several years now, ever-deepening in each of our times together. Most are somewhere in-between.
We are working with such great teams over here. They know how to love … a lot longer and deeper and better than we do in these contexts. We are so grateful they are here, living close, able to relate and give much more in a relationship, as we are here for such a brief time as this.
A lot more is happening outside these camps, in other relationships and venues we savor.
More to come in our next update … cannot thank you enough for your being here with us and them in prayer and financial backing !!!
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