Refugee Rights Iraq Project #18556

Emergency Aid for Displaced People in Kurdish Iraq

by IsraAID

Project Report | Jan 15, 2016
Iraq STEM Report (Dec 2015)

By Navonel Glick | IsraAID Deputy Director / COO

For the past few months, IsraAID has largely focused on educational programming, largely as a result of the extended periods of time that displaced people have now been in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI), and children out of safe and supportive learning environments.

The educational initiative STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Maths) is a ground-breaking program connects between theoretical studies and their practical applications in the world. The aim of STEM is to improve student grades, increase their tangent thinking, resourcefulness, and creativity, ultimately leading to better access to livelihood opportunities in the future. It involves the introduction of additional workshops into the students’ formal or informal school system, with an emphasis on practical experiments.

To create a long-term and sustainable impact, the program also includes a training component for teachers so that they can continue imparting STEM to students long after the project is completed.

To organize the program:

Schools are contacted to determine their interest in the project.
Assessments are made based on the classes, number of students, and facilities.
Once chosen, materials are processed to meet the needs of the program offered.
Once materials are received, teachers are organized and trained to understand these projects and be able to introduce them to their students.
Once this is a completed, classes are organized whereby the students are gathered and are presented with the projects, shown how to put them together, and given the chance to complete the project.
Feedback is accepted in order to ensure that the students and the teachers received maximum benefit from the instruction, and the hands-on work.
Photos and videos are collected during the sessions, and students are taped, giving their reactions to the program.
After the follow ups, preparations will be made for the next section of the project. There are 3 parts to Phase 1 of the program, after which, the same schools are offered Phase 2, which is a major advancement from phase 1.
There is a great need for this program. The KRI is faced with an influx of large numbers of children who have been displaced from their home areas. Often they are gathered and placed in facilities that are very basic, without most of the needed supplies and equipment that would allow for a positive learning experience.

This program helps to provide teachers with information and projects that give students a chance for more intensive learning, one that otherwise would not be accessible for them. The students love the chance to do some hands-on science, and their feedback has been amazing. The teachers continue to express how thrilled they are with the opportunity to work with these projects, because they generally have so little to work with. They appreciate that this is the first hand-on project of its kind in Kurdistan, Iraq, and are proud to be participants in the program.

Ali, the boy in the picture (his real name is not being disclosed) above had never been to school before joining the program. Instead he spends his days working on odd jobs here and there. As a result, despite him already knowing 3 languages, the teachers were apprehensive about introducing him into a formal learning environment.

We are proud to report that the practical nature of the project really appealed to Ali, and he has excelled at every tasks and experiment that the program has to offer. Going far beyond the initial intended tasks, him and other children began to improvise other electronic gadgets from the project materials.

It is another story of how the STEM program enabled us to reach many kids who have had very little education and attention. These are the types of the at-risk students that we emphasize in these programs.

The picture above shows a teacher training session during which teachers are guided on lesson building and use of the materials that accompany each workshop. During a feedback session in one of the schools, the headmaster, Mohammed, was very honest about his early impressions of the program. "In the beginning, we didn't think this project would be very useful..." he began, but then his tone quickly changed as he added: "then as we started to facilitate the workshops with the students, all of sudden we noticed a lot of changes. Attendance went up, and children were excited to come to school everyday”.

The teachers commented on the fact that this was the first project that they participated in where students could do hands-on work. They said that these projects give the students a chance to think for themselves, and not have to depend on others to provide everything they need.

"They now know what electricity is. They understand what batteries are, and how friction works." – Habas, teacher

“the children started to create things by themselves, [...] to take the materials and see what they could build" – Ihab, teacher

Another teacher, Yassin, shared that after school his son no longer played with mud and wandered aimlessly. Instead, he now spent his free time looking for new parts to alter the models and create new electrical toys. One day a few kids built boats using styrofoam and created endless new games.

"It keeps them busy, and they are now creating instead of destroying so thank you" – Yassin, teacher

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Sep 1, 2015
IsraAID in the KRI - Summer 2015

By Navonel Glick | Program Director

ERBIL, Iraq -- As the local news in the background continues to report on the plight of new Internally Displaced People (IDPs) fleeing atrocities at the hands of Daesh (ISIL), 860 Christians from Mosul gather in the little bits of shade to register and receive hygiene kits from IsraAID representatives.

The last few days in Erbil have been both positive and sobering. A year ago, as the humanitarian crisis was growing rapidly, and the world's eyes were on the rise of Daesh, aid groups were aplenty and newly established IDP camps were buzzing with activity. Tents were being erected and rapidly replaced with semi-permanent shelters, sanitation facilities were being planned and constructed, and mobile clinics were a frequent sight.

Fast forward a year, and the noise of the camps has been reduced to a silent, limbo-like stagnation. The war rages on, with no end in sight, and donor fatigue from too many consecutive and ongoing global crises is painfully obvious to all.

During a visit to the UN, the situation is explained to us with a sad and ominous precision; a few months ago already, from an established population of 8.2 million Iraqis in dire need of humanitarian needs, the lack of funds prompted a scale back of all activities, and a new barebones strategy was drawn up to reach 5 million of the most desperate. Sadly, since then, only 20% of the funds for that plan bave been raised, and services continue to be cut, prompting an increasingly tragic and torturous reevaluation of the terms "priority" and "basic needs". 80% of health services have already been cut, and food rationing has begun. The government as well is suffering, and eater and electricity services are declining as the local economy bears the increasingly heavy double burden of trying to fight a war on multiple fronts and cater to the needs of millions displaced, impoverished, and traumatized by the violent onslaught of Daesh.

Amidst this backdrop, IsraAID has been trying to juggle responding to increasingly desperate short term needs, and the reality and long-term nature of the current condition.

During this week the team first distributed hygiene kits to 3,105 Christian and Yazidi families (approximately 18,000 people) around Dohuk and Erbil - enough to last a month during these hot and treacherous days where disease outbreaks are becoming all too common.

In addition to emergency aid distributions and long-term programs, it is this reality, the documentation of former lives now lost, and awareness of Daesh's continued atrocities, that we (IsraAID) wish to share with the world. To this effect, with the painstaking and dedicated assistance of our national staff, we are interviewing dozens of Christians and Yazidis, listening to their stories, and offering them a platform to vent, dwell in nostalgia for a moment, and share their tales with an audience. Surprisingly, even after a year, for many this is the first time they are sharing their (often difficult) stories, and emotions are high. The tone is often a sad one, with one elder man Nashwan summarizing the general feeling; "we are dead. Ever since the day we left, we are no longer alive".

Yet, despite the depressing tone, for an overwhelming majority of them, the experience itself has been a healing one, and at the end they express their thanks fondly. Sabikha, a single mother here with her daughter, shared -"it is really nice to be able to share. I don't often get the opportunity to do so here [because] I am alone here with my family. Thank you for listening".

Beyond the immediate needs, IsraAID is also tackling long-term needs. To support education, and increase its impact, the organization is introducing STEM education in schools for displaced populations around Erbil. Aimed at engaging children and creating a link between theoretical classes and practical application, in this context STEM has an even more important role in developing creativity and improving wellbeing. To date, IsraAID has trained 133 teachers, benefiting over 2357 students from 3 schools.

In the coming months, IsraAID will continue to expand its activities to respond to the needs of IDPs and refugees in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

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Feb 24, 2015
Second Aid distribution in the KRI

By Navonel Glick | Program Director

04/02/2015

IRAQ MISSION 2 – PRESS RELEASE

Dohuk, Kurdish Region of Iraq (KRI) -- As the day begins to dispel the chill of the night, Shehab, 37, from Sinjar, joins the growing line of refugees and displaced people - excited at the prospect of finally getting some supplies to brave the bitter cold and relentless winter winds of the camp. The trucks finally arrive, and IsraAID staff begin to unload the more than 3,000 winter items for this distribution, the second of what will hopefully be many more in the coming months.

Shehab and his family are among the more than 18,000 Yazidis now living in this camp in northern Iraq, after fleeing the horrors of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). "When Daesh (ISIL) entered Sinjar we fled to mountains for 7 days and took refuge in a Yazidi temple. We then found our way to this camp. We have been here for 7 months. I am here with my wife and our two children – a boy 1.5 years old and a 4 month year old baby girl who was born in the camp. The life here is very hard; our children are traumatized by what they saw and experienced after Daesh (ISIL) attacked our home."

Since January 2014, more than 2.1 million people have been displaced by the military campaigns of the Islamic State, bringing the total of people needing humanitarian assistance to 5.2 million. The Kurdish Region of Iraq (KRI) alone has welcomed more than 1 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) and refugees, and is hard pressed to meet their enormous humanitarian needs - especially during the trying winter months, with temperatures routinely dropping below 0 degrees Celsius.

"Inside the camp it’s very cold and we really need warm blankets " says Naviah, also from Sinjar, like Shehab. "Kerosene heaters were distributed [but] many tents caught fire and people died as a result. We use one bathroom between 8 families - there are too many people and not enough room or facilities for everyone. There is no school for the younger children". Shehab adds "our main problem is carrying the water back to our tent – there is only one place in the camp to get water and it very far. We also need health training and facilities for our families. Many people have diseases and there is no medicine or doctors".

For the lucky thousands waiting in line, the situation is about to improve. After a first humanitarian distribution in mid-October, IsraAID came back to the KRI in order to continue assisting Iraqi IDPs in need, delivering more than 3,000 winter items, including mattresses and blankets. "I really appreciate all your help [...] especially with your distribution of warm blankets for the winter" says Naviah, as she returns home with her hands full.

In the coming months, IsraAID hopes to scale up its operations in the KRI, expanding activities to include education projects to bring stability and safety to a population scarred by months of violence and chaos. For Shehab, the future must be better; "before ISIS attacked our home we were living safely and completely free to go about our lives. My hope for the future is to return to my home and to live freely without fear. I hope for my children to be able to sleep without fear."

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