IROC
“Failure to address the needs of Iraqis will have dramatic impacts on security inside Iraq. The hope that does exist lies in the efforts of Iraq’s citizens. Iraqi organizations are providing lifesaving assistance throughout the country and the international community must increase efforts to reach out to these groups and provide them with the funds to continue their work. Ultimately, only Iraqis can save Iraq.”
— Uprooted and Unstable: Meeting Urgent Humanitarian Needs in Iraq
April 2008 report by Kristele Younes and Nir Rosen
for Refugees International
Project Description
We are a group of well-educated, determined, energetic, and dedicated young Iraqis—Shia, Sunni, and Christians—who want to help less well-off Iraqis to help themselves, primarily through language, computer, and health education and some assistance with the demands of daily life. Our team leader is a new M.D. who graduated with high honors from Al-Nahrain University College of Medicine in Baghdad in July 2008; eight of our core team members are advanced medical students at Al-Nahrain University College of Medicine, and the tenth is a seasoned media expert and publisher. We are using our own names in this appeal; we are putting our lives and reputation on the line for it in the hope that you will recognize our extraordinary commitment.
With demonstration of our program’s anticipated success, we may also be in a position to propose a formal implementation of a regional or national system based on our model.
Our first effort is to raise money to establish a Learning Center for Languages and Computer Use; it will be run primarily through our own volunteer efforts. The Center will be located in Baghdad and will be led by a carefully chosen staff who will continually assess the programs to ensure the success of the overall project. We have volunteer English, French, and computer instructors on board. The Learning Center will also offer TOEFL and International English Language Testing System (IELTS) tutoring and testing services. We intend that the (sliding) fees for all our services will provide sufficient revenue for the Center to become fully self-sustaining within three years. We will advertise the courses to the general public and to college and university students.
We will also work with internally displaced Iraqis in desperate need who are living in the desert near the Iraqi-Syrian border, with the nearby town as our field base. We will teach about health care and nutrition and, as funds allow, offer basic medical services and medications.
Our target populations have been chosen according to priority of need.
First, we will focus on some of these hundreds of Iraqi refugee families living in the desert near the Iraqi-Syrian border; they are suffering under utterly appalling living conditions. We will start out helping them via field visits, but, as we become financially secure we will invite selected individuals (e.g., fathers who are looking to further their career options and want to become trained for future jobs) to complete the training program at our Learning Center in Baghdad. With the established liaison our team enjoys with a number of potential public and private sector employers, we will help others to find decent-paying jobs.
Next, we will offer our help and services to people who have lost their homes and properties in the Hussainiyah, Al-Tagi, and Al-Rahmaniyah neighborhoods of Baghdad; they need housing, job opportunities, and even psychological support and reassurance. We will help them with job training as well as medical treatment, nutrition education, and psychological counseling, all of which, as advanced medical students, we volunteer staff are capable of delivering on our own.
Third, we know a great number of Iraqis are suffering the same disastrous living conditions in areas south of Baghdad near the city of Hilla, and as we make real progress and have some success in the targeted areas listed above, we anticipate adding this third target population for assistance.