In February 2015, using funds generously donated by Adventist members and churches, AFM continued to minister to the victims of ISIS violence in Kurdistan, northern Iraq.
A couple with extensive experience in relief and community services volunteered to oversee the distribution of the relief items.
Working in partnership with the General Conference of SDAs (GC) and Middle East and North Africa Union Mission (MENA), AFM wired funds to the GC, and the same amount of funds were then released in Kurdistan. The AFM team worked with AFM’s existing local partners, including the President of the SDA Denomination in Iraq to identify the most suitable beneficiaries for the winter relief supplies. They spent time visiting local camps, identifying with community and government leaders the camps most in need of assistance, and visiting with camp members. They traveled from Dohuk in northern Kurdistan down to Suleymanieh in southeastern Kurdistan to gain a sense of the overall humanitarian tragedy.
After visiting some IDP (Internally Displaced Persons) camps and listening to the expressed needs of the families, the team agreed with the local denominational leadership on the most appropriate use of the funds.
The team then purchased locally and distributed men’s and women’s winter jerseys and padded tracksuits for boys and girls for 300 families. 100 families who were assessed as being particularly at risk from the frigid winter temperatures, including those with infants, also received electric oil heaters to heat their temporary winter accommodations. In addition, a shower and latrine block was constructed for 165 displaced families in the city of Baghdad. The block is particularly important to reduce the chance of gender-based violence against displaced women and girls as they seek privacy for their personal hygiene needs.
What was the human impact from the relief ministry? 100 families have directly benefited from the oil heaters. This is essential as the winter temperatures have been below freezing, and without any form of heating the children and aged are vulnerable to pneumonia and respiratory tract infections. The heaters have a direct impact on improved health through the winter months, reducing already scarce funds spent on medicines and treatment.
Vulnerable family members received jerseys and tracksuits suitable for wear in winter. The clothes distributed were specifically chosen to be interchangeable among family members and to be worn both inside and outside. As with the oil heaters, the winter clothing directly reduces the impact of the cold weather on the families. Beneficiaries included Muslims and Christians.
The response from the beneficiaries was overwhelming. There was an outpouring of gratitude, invitations to share fellowship meals, offers of prayers for God’s blessings to fall upon our team, and warm welcomes into family rooms or tents wherever they went.
The President of the SDA Denomination in Iraq met a dear friend in one of the distributions whom he had assumed had been killed by ISIS in July 2014 near Mosul. Their reunion was deeply emotional, with tears of joy mingled with tears of loss as his friend recounted all the tragedies and suffering his family had experienced in their escape from ISIS.
On behalf of the displaced children and families of Kurdistan, I and the whole AFM team would like to express our most sincere gratitude to all those who have supported and who continue to support AFM’s relief ministry in northern Iraq. For your prayers and donations – thank you so much!
The project helped build good will among the local Muslim, Orthodox and Adventist communities and directly alleviated the winter suffering of 465 families. The wider Adventist Church provided invaluable assistance in transferring the funds free of charge.
Overall, the project was a successful partnership of many stakeholders, but may the glory go to God, who is moving on the hearts of so many in such a profound way.
“After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands. They cried out in a loud voice, saying, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!’” Revelation 7:9-10.
