Photo Gallery: Winter Preparations in Irak
The Lutheran World Federation response to the Iraq crisis is well underway, as distributions reach Yazidis and Christians in the remotest corners of Kurdistan, Northern Iraq.
With local partners, the LWF is able to meet the needs of large numbers of beneficiaries in the Dohuk region, particularly those areas other agencies fail to reach. Each day, staff of the LWF and its implementing partner Christian Aid Program North Iraq (CAPNI) distribute household goods like food, clothes, bedding, kerosene stoves, kitchen utensils, hygiene kits, matting and kerosene – essential items that not only supplement the efforts of families to support themselves but will sustain them through the winter.
Iraqi Kurdistan has received the largest proportion of the 2.1 million people who according to United Nations data have fled the ISIS advance. Most of them came to Dohuk with only the clothes they wore and what few possessions they could carry. Ever since they have relied on the help of friends, family, religious communities and aid agencies. Their needs remain high and continued support is essential.
Photos: LWF/S. Cox
15 December 2014
Five year old Fanar Assaf sits on boxes of non-perishable food, distributed by the Lutheran World Federation together with CAPNI. Assaf’s family made the hazardous journey through the Sinjar mountains in early August to escape the ISIS advance. They now live in an unused school building near the city of Dohuk. With the World Food Programme, the LWF looks for communities in need that other relief agencies have missed.
Amsha Komo and her daughter Danyal Murad, 3, with food cartons. The unused school building outside Dohuk became their home in early December 2014. The Yazidi family struggles in crowded living conditions, in a cold house with a dangerous electrical connection. The LWF has planned to repair and re-wire the cables. The building is wrongly wired and not safe when it rains.
The driver of a truck that brought relief goods to the town of Kani Mase, in the remote far North of Iraqi Kurdistan, stacks boxes of clothes. They are part of a large distribution by the LWF and CAPNI to families that fled ISIS. Each pack of bedding, kerosene stoves, clothes, food, household goods, blankets and hygiene kits has a value of $300. These goods are particularly needed as residents prepare for the cold season.
A young volunteer stands ready to receive a box of household supplies as it is offloaded from a delivery truck in Kani Mase, Kurdistan. The joint relief operation in early December 2014 between the LWF and partner CAPNI brought household and winter supplies to Christian and Yazidi families who fled ISIS advances.
Carrying a plastic floor mat over his head, seven year old Steven Fares, originally from the town of Bartella, makes his way from a LWF relief operation to the bus that will transport the goods home. His family was one of 200 chosen to receive relief goods from the LWF and partner CAPNI in Kani Mase in early December 2014.
The compound of the local authority of Kani Mase is the setting for the largest Lutheran World Federation distribution in Northern Iraq to date. The packs contain bedding, blankets, kerosene stoves, clothes, hygiene kits and kitchen utensils, all of which are important as winter sets in.
Ashook Mate Moshtak pulls a new woolen jersey over the head of her two year old daughter, Sara. The family has just opneed their clothing parcel. They live in a village near Kani Mase. The Moshtaks were one of 188 families to receive essential household goods, clothes and food that day.
Adeba Abdl Ido, centre, wears the same dressing gown she wore the day she fled ISIS as the militia advanced on the town of Sinjar in early August. She now lives in a village that is difficult to reach and wishes she could have a proper place to live.
Sardar Asi Hasan packs relief goods in the boot of his car. Hasan, who is unable to speak or hear, fled the terror of ISIS in August. He and his family had been living in the town of Sinjar. Carrying relief goods like mattresses and large food rations require some coordination among the refugees, who often have very limited means of transportation.
Iraqi army veteran Muqdad Nafia Alwass has not left this room since he arrives on the shoulders of relatives from Bashiga four months ago. The wheelchair was provided by the LWF, CAPNI and Al Ghazel, an organisation for disabled Yazidi people, in early December 2014. Muqdad will now be able to make short trips on his own.
Sida Suliman in Khanki camp puts her arm around six year old daughter Sonya, who wears new clothes from the distribution. The family said they were pleased. Many refugees could only bring the clothes they were wearing.
