Iraqis rally to help needy families as virus hits, economy falters
BAGHDAD: On an abandoned sidewalk in Baghdad, under strict government curfew to contain the novel Coronavirus, a handful of volunteers with masks and gloves make food packages for needy families.
"What we're doing is a humanitarian duty towards society, and anyone who can afford it should do the same," said Abu Hashim, an Iraqi businessman in his fifties packing non-perishable goods outside a lonely storefront in the Iraqi capital's east.
The health ministry says COVID-19 has killed 56 Iraqis and infected more than 800 others. But many suspect the real numbers to be much higher, as only a few thousand people from a population of 40 million have been tested. In a bid to stop the spread of the novel Coronavirus pandemic, authorities have imposed a countrywide
lockdown, ordering schools and most shops shut.
While the government is still paying salaries and pensions to millions, Iraq's modest private-sector economy has come to a grinding halt overnight.
Iraq is OPEC'S secondbiggest oil producer, but is ranked among the 20 most corrupt countries in the world by Transparency International. The World Bank says one in five Iraqis lives under the poverty
line. Sensing that relying on authorities would be unwise, young activists, community figures and local religious leaders have come together to try to support those with no income.
Using donations to buy essentials, like lentils, beans, rice and sugar, they pack supplies in plastic bags, talk their way through checkpoints and distribute them across the city.
Mustafa Issa, a 31-yearold Iraqi Shiite Muslim who helps distribute food to more than 450 families, told AFP he felt bound by a religious duty to help. "It's not like when we were under embargo in the 1990s," he said, referring to crippling international sanctions imposed on Iraq under former dictator Saddam Hussein that made even basic foodstuffs unavailable.
"Baghdad is full of food right now, but people can't buy it. One construction worker we support has a family of eight, and suddenly has no income. Another man had sold his cooking gas canister to buy food. A third sold his phone," he said. In a society that deeply values abundance and generosity, particularly at the dinner table, some are too proud to admit they need help.
"One woman walked halfway across the city to ask for help at another mosque so no one from her own neighbourhood would recognise her," Issa said.
One government official said that almost half the population could be food-poor by May, adding that authorities were studying options for subsidies. The country imports most of its staples, including rice, meat and wheat. Officials say Iraq's USD 60 billion in reserves would cover more than a year of food imports, but already prime minister-designate Adnan Zurfi on Saturday expressed worry that the government might have to cut public-sector wages.