Syrian works to heal wounds of other displaced people
Having fled conflict himself, Omar Mahmoud supports other displaced people. But this World Refugee Day he is calling on the international community to do more to help those who have been forced from their homes by war.
Omar left Damascus in 2012, just a year into the now seven-year conflict, and became one of more than 6 million refugees of the Syrian war.
“It was difficult to leave my family and friends behind and to also leave my city. My mother was very emotional,” Omar tells The National.
He crossed the Syrian-Iraq border along with hundreds of families and children.
“They were tired and hungry, it was difficult for me not to be able to help them,” Omar says.
He said that the most difficult part for him was not knowing what the future would hold.
But today, Omar is working with Doctors without Borders in Iraq to provide psychosocial support to displaced people.
He joined the charity in 2015 as a counsellor and offers support to refugees in camps near Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan. But Omar says that the world needs to better understand the difficulties faced by refugees.
“I want people to know and to become aware of the suffering of refugees, the difficulties of getting into camps and fleeing from violence and wars,” he says. Harsh winters and hot summers make life as a refugee even more difficult.
Omar says that at times, the effects of the conflict can seem overwhelming but the thing that keeps driving him forward is when he sees an improvement in his patient’s mental conditions.
“One of my patients had serial depression,” he says. “He was 40 years old, he kept himself indoors, didn’t talk to anyone.
“However, in our follow-up meetings he began to make friends and then found a job and started to adapt to his new situation.”
The world needs to do more for people who have been forced to flee their homes because of war