Iraqi empowers over 800K displaced people

Amid the horror and chaos of the Iraq War, a citizen could not stand helpless watching families and children seek shelter in his hometown after being forced to leave their homes.

Seeing how the war has brought families to the streets of his hometown Samarra, Iraqi Ali Farhan hurried to establish ‘Reception Centre for IDPs in Samarra’, a one-stop centre that shelters, supports, and protects displaced families from the ongoing violence.

The centre empowers displaced people with basic necessities, including food, clothes, medical services and education, enabling them to lead decent lives with their children until it is time to go home.

Farhan said he made the move when centres nearby could no longer accommodate the rising number of refugees and internally displaced people fleeing war-torn cities.

“With the support of volunteers, we estab

lished the centre, through which we coordinated the distribution of donations with local and international organisations and monitored the number of families in dire need of help,” said Farhan.

The Iraq War has left approximately 1.8 million people internally displaced and 6.7 million people in need of humanitarian assistance. Insecurity, lack of social cohesion and livelihoods, and destroyed or damaged housing hamper people’s ability to return home.

Besides providing urgent relief items, food, water and clothes to visitors, the centre offers medical services, with a special focus on people of determination. They held vaccination drives and provided medicines, wheelchairs, as well as prosthetics to those impacted by the war’s violence.

It also funds the education of displaced students in the University of Samarra and supports enrolment in other schools in town.

In collaboration with economic and social initiatives in the city, the centre helped provide job opportunities to hundreds of families to integrate them in society.

Volunteers at the centre also organise skills workshops and vocational training to prepare the youth for future work opportunities and improve their career prospects. Since its inception in 2014, the centre has collected over two billion Iraqi dinars, supporting over 800,000 people through more than 60 projects across the country.

Farhan said the centre helped unite all segments of Iraqi society towards helping others. He added that the next step is to provide psychiatric services to help war-affected children heal from traumas and loss

With the support of volunteers, we established the centre, through which we coordinated the distribution of donations with local and international organisations.”

Ali Farhan, founder, Reception Centre for IDPs in Samarra