L struggle to help ‘old before their time’ orphaned kids
Mosul. Relatives of IS f ighters have also been affected by the humanitarian crisis, although Mercy Corps’ work does not involve these.
Christy said: “As people move from the affected areas they go through checkpoints and to screening centres.
“The Iraqi Army and a few other groups are responsible for that screening. They are looking for people who may be suspicious.
“They have, in some cases, set up separate camps but we do not operate in those.”
She added: “The job is enormous. There’s no water on the western side of the city. In the eastern side, people have a few hours of electricity per day.
“We’re trying to build water supply inf rast ructure and attempting to rebuild schools so they can open this year.
“Many children have never been to school as IS took over schools and their parents didn’t want to send them there,
“I’ve spoken to children who have had to work to support their whole family. They’ve seen things no children should ever see.
“People have told me about food being so expensive they incurred huge debt just to survive.
“Now they’ve so much debt they don’t know exactly what to do. The cash is an effective way of helping them restart from nothing.
“One woman used it to start a little business baking and selling bread from her home. Life goes on for these people.
“In parts of the city that have not been totally levelled, we see signs of life coming back.
“People are resilient. There are shops opening up and signs that things are stabilising. A lot of the work we do relates to monitoring the local economy. We want to have the lightest footprint possible. If we bring in 10,000 blankets, it ruins the market for blankets.
“So we only want to provide a blanket where it is absolutely necessary.”
The charity operate in more than 40 countries and hire workers in areas where they’re based.
They have around 250 staff, mostly locals, working in Iraq while further personnel support the effort from their Edinburgh HQ.
Daniel Kel ly, Mercy Corps’ programme officer for the Middle East, said: “We’re providing urgent humanitarian relief in order to help people get back on their feet.
“From our Scotland office, we support our teams in Mosul to urgently respond to people who have been affected by the conflict.
“We’re also planning longer-term help for the people of Mosul that will enable them to restart their lives and rebuild their futures. The latest UN figures show more than 11million people need humanitarian assistance across Iraq.”
Mosul was in the grip of IS for three years. They were finally routed this month, with Iraqi forces – backed by a US-led coalition – declaring “total victory”.
Scenes of devastation, including bodies piled high and kids dying of thirst, were described in harrowing detail by those in the city.
Witnesses spoke of bodies being washed up on the banks of the Tigris river near Mosul. All were heavily decomposed, most bound and blindfolded, some mutilated.
Christy said: “So many families lost the primary breadwinner. We want to empower people.
“Mosul has been in the headlines but I worry it will become forgotten as it drops out of the news. The reality is, people here are trying to survive a crisis and trying to rebuild – and they deserve our help.”