AFSC's Current Iraq Projects
These projects highlight the American Friends Service Committee's work in Iraq . In coming months, projects will be supported as needs are identified. The AFSC typically works on small, specific projects with groups that are underserved by larger organizations. In Iraq , we focus on groups that contribute to building civil society and are a stabilizing influence in their communities.
Working to Head off a Crisis
In Baghdad , more than 54,000 people are identified as homeless, and the numbers increase daily. Many more people remain in their homes in dire poverty. Jobs have not materialized in post-war Iraq, resulting in an unemployment rate of more than 50 percent. The housing shortage stands at 1.4 million.
In the winter of 2003-2004, the AFSC delivered material aid to 840 Iraqi families—nearly 4,000 people—living in the squatters' camps of Al Salam, Al Gazalia, and Al Huda in Baghdad . In partnership with Mennonite Central Committee and CARE, the AFSC distributed hygiene supplies to each family and provided propane cooking fuel through a local group, the Organization for Women's Freedom in Iraq.
Shoes for Al Huda's Children
In Al Huda, a sprawling squatter community in Baghdad, the children inhabit a bombed, looted, and burned-out complex once used as the training and social club for officers of the Security Forces. Sewage, rubble, glass, and metal scraps are everywhere. The children run and play amid this debris. When the residents were consulted about emergency needs, they asked for shoes for their children, who cannot attend school without them. The AFSC provided 400 pairs.
Clean Water for Abosoda
The village of Abosoda is on the Euphrates River , not far from Baghdad . It is a poor, rural farming community of 300 households, approximately 3,000 people. Work is underway to rehabilitate a unit to purify water and provide an adequate, safe, and reliable supply for several years. Before economic sanctions were imposed on Iraq in 1990, water equipment operated at near-capacity. Since then, wars have badly damaged the systems, and sanctions made repairs and
Emergency Medicines
In June 2003, the AFSC provided two emergency consignments of medicine for communities in Iraq . Although some medicines are available in Iraq , there is a shortage for treating chronic illnesses. One shipment went into the northern city of Mosul , thanks to the joint efforts of the AFSC and Diakonie-Germany, a European church-based social service and relief agency, and the Middle East Council of Churches. A second shipment went to the Ibn Nah Hospital in central Baghdad , a 165-bed, critical care facility specializing in treating heart disease.
Profiling AFSC's Iraq Work
Iraq today is defined by the deep and lasting impact of economic sanctions, repeated wars, and occupation. The sanctions, imposed afer the 1991 war, made it impossible to order replacement parts for basic city services — water, sanitation, hospitals and electricity. Waterborne disease, malnutrition, and lack of medicines led to premature deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis.
During this period, the education system was nearly destroyed, and an estimated 80 percent of the people survived on nationally distributed food baskets, provided by the massive Oil-for-Food scheme run by the United Nations and paid for by Iraqi oil sales. Iraq was on its knees.
The government of Saddam Hussein compounded many of these problems. Decades of repression squashed attempts to establish civil society outside the Ba'ath Party. In the months prior to the 2003 war, there were indications that the government was beginning to liberalize the economy and open space for private initiative. However, the U.S. preemptive war on Iraq put an end to such reform efforts.
The AFSC's work in Iraq is taking place in phases. The initial focus for staff in Baghdad and Amman , Jordan , was to deliver relief materials and provide on-the-ground accounts of the war's impact. Much of that work continues. The current phase involves support for emerging non-governmental organizations and Iraqi civil society. We work primarily with women's groups, the union of unemployed, and children's art projects that help them express the hopes and fears about their unpredictable lives.
Currently AFSC staff in Baghdad:
- Provide accounts of life under occupation;
- Engage in relief efforts;
- Support emerging civil society;
- Point journalists to the “real” stories;
- Assist with visiting delegations.
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