Mennonite Weekly Review

WINNIPEG, Man. — Mennonite Central Committee is launching a $2-million humanitarian crisis response in Iraq.

Ahmad Khaleel Saeed’s family was among 148 families that received MCC relief kits and blankets in the Bahrka district in northern Iraq last year. Each family received one relief kit and each family member received a blanket. — Photo by Melissa Engle/MCC

Five years after the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the humanitarian situation for many people in the nation continues to deteriorate. Three long-term partner organizations requested an MCC response.

Particularly vulnerable are 2.8 million people who have fled their homes for safer locations within Iraq, said Daryl Byler, who is based in Amman, Jordan. Byler and his wife, Cindy, are MCC representatives for Iran, Iraq, Jordan and Palestine.

“The humanitarian situation of some longer-term internally displaced people is actually worsening because many are unemployed and have exhausted their savings to cover rent and other expenses,” Daryl Byler said.

Many displaced people are hesitant to return to their homes because they do not want to risk facing the same threats and terror that forced them to flee.

“Although the security situation has improved somewhat, these improvements are fragile and the security situation is still incredibly volatile,” Daryl Byler said.

Shipments of 20,000 relief kits, 62,000 blankets, 62,000 school kits, 12,000 newborn kits and 5,500 sewing kits will be distributed over a six-month period in 11 of the 18 governates in Iraq.

Currently, MCC warehouses in Canada and the United States have fairly large supplies of blankets and school kits but there is an urgent need for relief kits and heavy blankets, according to David Martin, MCC material resources coordinator.

Relief kits contain soap, shampoo, toothpaste, bandages, laundry detergent, bath towels and personal items. A $10 donation with each kit will help cover the costs of purchasing new buckets for the relief kits, transportation costs and some of the distribution costs, Martin said.

In an effort to distribute blankets before the winter months, the first five or six containers of material resources will be sent in August and the remaining shipment of 15 more containers will be sent to Iraq by the end of the year, Martin said.