EU funding helps out disabled children and Peshmerga in Kurdistan

EU funding is helping disabled Peshmerga and children with special needs who have been affected by the Islamic State war to be reintegrated into society in Kurdistan.

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – EU funding is helping disabled Peshmerga fighters and children with special needs who have been affected by the war against the Islamic State (IS) to be reintegrated into society in the Kurdistan region.

Through the Qudra project, launched in 2014 and financed by the German government and the EU MADAD trust fund, the EU is trying to address the effects of the war against IS and build the resilience of host communities in neighboring countries to cope with the Syrian refugee crisis.

The Kurdistan Region hosts over 250,000 Syrian refugees and over 1 million Iraqi Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). The project aims to help those most vulnerable, the injured and the disenfranchised, by starting small businesses.

“[After I was injured], I would stay home, which caused me psychological problems. The days were endless, as I had nothing to do,” said former Peshmerga Mamand H. Ahmad, who was injured while fighting IS in 2015, in a video published by the EU-funded project.

Now overcoming disability, Mamand today runs an EU-funded grocery shop.

“Now despite the pain, I work at the shop every day. It helps relieve some of my pain. When I come back home, I sleep for two hours more than I previously did. All of this because they gave me a shop,” he said. 

“I have a normal life again,” he added. “But there are dozens and thousands of cases like mine.  These people also deserve assistance.”

Clarisse Pasztory, Head of EU Office in the Kurdistan Region, told Kurdistan 24 that EU-funded projects also aim to improve the life of the populations in the Kurdistan Region that hosted refugees.

“Everybody contributed to the fight against Daesh [Arabic acronym for IS], in different ways. The Peshmerga fought. Nearly 2,000 lost their lives, and many thousands more were wounded or maimed, leaving them unable to fend for themselves or their families,” she said.

“The civilian population in Duhok contributed hugely by generously accepting nearly a million IDPs and refugees. Their kids needed schooling, all of them were traumatized, and some were wounded or handicapped: blind, mute, deaf, autistic, or with Down Syndrome. That's a tough task at the best of times, more so in times of war and displacement.”

“They contributed, and we honor their contributions to what has been and remains a common cause, the fight against Daesh and extremism and for better lives. I’m glad to see Mamand's and Bita's lives a tiny bit better, which matters.”

Pasztory referred to 12-year-old Bita Kaifullah, who lives in Duhok and was placed at the Awat Institute after being rejected from normal schools. The Awat institute, which hosts specialized departments for visually impaired, the deaf, mental health and autistic children in Duhok, is also funded by the EU.
It has nearly 180 students with special needs.

“When Bita was born, the doctors told us that the baby was not normal. The other schools did not take her in. They argued that Bita was not a normal child. So, we got in touch with the Education Department in Duhok,” Ageed Kaifullah, Bita’s Father said in a video published by the EU-funded project.

“Many of these children with Down Syndrome and autism need to learn how to cope on their own, in addition to getting a formal education because of many burdens and sources of anguish for their families,” Khalid Osman, Director of the Duhok Directorate of Disabled Welfare said.

Editing by Nadia Riva