Politics

Kurds in US launch fundraiser for Syrian Kurdish refugees in Kurdistan Region

The initiative aims to collect $30,000 and distribute the financial aid to Syrian refugees at the Bardarash camp, located in the Kurdistan Region’s Duhok province.

Karzan Sulaivany 2019/12/07 15:43

world Kurdistan Region KRG Syria Rojava Turkey United States

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – An initiative by a Kurdish community in the United States plans to raise $30,000 of aid to send to Syrian Kurdish refugees who currently live at a camp in the Kurdistan Region.

Members of the Texas-based non-profit, The Kurdish Community of America (KCA), launched a fundraiser on Dec. 2 via a GoFundMe, where people all across the globe can donate.

The organization plans to collect $30,000 and distribute the financial aid to Syrian refugees at the Bardarash camp, located in the Kurdistan Region’s Duhok province. It has raised nearly $5,000 so far.

Newzad Brifki, the founder and current director of KCA, said one of the board’s priorities was to collect aid for the refugees from Syrian Kurdistan (Rojava).

“Our organization will partner and coordinate with the camp administration in Bardarash,” Brifki told Kurdistan 24. “We will ask for a list of supplies needed to provide the families. The supplies will be purchased at the local markets near the camp.”

The Bardarash camp currently hosts 2,619 Syrian refugee families, equivalent to about 12,000 individuals who fled to the Kurdistan Region following Turkey’s military assault on northeastern Syria on Oct. 9.

The Kurdish community in Nashville, Tennessee, launched a similar initiative, collecting clothing and supplies for hundreds of people in need at Bardarash.

In less than a month, the donation drive managed to collect items from Kurds as well as non-Kurds across the United States, Canada, and Europe.

Brifki said the KCA decided not to do a clothing drive because the financial aid would arrive quicker.

“At this moment, we have decided the best approach is to raise funds to provide aid quickly,” he told Kurdistan 24.

According to the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) Joint Crisis Coordination Centre (JCC), the number of Syrian Kurdish refugees who have fled their homes to the Kurdistan Region since the start of Turkey’s military operation has reached 17,983.