HOPE FOR BETTER DAYS IN IRAQ
What if what you see and hear about Iraq is not the whole story? What if there is something else going on that challenges popular perceptions about Iraqis and what is happening in Iraq? What if amid the devastation of war, displacement, and daily violence there is reason to be optimistic about the future; a reason to believe Iraq can emerge from a seemingly never-ending cycle of political instability and violence?
I believe there is reason for hope. The “Internet Kids,” young Iraqis who are now coming of age in Iraqi universities and as newly-minted professionals, are seeing the world differently than their parents who suffered through decades of external and internal conflicts, a brutal dictatorship, limited access to the world, and sanctions. The psychological effects of these relentless stresses caused generations of Iraqis to become insular, trusting only in a tightly controlled circle of friends and associates.
This new generation of young leaders has been exposed to the world through the Internet, satellite television, and travel opportunities unavailable to their parents. They have a more expansive view of and intimate relationship with the rest of the world. More importantly, this new generation is also seeing their local communities differently; they are looking for ways to improve the lives of those around them.
Leading this charge is Hala al Sarraf and her Iraq Health Aid Organization. Hala earned a Master of Public Health in Health Policy and Management on a Fulbright Scholarship to Columbia University in 2007. Believing she could make a difference, she has taken on the challenge of helping Iraq’s poor and displaced based on need and not ethnic, tribal, religious, or other affiliation. This insistence on transparency and accountability often brings her into conflict with those with less pure motives, however, she remains true to the mission of providing aid to those in greatest need.
Hala’s work with the poor and displaced in Iraq is incredible and could laudably be the end of the story. To Iraq’s benefit, it is not the end of the story. The Iraq Health Aid Organization is tapping into and training a generation of young leaders who see it as their responsibility to make their communities better. They are being trained to take copious notes and visual documentation which is then turned into reports that document their efforts to world-wide supporting partners. This focus on transparency and accountability eliminates the corruption that is so endemic in other areas of Iraqi society.
To illustrate, I’ll share one of many stories about efforts to get aid to displaced Iraqis. Recently, emergency food aid and some soccer balls and sweets for the kids was delivered to 515 families in a besieged town in Anbar Province, an ISIS stronghold. These Iraq Health Aid Organization volunteers delivered aid to an area where the UN and any of the large aid organizations have not been able to help because of the danger. These modern-day heroes delivered trucks filled with aid, took time to play soccer with the kids, and drove back to Baghdad. Hala expressed the feelings of those who delivered the aid this way:
“When there is a will, there is a way…. This is Iraq, this is home! Can you imagine how you would act if ISIS were at your doorstep? The team would have done it anyway but your support gave it a different flavor. It tells us all that we are not alone. Thank you for your support and trust and you should expect nothing less from real Iraqis.”
I expect nothing less from a new generation of Iraqis led by Hala and trained by the Iraq Health Aid Organization.
LTC (retired) Rick Burns founded the Karadah Project International, an Iowa 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation, to continue working on projects in Iraq and Afghanistan after deployments to those countries with the US Army. He is also a member of the Atlantic Iowa Rotary Club, Council Bluffs Iowa Sister Cities Association, and a member of the US Global Leadership Coalition-Iowa Advisory Committee.