“I’m very proud of myself for helping others.”

“I built my own kitchen,” Suhela says. “It took me about two hours. Connecting the tap was the hardest part.”

The cheerful mother of two is proud of what she’s achieved. Her newly assembled kitchen consists of a stainless steel sink and a simple plastic tap that connects to a water tank on the roof. The family’s dishes are neatly stacked on shelves above the sink. It’s spotlessly clean.

Also in the kitchen is a small metal box. It contains the tools of Suhela’s trade. She is one of 116 water and sanitation volunteers in Darashakran refugee camp in northern Iraq responsible for repairing small problems with the plumbing system as they come up.

Darashakran camp, built from scratch two years ago, now houses about 10,000 Syrian refugees, with each family allotted a toilet, shower and kitchen. Suhela and her colleagues are responsible for 16 families each.

With funding from Germany’s KfW Development Bank, the water and sanitation system and volunteer programme in Darashakran Camp is designed for more than just efficiency.

Working through implementing partner, Relief International, UNICEF’s Communication for Development (C4D) approach trains and empowers families to build self-sufficient, strong communities, equipped with water and sanitation facilities that require little outside expertise to maintain.

The volunteer tasks are divided equally between men and women and if the camp residents are surprised to see a woman with a tool kit come to fix their tap, Suhela quickly puts their reservations to rest with her evident skill — there’s very little that she cannot fix.

“I’m very proud of myself for helping others. And I’m good at it,” she says.

A short walk from her home lives another WASH volunteer named Adnan. The father of five built the house that he lives in, and he too fitted his own kitchen. He’s always ready to help out the 16 families that are his responsibility and he often gets two to three calls a day.

Adnan was a painter in Syria and he enjoys his new role.

“Spare parts can take time to get,” he says, “but otherwise we do everything. It’s good. It makes me happy.”

Chris Niles is a consultant with UNICEF Iraq.

Direction donations to UNICEF Iraq: https://support.unicef.org/campaign/donate-now/donate