The Education for Peace in Iraq Center (EPIC) is an independent 502(c)3 organization committed to lasting peace and empowering youth in Iraq and Iraqi Kurdistan.
I would like to share with you a recap of the recent successes of TentEd, a project of EPIC, to support the education of displaced children in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI).
I returned to the KRI in December 2014 with over $18,000 in donations from a growing network of friends and supporters. Since the first TentEd project last June, hundreds of thousands of Iraqi religious minorities, including Christians and Yazidis, have joined the war-fleeing Syrians in taking refuge in the safety of the KRI. These tragic circumstances gave our work even more significance and urgency.
Working with Kurdish officials and trusted partners like International Volunteers of Yamagata and the Chaldean Church, TentEd successfully funded several rapid impact initiatives, including:
Helping set up a library in Mar Elia Church in Erbil. Now nearly 200 child refugees, who live in the church courtyard with their families, have a place to read and learn in a safe environment.
Covering the cost for one-month of transportation for 260 students at Kobani Elementary School. This simple investment offsets the largest education-related cost refugee families have to bear.
Compensating 24 teachers who had not been paid in months with a $100 stipend each to help them get by.
Distributing winter jackets to 51 children from low-income families.
Purchasing a faculty computer and printer so teachers don’t have to take their administrative tasks home or work on borrowed computers.
And my favorite: providing eyeglasses to one cute girl who was unable to read or write because she could not see.
As you can see, our responsive grassroots approach allows us to make an outside impact with a relatively small amount of money. Our second project was a great success that could not have been possible without the generous donations of so many of you.
We look forward to sharing future plans with you. Thank you again for your continued support!
Zack Bazzi is leading TentEd in Iraq with sponsorship from EPIC.
According to the latest UN estimate, 5.2 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance in Iraq. To discuss that challenge, EPIC convened a distinguished panel with Francois Stamm of ICRC, Michel Gabaudan of Refugees International, Joe Stork of Human Rights Watch, and Nancy Youssef of The Daily Beast. Hosted by the Iraqi Cultural Center on January 16, 2015, the panelists offered insights on the deepening crisis, the opaqueness of the current military campaign, and warnings for the future of international aid in Iraq, as the fight against ISIS and inadequate shelter leaves many Iraqi families out in the cold. - See more at: www.epic-usa.org/19-out-in-the-co…sh.AqSMxpq6.dpuf
On March 20th, Erbil-based reporter Cathy Otten and I
visited Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from Anbar to document their living
conditions and situation. Starting in January 2014, Iraqi families from the
Fallujah area in eastern Anbar were part of the first wave of forced migration
caused by the advance of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, also known as
ISIL or ISIS, and the ensuing war between the Iraqi government and ISIS. Today,
these Anbari families are among Iraq’s most vulnerable people, largely
forgotten by the outside world.
IDPs have been forced to flee to safer areas across Iraq,
with a majority heading north to the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI). In the
region’s capital, Erbil, large numbers of IDPs from Fallujah settled in the
city of Shaqlawa at the foot of Safin Mountain north of the capital. The
presence of 8,000 Anbari families who are mostly from Fallujah in Shaqlawa has
earned the city the nickname “Shaqlujah.” Many of these families reside in
urban areas where conditions are difficult. During our visit, the IDPs who are
predominantly Iraqi Sunni detailed their needs and sentiments. With their
ordeal going on for so long, they feel neglected. They talked of needing financial
support, employment, education, health care, and food. These needs are crucial
but meeting them has proven to be difficult due to the financial challenges the
Iraqi government faces and reports of corruption. Right now, it is especially
urgent to ensure that these families have what they need to endure Iraq’s long,
hot summer, including refrigerators, fans, air conditioners, and access to
clean water.
The IDPs from Fallujah feel a sense of betrayal by the Iraqi
government, local Anbar officials, and the international community. Speaking to
some IDPs also revealed the deep distrust that exists between Iraq’s Shi’a and
Sunni communities. Such feelings shed light on the challenges ahead for
reconciliation when these families eventually return to their homes. — Ahmed
Ali, Washington, D.C.
Life for Anbar’s forgotten, displaced families
SHAQLAWA, IRAQ — Opening his mouth in the damp, windowless
room, Ayhem Al Jumaili starts to sing of a home he left over a year ago – when
he was not yet four. “I had a dream I returned to Fallujah,” he sings as his
small voice fills the room, “but I awoke and was still far away.”
Ayhem memorized the song from fragments of stories and text
messages passed around by family and friends who fled Fallujah over a year ago,
travelling north to Shaqlawa in Iraqi Kurdistan; after ISIS-led forces took
control and fighting broke out between insurgents and government forces.
Now a new wave of families are escaping violent clashes in
Ramadi, the provincial capital of Anbar, as ISIS attempts to take that city
too, dashing Ayhem’s dreams of returning home. In April more than 114,000
people fled the Ramadi area towards Baghdad.
Um Mustafa sits listening to her son Ayhem sing in their
partly built shelter, which lies under the Safeen Mountain. Her eyes fill with
tears. Gaping holes in the walls are covered with sheets of blue tarpaulin;
giving the room a dim, aqua glow. Winter is receding but the clouds outside are
dark. Later it will pour down – drenching the floors and clothes of families
like theirs living in abandoned buildings.
In the center of town ice cream shops and family eateries
are closed for Friday prayers and the Kurdish imam’s sermon drifts out over
quiet streets. Over eight thousand displaced families, around 40,000 people now
live in Shaqlawa according to local aid workers, most of them from Fallujah
living in rented homes or unfinished buildings, open to the elements.
ISIS advances have been well documented since Um Mustafa
escaped Fallujah, unlike the lives of Sunni Arabs forced from their homes.
Civilians who fled shelling, street fighting and barrel bombing are sheltering
where they can, but say they were almost entirely forgotten – until ISIS pushed
forward through northern Iraq last summer, displacing and terrorizing minority
groups that made the international media and aid groups suddenly take notice.
“It has been one year and two months since I have seen my
family, my house, my city,” says a displaced man from Fallujah drinking tea on
a rainy morning in the deserted center of Shaqlawa. “Unlike 99 percent of the
people in the world I love Fallujah, it is my city. I used to take pictures of
the river, the sun, the clouds and the mosques.”
He says that for him Fallujah was the city of mosques, but
now, “It is a city of ghosts, there is no electricity, no water. ISIS controls
everything. There is shelling and bombing everywhere. People there say they can
only use small generators for power, some even use wood to cook with.”
“Families became the victims”
Um Mustafa left her home in Garma, east of Fallujah with her
husband and her children, Ayhem, Mustafa, Hijiran and Ghfran at the end of
January 2014 after insurgent groups moved into Fallujah. Her relative Abu
Harib, says that ISIS launched attacks from civilian areas and the army would
respond, “Families became the victims,” he says, sitting on the floor by Um
Mustafa.
The family travelled north to Samarra in Salahaddin province
and then to Kirkuk, living in abandoned buildings along the way while the men
searched for work as day laborers, finding little. They came to Erbil and
settled in Shaqlawa, which is nestled into misty green hills not far from the
Rawanduz gorge.
Um Mustafa and her 26 relatives, including 15 children,
share just two bedrooms. They are thankful that the Kurdish owners of the
unfinished building are allowing them to stay, but leaks in the roof persist
and before the one toilet was moved outside, Um Mustafa says “I would wake up
in the morning and want to cry because of the bad smell.”
“We were the happiest people [in Garma] – all we want is
safety and peace,” she says about life in the town before the battles began.
But they add that they haven’t felt comfortable in Garma since the fall of
former dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003 as arbitrary arrests in the aftermath
were common. But then, at least “we had our homes.”
Most of the 15 children living here had their schooling
broken by war, only attending classes briefly last year in Samarra. Instead to
keep busy they write poetry together and think about returning home.
The winter has been hard. The family didn’t have enough fuel
to run the oil heater and Um Mustafa’s chest is bad. She coughs, but they are
struggling to afford treatment or transport to the hospital. In the summer
keeping food cool will be difficult. At the moment the family store dry food in
empty plastic bottles to keep rats away.
Aid organizations such as World Vision provide food vouchers
for families like Um Mustafa’s, totaling about $26 per family every month, and
the International Organization for Migration have given blankets. But much of
the support they receive comes from neighbors, mirroring stories of displaced
people across Iraq who rely on the support of the local communities who shelter
them.
“If I go to the south they will kill me”
Across Shaqlawa we are welcomed into Tin City, a muddy
warren of cinder block homes, high up on the rain drenched hill overlooking the
town. Outside our feet sink into rich, clay-like mud.
Abu Ahmed, 45, a large man with an air of authority shares
his two-roomed home with 14 members of his family . Close to 35 families from
Fallujah live in houses covered with pieces of tin and tarpaulin which is how
the settlement got its nickname. “During snow storms and rain showers water
comes through the roof so we had to put up plastic sheets,” he says, sitting in
his living room as the storm clouds gather outside.
Abu Ahmed and his family left Fallujah in February 2014 due
to the fear of living under constant shelling. They went north to Samarra in
Salahaddin province, but after the fall of Tikrit, he says security
deteriorated so they left there too.
The family survives off monthly food coupons and the odd day
of construction work, but even that has dried up recently as the Kurdistan
region suffers from its own financial crisis. Meeting their monthly rent
payment of between $170 and $250 is not easy. “Yesterday is too soon to go
back,” says Abu Ahmed, although he doesn’t know if their home is still
standing. “Two months ago we heard that ISIS went in to our home and took
everything. We don’t know what the conditions the house is in now,” he says.
Anbaris in Shaqlawa live in safety but not at ease, as phone
calls and messages flood in from those still living under ISIS. “In Fallujah
there was work and my children were students – they didn’t have to go out and
work,” says Abu Ahmed, who is thankful to his Kurdish neighbors. “The people of
Kurdistan have done their best [to help us], we thank the Kurds a million
times.”
He looks over at a small TV screen lighting up the corner of
the room with news of battles in central and western Iraq, and then turns and
says sadly, “The western world is not barbaric, they believe in the value of
human life but we believe they are not doing enough for this crisis.” Many
families like his sell their monthly food vouchers at a loss, just to be able
to pay the rent on their partly built homes.
Anbaris say they feel abandoned by their provincial leaders
and the central government in Baghdad. “If I go to the south they will kill
me,” says one displaced man from Fallujah a little later, standing on the
street in Tin City and expressing his fear of reprisal attacks as a Sunni Arab
for ISIS brutality if he went to the Shiite south of Iraq.
“I had to come here. No one will help us. Not Baghdad and
not the Anbar council. Where is the money? Where are our human rights?” he
says, reaching the apex of his speech before turning and heading back inside,
adding “The most important thing is that safety and security are restored.”
To learn more about the humanitarian crisis in Iraq and how EPIC is contributing to relief efforts, please visit our website. If you are interested in following EPIC’s reports contact us or subscribe. You can also follow EPIC on Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Flickr, and LinkedIn.
Check out our most recent initiatives of Soccer Salam and TentEd today and help us reach the thousands of children and families in need in Iraq.
Bzeibiz, IRAQ – On June 17, the second event under Soccer Salam’s summer cycle successfully distributed food items, medications, and water tanks in Bzeibiz, an area previously untouched by humanitarian aid.
Our partner on the ground, the Iraq Health Aid Organization (IHAO), led by Hala al-Sarraf, facilitated the visit to Bzeibiz accompanied by another NGO partner who wished to report on the distribution and to contribute aid efforts to the area. The more International NGOs involved with our visits the better! With NGOs reviewing and circulating news of the realities of the humanitarian crisis, Soccer Salam is able to earn more support towards helping overcome the damaging effects of ISIS on the displaced children and families of Iraq.
IHAO’s visit to Bzeibiz was approved by Iraq’s Office of People’s Affairs under the Prime Minister’s Cabinet, who supplied them with vehicle passes. The distribution team expected to reach Bzeibiz early in the morning, but due to reports of car bombs in the area, two truckloads of humanitarian aid goods and two cars were not allowed to pass through the required security checkpoint until 3:00 pm. The delay of the two-hour drive from Baghdad into the heat of the day added to the preexisting stress of maintaining safety in a desolate and remote area of the desert of the Anbar province. Soccer Salam’s partners pushed forward, determined to deliver aid even in the face of danger.
Wednesday’s mission is the largest thus far for Soccer Salam’s summer aid. The distribution included several key elements to summertime survival for the IDPs in Bzeibiz: medicine, water, food and other personal items.
Medications were donated to IHAO, who generously contributed them to the Soccer Salam project to maximize the benefits of aid distribution. Two doctors and a pharmacist helped to collect and distribute 100 bottles of 23 kinds of medication in an effort to combat some of the most common diseases found in IDP camps, such as chronic infections of the skin and lungs, fungal infections, worms, and others. According to the WHO/EWARN, the leading causes of death in IDP camps include Acute Respiratory Tract Infections and skin diseases like scabies. Among those affected by illness, 31% are children below the age of 5.
100 water tanks and tubes were distributed to 100 tents where it is common for multiple families reside in a single tent. Water sanitation tablets were also given to these families. This is the first time the families of Bzeibiz have ever had water containers – before our visit they collected water in stagnant cement storage basins and shared it amongst all of the occupants of the camp.
Food baskets were delivered to families who had not been reached during our previous visit to Bzeibiz, and an additional 30 baskets were distributed to the families of a third camp near Bzeibiz by the IHAO teams. With Ramadan now fully underway, these food baskets provide the opportunity for displaced families to safely participate in fasting and to enjoy Iftar (breaking of the fast). The celebration of Ramadan is one way for these families to escape the violence and desolation around them, if only for a month.
A colleague of Hala al-Sarraf, who works intensively with women in IDP camps and mosques in Baghdad, accompanied IHAO for the distribution. During the event she visited every tent and spoke to the women and girls about their issues in the camp. It became quite apparent that children were traumatized after witnessing substantial violence – many of the children witnessed their parents killed by ISIS.
The tragedy of the stories of the children and families in Bzeibiz did not hinder the joy of the event. Along with humanitarian goods, soccer balls were given to the children, and we witnessed the reinvigoration of fun in an otherwise forsaken place. Not only did the children have a great time, but some of the IHAO staff got carried away playing a soccer match against the kids! When night began to fall, the team had to pack up (and forfeit their game) to hit the road back to Baghdad. When asked about the events of the day, the team said that they had so much fun with the kids that every minute in the heat was worth it. It is inspirational stories and experiences like these that drive the Soccer Salam team to continue reaching as many children with aid and fun as possible.
If you would like to follow our progress in Iraq, subscribe to the Soccer Salam webpage and receive inspiring updates about the young lives we are changing.
Currently, more than 3 million people are displaced from their homes in Iraq, including 2 million who were forced to flee their homes and livelihoods because of violence over the past year. Roughly half of those displaced are children.
Right now, they need our support. They need to know that someone out there cares.
I know because I was once among those children. Targeted violence against my family, including the kidnapping and disappearance of my father, forced us to flee Baghdad in 2006. Fortunately, there were concerned Americans who reached out to help me, to show that they cared, and to invest in my future, helping me become the man I am today.
EPIC Crisis Center: Internally Displaced Persons has gone live! If you want to learn: who are the IDPs of Iraq, the timeline of the current IDP crisis, the types of shelter available to IDPs, and where are they now read and share.
Join the Soccer Salam team today and help us achieve our dream of reaching over 2,000 Iraqi children and their families with humanitarian aid and the joy of soccer by the end of this summer. We’ve only got 60 days, so let’s get to it!!!
Soccer Salam is grateful for donors like the Lake Oswego Rotary Club who help us to continue to deliver humanitarian relief and the joy of soccer to the vulnerable children and families of Iraq.
Conditions of Iraqi Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) continue to be challenging given bureaucratic hurdles, problems with access to some conflict areas, and inefficiency in aid distribution. The World Food Programme (WFP) released a report detailing the difficult conditions of IDPs in southern Iraq.There are allegations that Iraqi Shi’a militias within the Popular Mobilization Units (PMUs) killed 72 Iraqi Sunni civilians in Barwanah, a majority Sunni village in Diyala province, after the clearing of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) from Diyala province in northeastern Iraq. The events are disputed and a government investigation is underway. Diyala is a diverse province and has witnessed intense sectarian violence in the past.ISIS is reportedly indoctrinating primary school students in the western province of Anbar and forcing children to join its ranks as soldiers. Clashes between ISIS and anti-ISIS forces also continued in the province.Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi ordered the formation of a committee to develop a legal framework of the National Guards Law which is an important political and security issue for the Iraqi Sunnis. The Iraqi Parliament known as the Council of Representatives (CoR) approved the 2015 budget.Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga and ISIS continued to clash in northern Iraq including in Kirkuk and Ninewa. These clashes highlight the persistent threat of ISIS in the northern parts of the country.
Bureaucracy Delays Aid Distribution for IDPs in Iraqi Kurdistan
On January 25, Member of the Iraqi Council of Representatives (CoR) Khalid Al-Khatuni, from the Iraqi Sunni Iraqi Forces Alliances, highlighted the difficult living conditions of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) particularly in Iraqi Kurdistan. Al-Khatuni warned that “the repercussions of the IDP crisis are further exacerbated by the day and the humanitarian situation is becoming very difficult.” He called for improving the mechanism of distributing the monthly allowance to IDPs which is currently around 859.03 USD. Al-Khatuni also added that a special health card for IDPs should be distributed in order to allow them to receive health care and called for providing the IDPs with cash in lieu of their food rations which they are not receiving. Finally, Khatuni called for the need of “temporary decisions” to assist the IDPs and the need to revisit the requirement of presenting four documents in order to receive governmental assistance. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Displacement and Migration announced the number of IDP families nationwide that have received financial allowance. According to the Ministry, 465,311 families received the allowance with the majority of aid distributed to families in northern Iraq. The numbers are as follows: 265,010 families in northern Iraq including in Iraqi Kurdistan, 38, 291 families in Baghdad and Babil, and 10, 734 families in the southern provinces. On January 26, the Embassy of Japan informed the CoR’s Foreign Relations Committee that the government of Japan will donate 90 million USD to support Iraqi and Syrian IDPs in Iraq. This sum follows the previous donation of 27 million USD in 2014.
World Food Programme Releases Report on IDPs in southern Iraq as Babil opens Schools for IDPs
On January 26, The Education Directorate in Babil province in central Iraq announced the opening of 15 new schools in the province for displaced students and confirmed the enrollment of 5,223 students as of January 26. Four schools are located in the capital city of Hilla. The rest have been built according to the density of the IDP population in the province. On January 27, the World Food Programme (WFP) issued a report on the conditions of the Iraqi IDPs in the south-central provinces of Najaf, Karbala, and Babil. The report indicated that IDP conditions in these provinces have reached “critical levels.” The report notes that IDPs are suffering from difficult financial conditions and that they have resorted to taking shelter in schools, mosques, and unfinished construction buildings. IDPs also described to WFP the lack of education and employment in their new provinces.
Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) and Popular Mobilization Units (PMUs) Clear ISIS from Diyala Areas and Concerns Mount After Civilian Killings
On January 24, a combined force consisting of the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) and Popular Mobilization Units (PMUs) which include Iraqi Shi’a militias, and members of the Juburi tribe launched operations to clear the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) from the Muqdadiyah area in northeastern Diyala province. On January 24, Diyala Police Chief, Lieutenant General Jamil al-Shammari, stated that six villages were cleared. On January 25, Governor of Diyala province, Amer al-Majmai, instructed all civil service staff and managers in the province to begin preparations to deploy to Muqdadiyah in order to deliver basic services. Governor Majmai also called for all displaced families to return. On January 26, the Ministry of Defense announced that operations were launched to defuse cleared areas of ISIS-implanted Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) which were numbered at 400 IEDs. As the operations ended, reports emerged that over 70 Iraqi Sunni civilians were killed by unidentified gunmen in the Barawnah village in Muqdadiyah. General Abdul Amir al-Zaidi, who is the commander of the Tigris Operations Command and the ISF in Diyala denied that his forces had executed civilians in Barwanah. The Interior Ministry also made a statement, blaming the rumors on ISIS as “an attempt to undermine the reputation of ISF.” On January 28th, CoR members from Diyala province demanded an investigation into the death of the civilians. On the same day, the Iraqi High Commission for Human Rights indicated that it received“tens” of complaints from civilians in Diyala in relations to alleged burning of house and civilian homes in Diyala by the ISF and PMUs. On January 28, Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi launched an investigation into the events in Barwanah.
Anbar Security Developments and ISIS Forcibly Recruiting Child Soldiers
On January 25, Brigadier General Abdul Amir al-Khazraji, deputy commander of Iraq’s Special Forces known as the Golden Division in Anbar, announced that five ISIS members were killed in clashes in central Ramadi in western Iraq’s Anbar province. On January 25, the Ministry of Defense announced that 22 an ISF, Iraqi Sunni tribes operation was launched in the outskirts of Barwana and Albu Hayat village, near the town of Haditha western Anbar. The operation was supported by coalition airstrikes. On January 28th, a contingent of the Iraqi Shi’a militia, Kata’ib Hizbollah (KH), deployed to the Sajariya area east of the city of Ramadi. The KH force will reportedly take part in future operations to clear ISIS in Anbar. Local officials indicated that the force deployed at their request and that it is “welcome.” Finally, ISIS is reportedly imposing forced recruitment of men aged 10-15 years old in the town of Rutba in western Anbar. Security sources also indicate that ISIS is “[training] children” in Rawa, Ana, Qaim and Hit on various types of weapons and that ISIS has initiated its own educational program to promote its message among children.
Council of Ministers Recommends National Guards Law and Parliament Approves Budget
On January 27, the Council of Ministers (CoM) approved “in principle” the formation of the National Guards. The CoM decided to form a committee to draft a bill outlining the scope of the National Guard and it will be voted on in the next Council of Ministers session which is slated for February 3. On January 29, Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi’s spokesperson, Rafid al-Juburi announced that the office of the Prime Minister is in the process of developing a national reconciliation conference. No date has been set for the conference. On January 29, the Iraqi Council of Representatives (CoR) approved the budget for 2015. The 2015 budget will be over $100 billion with a deficit of around $20 billion.
Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga and ISIS Clash in Northern Iraq
On January 24, the Ministry of Peshmerga of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) announced that Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga forces had retaken the Kisik Junction, west of Mosul from ISIS. The junction is a strategic area given its location on the crossroads between Mosul, Tal Afar and Sinjar and controlling it will constrain the ISIS line of supply and communication. On January 25, an anonymous source stated that Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga forces operating near Bashiqa, northwest of Mosul, repelled an attack by ISIS. On the same day, an anonymous Peshmerga source announced that ISIS militants launched an offensive near the villages of Tal al-Rim and Sultan Abdullah Heights in al-Gwer, south of Arbil. The attack was repelled by Peshmerga forces. On January 25, an anonymous source announced that anti-ISIS coalition airstrikes targeted 10 ISIS sites near Hawija, southwest of Kirkuk. On January 27, Peshmerga forces repelled and ISIS attack near Sinjar in western Ninewa province. On January 28, coalition airstrikes also targeted ISIS positions in Mosul and in Bashiqa, northwest of Mosul. On January 30, ISIS launched a major offensive against Peshmerga positions in Mullah Abdullah, Tal al-Ward, Maktab Khalid, and Maryam Beg in southwestern Kirkuk province. ISIS was able to take control of some of these positions. Peshmerga forces were reportedly able to retake some of these areas after receiving reinforcement and clearing ISIS. However, clashes are reported to be ongoing. In central Kirkuk city, an ISIS attacker used a Vehicle-Borne Improvised Explosive Device (VBIED) to target the old police directorate as two other attackers attempted to enter the building but were killed by security forces. In conjunction with the attack, four ISIS suicide bombers barricaded themselves in a nearby abandoned hotel. The attackers were reportedly killed by security forces in ensuing clashes. In the aftermath of the attacks, the local Kirkuk government declared a curfew in the city until further notice.
Ahmed Ali is a Visiting Senior Fellow at the Education for Peace in Iraq Center.
Amongst the 3 million displaced people in Iraq are a large population of children who have endured extraordinary violence and hardship. Goals and Dreams is a committed partner of Soccer Salam because its aim is to ease their suffering and promote hope in their lives through sport and play.
Goals and Dreams is an organization that leverages the power of sport to promote peace among children in war torn areas of the world by providing a way out from the cycle of violence that surrounds them. We were founded by a group of U.S. military veterans that came together behind this purpose after witnessing two important points during their time deployed to Iraq:
First, we witnessed the impact war has on children – In Iraq and elsewhere throughout the world they are often the tool or target of extraordinary brutality. Sadly this continues with daily news of children either being enlisted by ISIS to commit acts of barbarity or being the intended victim of violence directly.
Second, we saw the powerful hope sport can provide first hand – In 2007 our founders watched as the Iraqi national football team advanced to the Asia Cup finals. When they defeated Saudi Arabia to win the Cup (a first for Iraq), something changed in the country and the sectarian conflicts that were devastating its people seemed to fade into background noise for a brief moment.
The Goals and Dreams team jumped at the chance to to join Soccer Salam. Iraq was our initial inspiration and where we developed our first operations. Further, many of us still have a very personal connection and feeling of commitment to the place and people. We spent a considerable amount of time there and would like to see Iraq become a place of peace and hope. Iraq’s children are the country’s future, and thus providing a constructive and healthy way out of the violence that has been their context is critical.
pewresearch