IRAQ
โ June 16 2020
Effects of the pandemic in an Iraqi refugee camp
“I see myself as a good and responsible person. I love my life, I think life is so beautiful but because of the living conditions and circumstances in the camp, I cannot enjoy my life. I am afraid of the coronavirus and I am sad that I don’t go to school to see my friends and to spend time with them. โฃ โฃ
“I love my school a lot and I wish my school was like other schools that have activities such as painting, music, theater and sports. Because my school is in the camp, it has none of this.โฃ โฃ
“I wish to become a successful person in life. I want to get a good education and a degree that will make my parents proud of me and that our life will change to the better, and we will be happy forever.”โฃ โฃ
๐ ๐ข๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ*, ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ด, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ช๐ฃ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ค๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ง๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ข๐ค๐ฌ ๐ข๐จ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ด๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ ๐ข๐ป๐ช๐ฅ๐ช ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐๐ช๐ฏ๐ซ๐ข๐ณ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ 2015 ๐ญ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ฎ๐ฑ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐๐๐ ๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ญ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ’๐ด ๐๐ช๐ญ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ๐ด ๐๐ณ๐ข๐ฒ ๐ด๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ด ๐ค๐ฉ๐ช๐ญ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ด. *๐๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฆ๐ค๐ต ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ช๐ท๐ข๐ค๐บ.
Interview with Shivan Abdulwahid Ali, project coordinator at SOS Children’s Villages Iraq
What is the impact of COVID-19 on displaced children and their families?
Children do not go to school anymore. They are in their tents the whole day hearing all the time about coronavirus news and this of course affects them. In addition, classes are now online, children are required to take part in classes through a laptop or phone application. However, the conditions and financial situation of people living inside the camp does not allow them to have permanent internet to access digital learning materials and information.
What needs do families have currently?
The first case of COVID-19 was registered in the camp in Dohuk in March 2020 and since then the government decided to close the camps and limit access.
The only people who maintain access to the people living in the camp are medical staff and organisations that distribute hygiene products and medicine. Organisations that raise awareness of the pandemic can continue to provide services to the people under the condition that they do the sessions either by phone or visit each family individually. All other activities were suspended. The pandemic has not further spread in the camp yet.
The situation for parents is difficult. Some of them work inside the camps as teachers or in small shops that are officially authorised by the authorities, and the majority work outside in construction or on farms. Now they cannot work anymore. They depend on support of the Ministry of Immigration and some NGOs that provide food and hygiene products. This creates pressure leading to an additionally negative mental health impact for the parents as they cannot provide for their families, including food and non-food items, or pay for internet to help their children access education online.
Besides attending online classes, children have no other activities to do inside the camps.”
SOS Children’s Villages Iraq provided mainly recreational activities, mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS). Since only medical and food assistance are allowed amidst pandemic prevention measures, these activities had to be put on hold.