The Danish European Mission's donors provide regular emergency aid to over 10,000 displaced people in Iraq and Syria.
Depending on the emergency, they receive food parcels, baby and children's food, medicine, shoes, clothes, laundry and hygiene products, blankets, mattresses, fuel and shelters.
Aid is distributed regardless of religion and origin. Because we have access to broad local partner networks with excellent local knowledge and language skills, we can also help in remote and hard-to-reach areas where displaced people are often left to fend for themselves without help.
Winter is here
Unfortunately, there are still not enough tents and shelters to protect against winter and house the many displaced people.
In northern Iraq and Syria, it's getting colder, it's raining a lot and snow has already fallen in the mountains. Winter has arrived. The displaced people express great concern. They are freezing at night, often have no warm blankets and there is a lack of warm clothes.
In Erbil, food is mostly provided, but outside the northern Iraqi capital, there is a shortage of all necessities of life. In addition, thousands of Christian and Yazidi displaced people in northern Iraq have now been moved to remote mountain villages and villages close to the frontline. This has happened because the schools where they were first housed were to be used by the Kurdish school system.
Help reaches remote villages
These new refugee camps in remote villages are completely under-supplied. Right now, winter is bitterly cold and the icy roads make it difficult to access supplies, which particularly affects women and children. Thanks to local partners, we also regularly care for these displaced people, who are cut off from any other help and who would otherwise have no chance of survival.
Yes, while we celebrate Christmas, there are unfortunately far too many displaced people in Syria and Iraq who are struggling just to survive this winter, including many Christians and children who would of course like to celebrate Christmas - but what kind of Christmas?
The displaced: "Thank you for your solidarity"
The displaced are grateful for the aid. Many are grateful for the solidarity shown by Christians from Europe and see in it a glimmer of hope. It is surprising that in the camps we saw only a few who were discouraged.
It was actually shameful how kindly we were received and how the displaced people even welcomed us hospitably in the simplest tents," says Henrik Ertner Rasmussen, who has just visited Northern Iraq.
Click here if you want to donate to the internally displaced people in Iraq and Syria this winter.
