Iraqi refugee: "We survived this winter with your help"

"Thank you for the help from Denmark, thank you for thinking of us. We are grateful that we can survive this winter with your help. Thank you for caring about our needs."

- A priest who has fled to the village of Taalan in Iraq. The village is located at an altitude of 1,100 meters in the mountains of Dohuk province, where it is very cold in winter.

"Thank you for the help from Denmark, thank you for helping us. We want to stay in this country so we can be light in the darkness that there is so much of. You help us to stay. We help not only Christians, but everyone regardless of background.

- A priest in the village of Malkija in northeastern Syria.

The Syrian and Iraqi Christian refugees - as well as people from other backgrounds - are incredibly grateful for the help they have received from Denmark. It is touching to hear that the help we have sent this winter means that "we have survived this winter with your help" and to hear them say "Thank you for caring about our needs".

Johannes Schwab, International Project Manager in the relief project supported by the Danish European Mission, tells us what the help from Danish European Mission donors has meant for refugees in Iraq and Syria this winter.

How have they endured the cold winter?

The winter, especially in Iraq, was harsher than expected. Neither qualitatively nor quantitatively was the heat supply secure. Many people have reported that they were cold and in some cases did not have enough to eat.

According to unconfirmed reports, both children and the elderly have frozen to death or died of starvation.

Refugees have received tents, blankets, fuel, food, water and medicine

Thanks to the support of Danish European Mission donors, tents, mattresses and fuel as well as food, water and medicine have been brought to around 8,000 refugees in Syria and Iraq - including those in the mountain villages who are otherwise cut off from help and could not get help even from the UN or other organizations.

Image: Little boy can sleep safe and warm. Tents, blankets, mattresses and firewood have done well this winter.

How do you manage to accomplish a task that others can't?

We rely on a very wide network of locals. This provides us with information that we wouldn't have gotten if we had only followed the official channels. Supplying the mountain villages is above all a logistical problem, as many of them are located at an altitude of 800-1,000 meters.

When there was snow and ice during the winter, the villages were actually completely cut off from the outside world. We had to provide extra transportation to be able to supply all these mountain villages once every two weeks. The people there were very grateful. Without this help, many of them would not have survived.

How many helpers does the work rely on?

In Iraq, there are 10 teams. Many consist of 3-4 volunteer helpers, others of 10-15, depending on the need. In Syria, we have six regional teams in the north of the country, many of them with up to 25 volunteers.

Are they also Europeans or just locals?

With the exception of two Swiss nationals in Erbil who train locals in administrative and logistical skills, all the work of distributing aid deliveries is done by local Christians. Through their great commitment, the donors of the Danish European Mission are helping to strengthen the local Christian relief work. In this way, we contribute to them and their compatriots being able to rebuild their country with hope and reconciliation. The network includes Christian converts from Yazidi, Kakaikurdish and Muslim backgrounds as well as Christians from different denominations. All people groups that have experienced flight and displacement are represented.

"All people groups that have experienced flight and displacement are represented in the relief work".

Do you encounter Islamic State?

Less so in Iraq. Fear there is also high, but the Kurdish Peshmerga soldiers have a firm grip on the Kurdish areas. In Baghdad, there are Sunni Muslim neighborhoods that strongly sympathize with IS, but the Shiite-dominated Iraqi army is very careful that IS itself does not gain a foothold there. With the Syrians, the situation is completely different. In Syria itself, there are almost no refugee camps. They are mostly located in the neighboring countries of Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan. The UN-run camps are riddled with Sunni extremists, which is why Shiite, Alawite and Christian refugees avoid them.

Where do the goods come from and which authorities do you deal with?

We work together with the municipal authorities in every relief operation; it has proven its worth. In the tent camps, the UN is our interlocutor. We don't distribute anything without agreeing and coordinating it with those responsible. They can assess the need - what is already covered by other organizations and what is still needed?

Image: Medicine is needed in war zones where epidemics can easily spread.

We concentrate on the areas where almost no aid has arrived, such as the Kurdish regions in northern Syria, which have been declared inaccessible to the UN because Turkey has closed the border to the Kurdish areas - while opening the borders to the IS-controlled areas. Aid supplies via Turkey can only reach the areas controlled by ISIS. Therefore, we have not engaged in importing goods from outside at all, but procure everything locally.

Is it possible?

Yes, both in Syria and in Iraq. Otherwise we would have to conduct very difficult and expensive customs negotiations and bribe many who profit from the war. That's why we don't do that and instead try to strengthen the local economy. There is almost everything, but people can't afford it.

Image: Warehouse with emergency aid

Aren't you afraid that your acquisitions will drive up prices?

We experience a lot of sympathy, also from business people, for our relief efforts and that they also sell us goods at a lower price, sometimes even donating goods.

Thank you again to everyone who has donated to refugee relief in Iraq and Syria and helped save lives this winter.

It costs around DKK 680 to ensure a refugee family has food, water and medicine for a month.