Dubai: A group of UAE expats is making a difference in the lives of nearly 500,000 refugees living in camps in Iraq.
Volunteers of Bring Hope Humanitarian Foundation (BHHF), a global initiative with a base in Dubai, have been involved in as many as 53 camps in Erbil, Kirkuk and Sulaimaniyah offering services ranging from medical help to education and vocational training.
Last year, French expat Nicholas Paillart, a Dubai-based businessman, along with other volunteers helped send Dh340 million worth of medical aid to the camps. “I am also involved in the setting up of a field hospital just outside Mosul,” Paillart told XPRESS earlier this week.
“There are 500,000 homeless children in war-ravaged Kurdistan. If we do not give them education or a vocation, they will have no hope for a better life. I cannot see myself doing anything better at the moment,” said Paillart.
Sewing hope
Palliart is not the only one who feels this way. British expats Theresa Tsui, Carla Bygrave and Adele Fiala along with Afghan American Maria Iqbal have been teaching women in the camps to sew in order to empower them.
“In January, we spent a week at the Baharka camp in Erbil, teaching women how to stitch bags, zip pouches, skirts, trousers, hoodies and children’s clothes. Refugees don’t get clothes donations on a regular basis. Children outgrow theirs fast while the newborns need fresh clothes. The programme has helped them meet these challenges,” said Tsui.
BHHF has also started a scheme in which it buys certain products made by the women such as handbags, pouches and travel bags to be sold at retail outlets and the profits re-invested in the camps. “A programme like this helps the women earn a little money, with each making around Dh360 a month,” added Tsui.
Football initiative
Tarika Vara, another volunteer with the foundation, is at the helm of a football initiative for children living in Erbil refugee camps.
“The idea is to give the children a normal childhood. Every day they are exposed to horrendous things and their minds are so fragile. It is imperative we reach out to them at the earliest,” said Vara.
As part of the initiative, UK football legend Kevin Campbell visited the Harsham camp in Erbil in March to inaugurate a football pitch. “The programme aims to give children a sense of hope. We are now in the process of getting trainers to conduct tournaments between camps. Who knows, we might just discover a football prodigy,” said Vara, a former TV correspondent and adjudicator for Guinness World Records, who quit her career to dedicate time to helping the refugees.
Italian expat Dr Ilaria Zavarise, a first-aid specialist at a medical equipment company in Dubai, who is yet to visit Iraq, has contributed hugely to the foundation’s cause by helping ship a sterilisation machine to a camp in Erbil.
“After learning about the refugees there, I wanted to help in some way and suggested to my company that it donate a machine to one of the camps there. The machine can be used in places where surgeries are conducted or where food is kept. The tents where people live also need to be sanitised to prevent the spread of diseases. The machine comes in handy,” said Dr Zavarise.
Handicraft
Indian expat Aakriti Goel, owner of Urban Nomads, a company which sources ethnic jewellery from different parts of the world for retail purposes, will be heading to Erbil in May to teach women in the camps how to make traditional jewellery.
“I am getting artists to teach these women how to make traditional jewellery which can be sold internationally. The artists are offering this as charity, linking their name to the cause and the revenue generated will go back to the women,” she said.
