2017 brought some of the worst conflict we’ve ever seen in Iraq. But you brought your love to the frontlines. You showed up over and over in meaningful, creative ways—with emergency food and medical care, vaccinations, wheelchairs, and clean water. Babies received milk. Children attended school. Women had sanitary pads. Even livestock got fed when their deaths would have decimated the community.
Your commitment and generosity to families was felt in 11 different parts of the country. Here are some of the ways you transformed lives in Iraq in 2017.
Your love fed the hungry.
- 37,450 food packs*
These boxes contain foods like flour, oil, dried beans, and canned tuna and are designed to feed a family for a month.
- 450 bags of baby milk for 124 mothers
The stress of fleeing violence and losing your home often means mothers cannot produce milk for their babies. This formula saved lives on the frontlines.
- 5,451 people refreshed on the run from war
Families who fled their homes were met at way stations with juice, nourishing snacks, sun hats, and shoes in their first days of being displaced. Some of those we met had walked eight days to escape the fighting and still not found a place to settle.
- 30 tons of livestock feed for 9,208 animals
When animals die, the families who rely on them suffer too. Your love saved entire flocks and herds—and the income and food they provide for vulnerable families.
Your love made people well.
- 15 medical clinics
At first specially-equipped, ambulances traveled where they were needed most—often serving close to the frontlines of fighting. Then, as buildings were cleared of explosives and repaired, we were able to open permanent medical clinics. You paid staff salaries and stocked the pharmacy shelves–—for many war-torn families, it was the first medical care they’d received in years.
- 447,072 medical consultations
Our dedicated Doctors, nurses, lab techs, and pharmacists care for their patients and also invest in their communities, often at great personal sacrifice.
- 2,600 hygiene kits
These packages let families clean their homes and bathe—protecting themselves from disease. Each box contains disinfectants, cleaning supplies, feminine hygiene products and bars of Sisterhood Soap, made locally by other refugees.
- 7 gender-based violence centers
These safe spaces offer support and therapy to women who have suffered the unthinkable during war. They also offer job training, so these woman can rebuild their lives.
Your love kept children safe.
- 6,479 vaccinations
Many of these young children we serve in Iraq have grown up with war. Your love provided their first chance to get a checkup and lifesaving vaccines.
- 1.25 million people gained access to clean water
In Mosul, city water pipes were destroyed by years of fighting. You took on the large-scale project of repairing the underground pipes in the whole city. That work is now near completion.
- 29,392,350 liters of water delivered.
As families waited for pipes to be repaired, you sent tanker trucks door to door, filling water tanks in medical clinics and homes. From the urban neighborhoods of Mosul to a mountain village in western Iraq, this clean water let families cook and bathe without getting serious skin diseases and digestive illnesses.
- 1 well for 450 families
In one neighborhood in Mosul, fighting was too intense for our tanker trucks to deliver water, so you gave generously, and in THREE DAYS dug a well so they could wash and clean their houses.
Your love filled houses.
- 15 homes received furnishings
The village in Kocho in northwestern Iraq was one of the hardest-hit by ISIS brutality. People were living with almost nothing until you provided mattresses, rugs, stoves, cooking supplies, water tanks, fans, blankets, and security lights so that returning families can have the basics.
Your love educated kids.
- 1 beautiful new school
Children in Sinjar (northwestern Iraq) never had their own school, but village elders knew it would be key for convincing families to return home. You made it possible for them to build one.
- 2 new school buses
The school in one largely Christian community north of Mosul was badly damaged in fighting with ISIS, so you provided these buses, allowing students to continue their education at a nearby school.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your remarkable generosity in 2017. Over 2,282,000 people were impacted by your love.
Think of what we can do together in 2018!
*An earlier of this version stated that 38,750 food packs were distributed. The correct number is 37,450. We apologize for the error.