ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – A group of mostly high school-age young people were so inspired by the charity efforts they witnessed during a language exchange program in the United States last summer that they came back to Kurdistan and opened a food bank for Erbil’s poorest and most needy.
“Since we started our project in October, we’ve distributed 500 packages to people in the outskirts of Erbil and other areas within Erbil,” said Mahmood Doghramajy, a 17-year-old student from Media School. He already has grand ambitions for another food bank in Duhok.
Doghramajy said he volunteered at the Eastern Oklahoma Food Bank in Tulsa, Oklahoma, during his exchange program last year, which inspired him to come back home and do the same for his own community with the help of his two friends Tina Saeed and Amani Ramadan.
At first they targeted their aid efforts at internally displaced persons (IDPs) from Kirkuk until they began returning home following the events of October 16. Now Kurdistan Food Bank, which today boasts 10 members mostly of high school-age, concentrates its distribution of food and other much needed items on widowed families, orphans, and families of people with disabilities.
The group depends solely on donations to purchase food items for needy families. Doghramajy said only the group’s friends and families have been donating until now.
Food essentials purchased with donations included rice, oil, beans, sugar, salt. Photo: Kurdistan Food Bank
Blnd Saber, 16, from Qalla College for Gifted Students, also participated in an exchange program last summer in Portland, Oregon. He said his friend Mahmood invited him to join the group.
“As you know, there are a lot of poor people who struggle to manage their own lives because of money or some other needs they have, so if we have the means to help them, why shouldn’t we?” Saber said.
Any donation will help, whether money, food, clothes, of even inviting them to have dinner with you, Saber said.
“I saw many places with ill children that have no money or cannot even work, the widows cannot take care of their children. We have a lot of poor people inside and outside of Erbil,” he added.
Doghramajy also invited his best friends and classmates from Media School, Noorseen Kalko, 16 and Znar Ameer, 17, to join the group.
Kalko said he had previous experience in volunteering with several NGOs in the area and helped by advising his friend and helping him buy and distribute the donations.
“We don’t care about the number of families we try to help. We’d rather help fewer families and give them more than [help] more families and give them less,” Kalko said. “It will be more beneficial to them.”
Kalko said some food essentials purchased with donations included rice, oil, beans, sugar, salt and even clothes and heaters during the winter.
“We distributed 14 big heaters,” during the winter, Kalko said.
“Students should try to volunteer or try to help these people because they are part of your community,” he added.
Another of Doghramajy’s friends from school who joined the group, Ameer, said the worst case he came across while delivering food parcels was a six-year-old girl who was born with her heart on the wrong side of her body, yet the family had no money for medical care or a lifesaving operation.
“They couldn’t actually help her because they didn’t have the money to, it was just a matter of time before she died,” he said.
Ameer believes it’s important for students his age to donate or even join their group when they distribute food parcels, so they can witness first hand just how hard people’s lives can be.
“It’s a good way to know your community if you go out there and help others. It’s just a good way to see how people live, and how they struggle with their lives to keep on living,” Ameer said.
Doghramajy has a message that he wants to share with the Kurdistan community.
“I would advise everyone to donate the things that they don’t use or the things that they have extra to people, even if it is not to our organization. If you know of any poor people who need help, donate food to them or anything that you have. Most families possibly need money because they have to rent houses, but I think food is the most essential thing in life. Food and shelter,” he said.
Doghramajy also pleaded for the community to donate more to the Kurdistan Food Bank or even volunteer to help with food distributions. In some cases his uncle helped distribute the items to families and at other times friends who had cars were able to help.
He also said the Kurdistan Food Bank could help a lot more people if members had a place to keep donated items, as they currently store them in their own homes.
“We need a place and if it is possible someone to sponsor us. That would be helpful. Raising awareness online helps us to receive donations as well,” he said. There are currently no organizations helping the families they distribute to.
If anyone is interested in donating money, food items, or sponsoring the Kurdistan Food Bank, contact Mahmood Doghramajy at 07503410028. They can also be found on Facebook or Twitter.
“As you know, there are a lot of poor people who struggle to manage their own lives because of money or some other needs they have, so if we have the means to help them, why shouldn’t we?” Saber said.
Any donation will help, whether money, food, clothes, of even inviting them to have dinner with you, Saber said.
Saber, who is concerned about the ongoing financial crisis in Kurdistan, said: “Doing anything to socially support them, even by helping with money donations, could help reduce some of their problems.”
“I saw many places with ill children that have no money or cannot even work, the widows cannot take care of their children. We have a lot of poor people inside and outside of Erbil,” he added.
Doghramajy also invited his best friends and classmates from Media School, Noorseen Kalko, 16 and Znar Ameer, 17, to join the group.
Kalko said he had previous experience in volunteering with several NGOs in the area and helped by advising his friend and helping him buy and distribute the donations.
“We don’t care about the number of families we try to help. We’d rather help fewer families and give them more than [help] more families and give them less,” Kalko said. “It will be more beneficial to them.”
Kalko said some food essentials purchased with donations included rice, oil, beans, sugar, salt and even clothes and heaters during the winter.
“We distributed 14 big heaters,” during the winter, Kalko said.
“Students should try to volunteer or try to help these people because they are part of your community,” he added.
Another of Doghramajy’s friends from school who joined the group, Ameer, said the worst case he came across while delivering food parcels was a six-year-old girl who was born with her heart on the wrong side of her body, yet the family had no money for medical care or a lifesaving operation.
“They couldn’t actually help her because they didn’t have the money to, it was just a matter of time before she died,” he said.
Ameer believes it’s important for students his age to donate or even join their group when they distribute food parcels, so they can witness first hand just how hard people’s lives can be.
“It’s a good way to know your community if you go out there and help others. It’s just a good way to see how people live, and how they struggle with their lives to keep on living,” Ameer said.
Doghramajy has a message that he wants to share with the Kurdistan community.
“I would advise everyone to donate the things that they don’t use or the things that they have extra to people, even if it is not to our organization. If you know of any poor people who need help, donate food to them or anything that you have. Most families possibly need money because they have to rent houses, but I think food is the most essential thing in life. Food and shelter,” he said.
Doghramajy also pleaded for the community to donate more to the Kurdistan Food Bank or even volunteer to help with food distributions. In some cases his uncle helped distribute the items to families and at other times friends who had cars were able to help.
He also said the Kurdistan Food Bank could help a lot more people if members had a place to keep donated items, as they currently store them in their own homes.
“We need a place and if it is possible someone to sponsor us. That would be helpful. Raising awareness online helps us to receive donations as well,” he said. There are currently no organizations helping the families they distribute to.
If anyone is interested in donating money, food items, or sponsoring the Kurdistan Food Bank, contact Mahmood Doghramajy at 07503410028. They can also be found on Facebook or Twitter.
