Don’t make refugees completely dependent on aid

“Many people here don’t even have money to buy bread,” the manager of the camp at the outskirts of Ainkawa, the Christian neighbourhood of Erbil, told me, as some inhabitants forced themselves into his office to see who had come to visit and what she had brought for them.

The camp with its caravans holds Christians who fled for ISIS from Mosul and the Christian towns and villages near to it, many of whom have been stuck here for over eighteen months waiting to be able to return.

In the beginning their camp was one of the best supplied in the region, as NGO’s and a local church were happy to look after the inhabitants and brought them what they needed.

But when I visited the camp recently, most of that was past. The former NGO darlings no longer had anyone regularly supplying them, apart from the food aid offered by the UN-organisation UNHCR, next to a bit of money collected during church service.

But due to lack of funding, the UN food packets have been decreased in size and are not enough anymore for some of the families, I was told. A meal with some meat has become like a dream for many inhabitants of the camp.

And because of the recession in the Kurdistan Region, the church goers no longer can afford to be as generous as before, and many also might feel it’s time someone else takes over the burden.

Some inhabitants now have problems getting the medication they need, as they do not have money to buy it in the pharmacy, where before they got it for free.

Before the electricity also was for free, but now inhabitants are asked to pay their share in the petrol that is needed to keep the generator running in the hours state electricity is cut. Now some are angry that those who cannot pay, are excused, so others have to pay more.

Solidarity is a scarce commodity amongst part of the population of the camp, and people can even get harassed by neighbours who think that they have been receiving gifts others did not get.

The informal camp next door, located in an unfinished apartment building, now is much better stocked. When I passed by, I saw aid workers get out of the car of their organisation, on the way to help the families inside.

I found that there are big differences in the way the pastors in charge of these camps are able to look after their flock.

Those pastors who have spent time outside, have been able to secure help with their contacts in Europe; Italian and French Christians are sending regular aid and money to some of them. In one of the camps I visited I even met some Italian volunteers who were helping to set up a kindergarten.

Somehow this is hardly happening in the impoverished camp, while at the same time, the abundance of support of the start has made the inhabitants dependent on the aid. They have not been stimulated to look for work or income, as they could just stay in their tent, and later caravan, and their needs would be fulfilled.

I have seen NGO-darlings before, who ended up in somehow the same situation. When there is no incentive for people to organise their lives, many will not do so, and wait patiently for the aid workers to supply them with what they need.

And how can you blame them, as in Iraq the system has developed as such that people are dependent on the government for many things. It gives them jobs, free electricity, free health service, pensions, and if you have the right connections even houses and cars.

Here is a responsibility for NGO’s and pastors, who must realise that they should avoid to make people too dependent on aid. That they have to put in incentives for them to look after themselves.

Like in one of the camps I visited recently, a project was set up to make prayer beads, to give inhabitants something useful to do that could also bring in some income. In some camps inhabitants set up a small shop with food, fruit and vegetables, and the barber shop I saw in one was really busy.

These projects are essential and should be stimulated, because we do not know how much longer people will have to stay away from home. It’s not only unclear when their towns and villages will be liberated from ISIS, but also how badly their homes have been damaged.

But also because people who know how to look after themselves, are generally better off. Psychologically, because they know the joy of reaching a goal, but also economically.

Taking initiatives is generally much more rewarding than waiting for others to offer help, that may not even come. But in Iraq, this needs to be stimulated in order to break the habit of waiting for the authorities.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rudaw.