Story by: Capt. Richard B. Toland Jr.
BAGHDAD—Iraqi Security Forces with the 35th Brigade, 9th Iraqi Army Division and the North Baghdad Iraqi Police conducted a joint humanitarian assistance mission in the northern district of Kadamiyah, Feb. 28.
The Iraqi soldiers and police provided support to about 600 families in an internally-displaced persons camp.
“This camp was in dire need of assistance and the ISF had taken notice,” said Timothy Lowery, an adviser with the U.S. Department of Agriculture with PRT-B. “I am very impressed that they identified the need and put together this mission to reach out to the people.”
More than just passing out sacks from the back of a truck, this mission required complex planning, not only to ensure that every family that needed assistance received it, but that everyone, including the soldiers and police officers, were safe throughout the entire operation.
Lowery said that many of the aid recipients at the IDP camp are in truly dire straits.
“The people there are very poor and have been away from their homes for years,” he said. “Many of them do not have jobs and must scrape together the money needed to buy the meager food supplies available with the use of their ration cards.”
The poorest Iraqi citizens are issued a ration card by the government, which provides a subsidy for basic food rations of rice, sugar, cooking oil, powdered milk, and formula. Families still have to pay the equivalent of about $40 per month for the minimum amount of food to survive, Lowery said. Many children of the camp spend much of their time looking for pieces of scrap to sell, or edible food to bring back to their family.
As a way to stem that, the ISF brought food certified as halal, or permissible according to Islam. The bags included flour, beans, rice, sugar, tea, and some meat, and included enough to sustain a family of four for a week, Lowery said. For many, it is a week the family could devote to helping themselves get back on their feet.
The mission was not without difficulties or dangers. About an hour into the assistance mission, a roadside bomb exploded a nearby. Many at the camp were startled and young children started crying, but the ISF reacted instantly. The words over the Iraqi Police vehicle’s public address system asked the crowd to stay calm and sit down in place, and that the ISF would provide security.
A few minutes after the blast, IA soldiers reported they had the site of the explosion secured and no one had been harmed. Once that had happened, the ISF went back to the mission of distributing the humanitarian assistance. Within a few minutes, all the excitement was forgotten and the focus once again returned to distributing aid.