Letters from Cyprus: Scaling up in Kurdistan, Iraq

World Vision recently commenced operations in Kurdistan, Iraq. This
was a distribution last week in Dahuk, a city that is currently
overwhelmed hosting around 450,000 people who have been
displaced by the recent fighting in the country. Most families were
forced to flee with nothing but the clothes they were wearing.

The conflict in Syria is about to enter its fourth year. It has already claimed more than 100,000 lives, at least 10,000 of whom are confirmed to be children. It has also forced approximately 9 million people to flee their homes and 2.5 million people to take refuge in neighbouring countries. The scale of humanitarian catastrophe is hard to comprehend, and the recent rapid escalation of events with the rise of the Islamic State group are further compounding the ongoing human tragedy. Even the more radical scenario forecasts just a few months ago failed to predict anything close to the current state of affairs, and as foreign powers increasingly become engaged it is likely that the situation will deteriorate further before any improvement. As someone once pessimistically said to me, "when you live in Cyprus you have a front row seat to watch the end of the world."

Experts warn that if the immediate needs for education, psycho-social support and protection are not met for the 5.5 million children currently living in desperate conditions in Syria and neighbouring countries, a whole generation may be lost and the effects of this conflict will continue to ripple within Syria and the region for decades to come.

World Vision has been responding to the needs of children and families affected by the Syria crisis since 2011, and emergency operations have been significantly ramped up over the past 18 months. There are now large scale response programs underway in Northern Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and most recently in Kurdistan Iraq. This scale up has been a major logistical exercise that has not been without its challenges. Organisational capacity and resources have been stretched, but good work is being done despite the complexity of the operating context. Planning and preparing for various scenarios is a major challenge, given the volatility of the current situation.

Aside from the staffing, planning and resource requirements of an effective response to the Syria crisis, a related challenge for WV is that we have also been responding to other concurrent humanitarian crises in several other countries in the region including the recent Gaza conflict and catastrophic flooding in both Pakistan and Bosnia/Hercegovina.

If you are praying person, please pray for peace in Syria and Iraq, and also for the many challenges that are impacting the broader region. Click here or see below for a short clip that was done by our communications team in Lebanon, and captures well the simplicity of hope among children, even in the midst of current adversity.