July 23, 2021
Stories
Despite being an upper-middle-income country, Iraq remains at "very high risk" of a humanitarian crisis with millions of people who live under the international poverty line. Caritas Czech Republic helps to secure shelter for the most vulnerable internally displaced families in Duhok. Meet one of our colleagues in Duhok and see how his life has changed after working with Caritas.
Who is Azad?
Azad is a young man in his thirties, married, with two kids, and a bachelor's degree in Arabic. He was unemployed and struggling when he heard from a friend that Caritas Czech Republic in Iraq is distributing shelter repair kits. His family of ten members lives in an informal house in severe conditions. Soon after he applied for the assistance, he found out that the support is specifically towards the displaced families and not for him.
But Azad, and Caritas, did not give up. Soon after, his life, and that of his family, took a positive turn.
"We know the meaning of poverty, difficulties, and fear because we lived with all these words from the beginning of our childhood," says Azad.
" I always dreamed of changing my life and that of my family. I wanted to live a life with service to others and motivate people to become a better version of themselves and to use their God-given potential fully," he added.
Although Azad is still young, his family life has not been easy and has impacted his approach to life tremendously.
Azad was raised without a father, and that has affected his upbringing so much. "The most challenging thing for me was to be a child, and at the same time, I had to be in charge of the house. My father was in prison for 17 years; his absence and poverty negatively impacted my family and me".
While he worked for Caritas, he applied monitoring skills and ensuring all the distributions and quantities are correct. And he was pretty successful in his job.
"I have never felt tired working at Caritas because serving people makes me happy and always young," says Azad with a beaming smile.
How Caritas’s services helped him?
"Caritas' service has changed my life. I have seen people and families in conditions worse than mine; some have no parents and were resilient and grateful. I learned that what happened to me has been happening to other people, and I want to end it. Moreover, with my new income, I rehabilitated my old house. Caritas will forever be my home and forever in my heart till my last breath," added Azad.
The project that Azad worked on aims at helping the internally displaced people in Duhok that fled from Sinjar and Mosul. The project rehabilitated the critical shelters and improved the dignity and the living conditions of the most vulnerable displaced people. Caritas provided this assistance in Duhok (Zakho and Sumel District) and Anbar city. The total number of households that benefited from this aid was 1450 households in Duhok and Anbar. Caritas is continuing its efforts to help the most vulnerable families in Iraq.
