Iraq

Shortly after the Iraq war, the security situation in Baghdad is still very tense

“It’s terrible, we can’t venture out of our homes at night,” residents complain, “the Americans don’t offer us any protection, they’re only concerned with their own security!” It is unimaginably hot in Baghdad these days: temperatures reach up to 50 °C in the shade during the day – and they will rise even higher in August.

While the women fill drinking water into canisters from a broken pipe at the canal, the men in the poor quarter of “Chafattlak” sit in the dust in front of their huts and discuss. The area was bombed twice during the war. 50 houses were destroyed, eight dead and more than 100 injured. The consensus here is that the fact that water and electricity supplies have not been restored even two months after the fall of Baghdad is not due to technical reasons, but exclusively to political ones: “The Americans want to punish us for not submitting to them wholeheartedly!” Thus, anger at the occupiers is growing even among those who experienced the attack by coalition forces as a liberation.

Cap Anamur dedicates itself to the medical care of the people in Baghdad

In addition to its work in the children’s hospital Ibn-al-Baladin, Cap Anamur has set up its own clinics to care for the poor districts in recent weeks: six doctors (three female and three male) and nursing staff are caring for the approximately 45,000 inhabitants in “Sebbe Q’Sour “, who were previously without any medical care. Hundreds of patients crowd outside the brick building every day.

Our German team in Baghdad also includes Helke Florkowski, a pediatrician from Kiel. She writes about her experiences with her Iraqi colleagues: “The work is a real joy. It’s just super nice to see what a great community has formed there … I think that our clinic is such a little oasis for everyone there in this situation. We work together with the same goal of helping people. I think that’s one of the few ways you can overcome resistance, prejudice and hate to go in the right direction.”

And we want to continue to do so: In addition to the medical work, the reconstruction of destroyed houses and the water supply from our own wells are firmly planned for this year.