As you may be aware from some Facebook posts, our daughter, as part of her graduate program at Duke, is working this summer in northern Iraq with Yazidi refugees. You may know that the Yazidi’s in northern Iraq have suffered genocide, torture, sexual enslavement, and loss of their homes, at the hands of the Islamic State (IS, ISIS).
Imagine that huge numbers of your family have been murdered, women and children family members have been enslaved, tortured and bartered as sexual slaves, and your home has been destroyed… And the refugees are the lucky ones!
The conditions are deplorable and a humanitarian crisis exists. In some miniscule way, we are trying to support our daughter’s efforts and could use any assistance.
These refugees largely left their homes with nothing but the clothes on their backs, and so the children have nothing!
While not comprehensive, some things that would make their lives (keep in mind there are THOUSANDS of refugees – living in tents) a little better include:
- Cell phones (old, unused – to be used to try to connect with family members)
- Building blocks (like Lego’s)
- Bead jewelry kits
- Soap
- Stuffed animals
- Feminine hygiene products (pads, not Tampons)
- Shampoo
- Kids toys (soccer balls, jump ropes, ping pong mallets and balls….)
- Magic markers
- Toys that make noise
- Face paints
Keep in mind as you sort through things to send that the language spoken and understood is either Kurdish or Arabic, so, you know, games like Scrabble or Monopoly might not be ideal.
If you want to help, send these things to us at:
Brad Roberts
2910 Prince Howard Drive
Marietta, GA 30062
We will then repackage these items for shipment to Iraq. We will be mailing up until the end of June.
If you want to help and it is easier for you to help financially, please send any amount ($1, $5, $10, whatever) to me by mail to the same address or via Paypal at nilesrob@gmail.com. We will then purchase the items most needed here and forward to our daughter for distribution and use in Iraq.
Any and all help is deeply appreciated – and sorry for even having to ask.