ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — An Iraqi psychologist and civil activist has campaigned to improve the standard of living for more 1 million orphans since the 2003 invasion and become a source of hope for his homeland.
Despite obstacles, Hisham al-Dhahabi’s Iraqi Home Foundation for Creativity has survived since 2003, despite allegedly being targeted by some officials.
“Every project has obstacles, typically in the beginning. Of course a project like ours, which is modern, because as you know before 2003 there were no similar projects, it has faced some obstacles,” said the 29-year-old in an interview with Rudaw at the Erbil International Book Fair on Wednesday.
After Iraqi invasion by the US-led coalition, many children lived on streets after one or both of their parents or died. Dhahabi founded the house and with the support of Iraqi philanthropists including Kurds from Sulaimani he has given these orphans a chance at relative normalcy.
The orphanage has not received any funding from the Iraqi governments or officials. Dhahabi says he does not need any funding because “the people’s funds are sufficient.”
Also known as “The Safe Home,” the orphanage currently houses 52 children and six adults, providing them with food, sending them to school, taking them to playgrounds and even sponsoring and arranging marriage parties for adults — as shown in posts shared by the orphanage on their Facebook page.
Dhahabi believes there are 800,000-1.2 million orphans in Iraq while only a few hundred housed public orphanages.
“There are 23 public orphanages in all Iraqi provinces, consisting of only 600-700 children. The remaining [children] are divided; some are living with relatives,” he said, adding that some live with one parent while others live with grandparents.
He even met with incumbent Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi one week before the PM assumed his position, discussing support for orphans.
Dhahabi said that he handed a proposal to the premiere which was later put in his cabinet’s agenda but it is yet to be implemented.
Iraqi governments have been blamed since 2003 for neglecting orphans, typically those who have special needs.
In 2007, a number of Iraqi and US troops saw children in an orphanage in the capital city of Baghdad while conducting daytime patrols. Some bodies were lying on the ground, making the soldiers believe they were dead.
US Army Staff Sgt. Mitchell told CBS: “They thought they were all dead, so they threw a basketball [to] try and get some attention, and actually one of the kids lifted up their head, tilted it over and just looked and then went back down. And they said, 'oh, they're alive' and so they went into the building."
The incident was later condemned by the UN, calling on Iraqi government to “assess conditions nationwide and take measures to address the problem.”
“Even in a country overshadowed by daily scenes of violence, these images are truly shocking,” stated the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
Making children suffer in this way is totally unacceptable.” UNICEF Representative to Iraq at the time Roger Wright said, adding: “Making children suffer in this way is totally unacceptable.”
United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI)'s Human Rights Offices stated in 2017 that the human rights situation in Iraq was still "fragile" in 2017 including for orphans due to war with the Islamic State (ISIS) that lasted from 2014-2017.
"Thousands were killed and wounded as a result of armed conflict with many women and children made war widows and orphans, respectively, in acts that may constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity and perhaps even genocide."