Then and now: In pictures

Here are some contrasting images to show how things have changed (and stayed the same) since our arrival in July 2014 and now, nine months later.

Streamers of Kurdistan flags appeared overnight on our street in early
August after the Islamic State group pushed into Kurdish-controlled
territory and prompted mass displacement.  Nationalism and morale
were high; people thought they would be returning to their homes in 
Mosul and the surrounding towns in a few weeks or months. 

The streamers are still there, less jaunty now and more bedraggled. [Insert war metaphor here.] 

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Short hair.

Long hair.

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Late July: dry, dusty, and hazy, post-wheat harvest.

Early March: green, clear(er) skies.

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In the initial days and weeks following the Islamic State push, displaced people were everywhere -- along roadsides, in construction sites, in spare lots, in church yards and mosques.  Even though almost half of the IDPs fleeing to the Kurdistan region of Iraq immediately moved into houses, there was a huge visible presence of IDPs in every square meter of space.

As the conflict wore on, IDPs were increasingly concentrated into (less visible) camps and informal settlements, especially with "caravans" (pre-fab trailers).  This is Mar Elia IDP center at Christmas; now they have caravans instead of tents.

While there are camps, unfinished buildings are one of the most common places where IDPs have settled.  This is the inside of Ankawa Mall, which housed about 400 families.  Last week, they were moved into caravans on the outskirts of town.

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Accidental matching shirts with Jim Fine, my predecessor as MCC Iraq program coordinator.

Intentional matching shirts with Nathan (and all forty choir members) for Easter.  

 

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MCC office arrangement, July 2014.

MCC office arrangement, April 2015.

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Traditional Kurdish pillow.

I cut off all the tassels in a fit of cultural insensitivity.
(For those of you who are planning a visit, make sure you keep room in your suitcase to take home a Kurdish rug, which are available in the Erbil bazaar.)

       

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During our MCC Iran/Iraq/Jordan retreat in Jerash, Jordan (August).

On the roof of our house in Ankawa (February 2015).

Daily bread

One of the big projects that MCC started this year in response to the ongoing crisis in Iraq is working with an Iraqi organization, ZSVP,  to provide six months of food (from March to August) for almost 700 families who fled from the Islamic State group last year and are living in two small towns in northern Ninewa governorate.

Photo credit: Abid Hassan, March 2015.

While I was collaborating with ZSVP and MCC staff in February to get the proposal off the ground and running, I learned that another international organization with funding from the World Food Programme (WFP) did a distribution in early February for the two towns that we were planning on targeting, with plans to continue with monthly distributions for as long as they had funding from WFP.

I pushed strongly to keep these two towns for ZSVP distributions instead of having them be absorbed into the broader WFP system.  I succeeded: these two towns were recognized by the coordination system as MCC/ZSVP's responsibility for March-August 2015.  I felt great; I took on the big system and got what I wanted, I advocated on behalf of our local partner, who would provide higher-quality food baskets than what WFP provides, and I avoided going back to the drawing board with the project design.  Win, win, win.

And then our implementation was delayed and didn't begin until March 30, instead of March 1.

As a result of my success, the regular supply of food for these families was delayed.  Instead of waiting four or five weeks between distributions, three thousand, nine hundred, and forty-eight people had to wait seven weeks, with only the assurance that it was coming to sustain them.  No one starved because of my actions---there are resources and safety nets beyond these food distributions that covered the gap---but people probably did go to bed hungry because of me.

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I know that "if only"s have limited use.  I also don't know what other factors beside my personal decision to fight back contributed to this existing situation, or what other factors could have intervened in an alternate reality to delay the food distribution regardless.  However, I also know that I have sinned against thousands of people who I do not know, over whose food security I have arbitrary and extensive power.

Having a regular and predictable source of food is one of the main keys to not just surviving but thriving.  This is true not only for people in large-scale disasters like what's happening in Iraq and Syria now, but also for people in the United States and everywhere who are in the slow-motion crisis of poverty.  With this on my mind, I was struck by how receiving food is built right into Jesus' model of prayer, right after proclaiming the kingdom of God and before asking forgiveness for sins:  Your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive our sins.  Help us forgive others.

Our intentions are good, but that does not lessen the pain that we cause others. We see, think, and love imperfectly, and we are lucky if our best attempts come out even.  Nevertheless, we keep praying: give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.

Photo credit: Chris Ewert, November 2014.