I recently visited Iraq for the first time to see the work of the Foundation on the ground. You can see the effects of the Fall of Mosul from the air. Sitting onboard an A320 that is only a tenth full, you execute stomach-churning circles above the city of Erbil in order to avoid the range of the ISIS forward position in Gwer, 30 km from the city. As one window is pointed at the sky, and the other wing seems to be brushing the ringroad, you cannot help but notice the strange,

We wish that this was only a metaphor: thousands of refugees living in former prisons. Sadly, it is the harsh reality. With nowhere else to go, disenfranchised and dispossessed, many of the IDPs and refugees have been housed by the authorities in grim former Saddam Hussein-era prisons. However, flowers are starting to bloom on the concrete. Doves are flying around sentinel towers and pastoral scenes unrolling along perimeter walls. Armed only with brushes and paint, Lucy and

Whilst in Ankawa last week, we met with several of the people who have been helping us deliver our support on the ground. Ammar, in particular is a man we want to thank. He is one of the locals who is employed by a local charity (Rise Foundation), and works hard to help deliver aid to those most in need – and to help source low cost items in the markets around the city of Erbil. We thought it only fair to buy the man a drink to say thank you. Ammar was vociferous in this than

Carolina is 16 years old and a member of the choir of the Mar Elias Church, Ankawa. She’s a local; this was her church before the fall of Mosul and the arrival of the IDPs. She pops in and out of Fr Douglas’s office, helps out with the centre and seems to be friends with everyone. She makes a fantastic tour guide as she shows us around, politely asking whether we can enter a classroom, encouraging us to take photographs. With her smile, free-flowing laughter and confident Eng

This week one of our Trustees, Elliot Grainger, was invited to present an academic paper at a conference in Iraq hosted by the University of Kurdistan Hawler in Erbil. The conference was seeking to develop academic debate and discussion around the role of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq in the wider context, and the possible direction it may take in the future. Elliot wrote a paper, which will be published shortly, and argued his point on a panel that was looking at the relation