We are proud to have delivered the first Ankawa Education Conference at the Catholic University in Erbil (CUE) with the participants of our summer Training Programme. Our Director, Elliot Grainger opened the conference, and Sally Boya gave a lovely speech thanking everyone and assuring them of the school’s support for their research and what they would like to experiment with as a result. Each teacher has been asked to research and present on a topic of their choosing. We wan

End of week two. We are now powering along with pedagogical improvements. However, today we say good bye to two of our UK teachers, Ewan and Trish. A group photo is of course mandatory; here we are with some of our participants from the course. Who are themselves teachers. Talking to Ewan before he left, it was interesting to hear him reflect on how teaching teachers had really encouraged him to look in more detail at his own teaching style, and habits! Meanwhile, the languag

We have arrived int Erbil for the start of the three week Teacher Training Programme. July in Iraq is hot and dusty, and that is exactly what we have found. With teachers joining us from Shrewsbury School and Highgate School, we are ready to get started. Tomorrow we will be joined by 30 teachers from Mar Qadakh School for three weeks of training, learning, and sharing to help improve the school as it strives to deliver the International Baccalaureate, in English. A high-level

What a great visit! Thank you to everyone who made our recent visit to Ankawa such a success. Without doubt, the visit to Al Bashara school was the highlight, and we are delighted to have been able to give an $8000 donation to support the establishment of a new school! This money will help may the school compliant by providing science equipment in line with the curriculum. The school is greatly needed as it will teach in Arabic, the language of many IDPs and refugees, but wil

Without a doubt, this General Assembly is about the refugee crisis. And while you might think, as perhaps Amal Clooney does, that the UN is rather late to the game on the whole issue, there is an indisputable power to having the world’s leaders lining up to declare that something must be done and that the world must turn away from fear to a new optimism. But what is to be done? President Obama called for rich countries to do more: “Together, now, we have to open our hearts an

Hundreds of thousands of people have fled ISIS (DAESH/IS) since the summer of 2014. Many of them are still living in makeshift accomodation, and struggling to build a life out of the wreckage of the situation. No more is this true than for those who have been widowed and orphaned by the hideous persecution and war ravaging the region. We were therefore relieved that we were able to help the CNSF and Rise Foundation with their Winter Campaign, to support the needs of 639 orpha

Winters in Iraq is cold. When living in a tent, or makeshift house, cold is an understatment; the wind, snow and rain can make life hardwork, especially for small children. This is why our clothing drives have proven popular with the community, and why they matter to the families they help. Together we have distributed to over 800 orphans and their guardians. The clothes, donated by so many of you, were used in deliveries across 11 locations. Throughout the campaign hygiene k

In the weeks that has given us packed ships being rescued off the coast of Italy, with images of the thousands of refugees huddled in the hold, as well as the news of Lebanon declaring that it cannot take any more refugees, and the more troubling news of terror in Paris; it is important to remember what we have done, what we are doing, and what we are trying to achieve in the face of persecution and terror. The Ankawa Foundation is new, an organisation built out of the disast

First of all thank you! What a fantastic response to our Christmas Appeal! We have raised £2490 to help support Christians seeking refuge from persecution in Ankawa. Epiphany is the end of Christmas, the festivities are over, the decorations are down. But, it is also the time we get back to work, and start the New Year with purpose and hope for a good year ahead. The Christmas campaign has given us the ability to continue our work in supporting the Churches in Ankawa to give

As a Priest friend of mine said recently, 'Do they know it's Christmas? Yes, because they believe in Jesus Christ they had to flee for their lives.' Yet despite the chaos that their lives have descended into, Christmas is still a time for hope. To make the best of a bad situation, the photo above shows the Nativity at the Mar Ellia Church in Ankawa - a poignant image of the Christ child born into the tent of a refugee, seeking shelter from persecution, to which the Priest, Fa