Empowering 80 people with disabilities in Iraq

Neff is a six year old Yezidi boy with stunted growth. He started walking when he was around 2 years old, but not long afterwards, he had a traumatic fall and developed neurogenic bladder and inability to walk again. Operation Mercy's team saw him for the first time in 2021. He could only lift up his legs while sitting, but could not stand or bear any weight. Neff would sit or crawl all day on floor of his family's home in the camp and need to be carried to go to other tents or rooms. Our team has prayed for him and his family multiple times and we encourage and teach exercises at every session. With the help of  visiting physical therapists, he has slowly started to gain strength in his legs. He started using a pediatric walker that Operation Mercy provided and then, this month, he started to walk on his own! Watching Neff laugh out of sheer joy as he walks around his tent makes what we do as Operation Mercy so worthwhile.

The swaddling project that was started at the beginning of this year is going well. Operation Mercy (OPM) staff now carry-out all the trainings in Arabic and Kurdish while the expat medical advisor is available at each session to answer any questions the trained staff may not know. The Baby Wrap project is a training on swaddling in a way to help prevent hip dysplasia as there seems to be a high rate of hip dysplasia or hip dislocation in this region. Our staff receive a list from camp management of pregnant or new mothers and each mother is called and asked if they would like to participate in a free training. Operation Mercy staff then visit the mothers and mother-in-laws in their homes in the subsequent weeks to help reiterate the information and answer other questions that may arise.

One Sunday, OPM staff was visiting mothers in their homes and started with a lady, Sharyan, who was very enthusiastic from the training. As soon as we arrived, she told us to wait a few minutes because she wanted all of her neighbors to also hear what we had to say. One by one women started trickling in to Sharyan’s living space. Soon the room became so full, Sharyan had to stand by the door! All the women were attentive and wanted to hear more about swaddling, even those who were not yet married, or those who have older children. What fun it was to have this spontaneous training session in Sharyan’s living room! Children were also playing with the training dolls as other questions regarding babies and breastfeeding were being asked. OPM staff stayed with Sharyan and her neighbors all afternoon. We also visited Sharyan’s neighbors in their own homes in the weeks that followed. One new relationship opened up our training to so many more people with just a single visit!