Mental Health Iraq Project #52547

HELP IRAQI CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES

by IRAQI CHILDREN'S HOPE

Project Report | Mar 6, 2023
Help Iraqi Children with Disabilities

By Roz Fuller | IC Hope Vice-President

CEO Mr. Alowaid with Samana @autism therapy center

After starting our after-school academic program, we became aware of how many children in Iraq are struggling because of unknown or undiagnosed disabilities. Our first red flag was when Mr. Qasim Basry Alowaid, our founder, observed a father beating his young son. Mr. Alowaid intervened to ask why the father was so angry. The father replied that his son never does what he is told. Mr. Qasim Basry Alowaid asked if he could help, and the father agreed, so a medical assessment was arranged for the boy. Mr. Alowaid accompanied the father and son to the appointment, and in very little time, the doctor told them that the boy was deaf. He was quickly provided with hearing aids, and he soon began to speak. That was all we needed to establish a second branch for our program that focuses on helping families with special-needs children get the assessments, evaluations, and treatment their children need.

Since the beginning of 2023, our service to children with mental/physical health issues has increased from 23 children to 31 children. These children have registered in our organization as disabled/in need of services. Our focus thus far has been on children who are Autistic or who have speech disorders. Children in our program are treated at two centers, one specializing in Autism and the other in speech disorders.

The process starts with an initial evaluation appointment with a special doctor/center. The doctor will gather basic information about the child and their family background and examine the child. If the doctor sees that the child needs a detailed diagnostic, he will do it. After the evaluation, the child will get treatment by taking medication or by attending sessions and therapy in one of these centers.

In December 2022, Founder and CEO Mr. Qassim Basry Alowaid visited Iraq from Washington, DC. He met with almost every family registered with I.C. Hope, paying particular attention to each child's living conditions, mental and emotional development, physical health, and educational progress there. He was pleased to learn that children with disabilities have shown remarkable improvement through the center staff's hard work. Mothers of these children are thrilled and thank I.C. Hope for the blessing and support to these children.

Raihana, a seven-year-old girl raised by her widowed mother, has autism and speech problems. She started her treatment at the center in December 2022. Her mother met with Mr. Alowaid, the CEO of I.C. HOPE, and told him that she couldn't adequately thank the people who helped her daughter to act better and that she was thrilled when her daughter started to say some words and identify some colors. Her eyes were filled with tears when she talked about her daughter's improvement.

The data below is for the 2022-2023 service.
- 2 Mental health centers for evaluation and treatment/therapy.
- 4 specialists
- 11 Volunteers from I.C. HOPE who help the family and children to meet with doctors and specialists and follow up with the family and service provider about how the child is doing
- So far, in 2023, we have 31 children diagnosed with mental health issues. Among them are:
- 3 children with Down Syndrome,
- 15 with Autism
- 7-8 with speech problems.
- 2 who suffer from school anxiety

Recently, Iraqi children's Hope received a letter of thanks and appreciation from the Department of Education in Samawa province for the blessed efforts and effective and distinguished contribution.

The letter from the Department of Education in Iraq says:

"In appreciation of the blessed efforts and the effective and distinguished contribution of Iraqi children's Hope Organization for their humanitarian stances, we extend our thanks for those benevolent efforts. We hope they continue this approach to serve the common good".

CEO Mr. Alowaid with (Autistic boy)@ ICHOPE office

Autistic girl starting her 2023 with big smile

Thanks letter to ICHOPE from DOE in Iraq

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Nov 6, 2022
Progress of Help Iraqi Children with Disabilities

By Qasim Alowaid, Roz Fuller | President, Vice-President

IRAQI CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES Nov 2022

Because most children with disbilities in Iraq are not seen by a doctor and are not diagnosed, most of them live lives of isolation in which no one understands them or their disability. After we realized this, we partnered with two specialized centers who provide evaluations, diagnoses and support to our children. In addition, two private pharmacies support this project and provide medicine and vitamins at a significant discount.

Two of our staff members manage this project. Our seven volunteers have done a fantastic job supporting this project. They work tirelessly and patiently with the children, their families and our partner organizations to ensure that the children are being provided with the very best care and support possible.

So far, in 2022 ICHOPE has served 23 children with issues of mental health, speech disorders, mind atrophy, Autism and physical disabilities. Twelve of the 23 children received excellent grades, six received good grades, and five received average grades in their evaluations over the last months.

ICHOPE received a certificate of appreciation from one of the specialized centers for sponsoring and supporting these children. Our project has shown a significant impact on these children and their families, and we hope to receive more support from donors so we can expand that project to support more children.

Case: Ahmed, a nine year old boy, happily graduated from the specialized center. He successfully completed all of the sessions the doctor required for him, and his family was thrilled. His mother thanked the staff and appreciated everything they had done to improve Ali’s life. She said to the ICHOPE manager, "We could not do it without you; your financial and emotional support were more than we can ask for. We just pray that God will reward everyone who helped me see my son getting better with his disabilities.”

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Jul 12, 2022
Update: Progress Helping Disabled Iraqi Children

By Qasim Alowaid and Roz Fuller | President, Vice-President

Help Iraqi Children with Disabilities

Without help from Iraqi Children’s Hope, most Iraqi children who have disabilities will never receive help. Most average Iraqi families don't have knowledge of and/or don’t understand disabling conditions that occur in children. Additionally, most families are not able to afford diagnosis and treatment. As a result, ICHope is working to identify and provide services for as many children as possible. Our biggest challenge is in finding and identifying children who need our help, as they are normally kept in the home without any interaction with the community in general.

Last quarter, ICHope sent 6 more children for mental health diagnostics, to one of the two specialized centers in the treatment of children and adolescents with behavioral, emotional, and psychiatric difficulties that we partner with. By sending these children to the centers for diagnosis and treatment, we improve the outlook and the future of children who may feel hopeless and lost. In some cases, we save a child’s life.

We also aid two families who have children who are handicapped. We help them by providing special food, medicine, and diapers for these children.

Here are brief stories of two children we have helped:

Samana, 8 years old, suffers from atrophy of the mind. We sent her to a specialist doctor who diagnosed her and sent her to a special mental health center. Since then, Samana's overall health has shown improvement, and she started counting numbers and distinguishing colors. The doctor expects Saman will be better if she continues the treatment and training. Her mother is very happy that Samana is starting to get better.

One of ICHope’s work teams visited families to assess their living conditions. While in one home they found two children, a 7-year-old boy, and a 5-year-old girl, who are handicapped and who have speech problems. The work team found the situation to be exceedingly difficult as they observed the innocent children who could not live like other children because their family was poor, and their mother could not bear the costs of their treatment.

ICHope embraced the two children, aged 5 and 7 years, and sent them to s specialist to determine their condition. Now that the children have been properly diagnosed, they are under treatment and training with special doctors and staff.

We are enormously proud of our staff and volunteers who have been doing magnificent jobs to help children in need so they can get the treatment they need.

Total number of children we served last quarter: 18

Total of staff: 4

Total of volunteers: 7

Location: 2 specialized centers, plus 5 medical laboratories

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