The project of “Providing drinking water for the inhabitants of the villages of Ba’ashiqah and Bahzani” was successfully completed and handed over to the administration of the administrative authorities of the Republic of Iraq.

According to the project, three wells with pipes and water reservoirs were built, which serve for the inhabitants of the villages of Ba’ashiqah and Bahzan as new sources of potable water and at the same time as sources of agricultural development, which is important for the local community and the area. The water will be beneficial and will be used to irrigate existing olive groves over there, to expand olive groves and to grow crops to ensure food self-sufficiency and employment opportunities.

There were also professional seminars:

1. On the protection of water resources,

2. On cultivation activities focusing on olives and other agricultural crops.

Another important part of the professional seminars was the prevention of how to defend against the COVID-19 infection and what to follow hygienic habits.

We thank our partners, Slovak Catholic Charity and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic – Slovakaid, for the approach and financing of the project.

The project “Provision of potable water for the residents of the villages of Bashika and Bahzani” is a response to the situation which occurred as a result of an armed conflict caused by the terror of Islamic commandos and their trying to establish a self-constituted Islamic State (Daesh) on the conquered territory in the parts of the states of Iraq and Syria. This territory was pronounced a caliphate, which claims to have a religious authority over all Muslims in the world and strives to rule all territories where Muslims live.
In June 2014, the villages were gradually occupied by the commandos of the so-called Islamic State, the territory in the North of Iraq, which is mainly inhabited by the Yazidis, who created and ethnic and religious community, whose members are mainly the Kurds from the North of Iraq. It was this community together with Christians that became the target of the terror of the Islamic militia. In spite of all their effort to flee from the occupied area to Iraqi Kurdistan, there were many Yazidis who did not manage to run away in time and they were murdered or enslaved.
Municipalities of Bahzani and Bashika are villages that lie in the district of Al-Hamdaniya in the Nineveh Province in Northern Iraq and were occupied by Islamic commandos on 6 August 2014. Those who survived lived in refugee camps near the city of Duhok or the city of Erbil till the area was liberated. The villages stayed under the dominion of the Islamic State almost to the end of 2016.
The occupied area of Northern Iraq was gradually liberated from November 2016 during the battle of Mosul by Peshmerga army, which later liberated also the villages of Bahzani and Bashika. In October 2017, the area was seized by Hasdi Al Shabi group (National mobilisation forces of mainly Shi’ite militia were set up by the Iraqi Republic to fight against the Islamic State), which has been there to this day.
The villages of Bahzani and Bashika are now under the administration of Iraqi government from Baghdad, the capital city. Both villages are close to each other and are rightly regarded as one village. Big parts of the villages were destroyed during the Islamic State occupation, as were schools, medical facilities, bureaus, water infrastructure (water supply), water sources were contaminated. Many people from both villages were murdered, survivors suffer from traumas, many children lost their parents, many women did not manage to break free. Currently, there are 5,000 families (about 30,000 people) living in both villages, most of them gradually returned. It is important to ensure potable water for the families, so that they can stay here.
The project for the provision of potable water is very important for the villages and should help the families that returned and want to settle there. The project aims to build three new water sources (drilled wells), including a hydrogeological survey, drilling the wells, installation of pumps in the wells, construction of protective kiosks, delivery and connection of electricity generators, piping, delivery and installation of reservoirs, connection of the wells to the mains in the villages. The project includes lessons on water source protection, the importance of personal hygiene and drinking regime, use in agriculture.
We would like to thank our partners, the Slovak Catholic Charity and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic – Slovakaid for funding and support of the project.

We successfully completed the expansion and operation projects of the Sinjar and Sharfadeen Clinics in Iraq together with our partners. In 2020, it was possible to ensure accessibility for the general public in the newly built specialized gynecology and dentistry surgeries in Sinjar, Iraq. The professional operation of the Sharfadeen Clinic will be further ensured through Dr. Shamo, the head of the clinic.

From the beginning, the aim of the project was to increase the availability of basic medical care in the town of Sinjar, which is home to approximately 6,000 families. Another goal of the ongoing project was to ensure continuity of medical care in the already operated clinic in the area of Sharfadeen shrine suroundings, where approximately 1,000 families currently live in its vicinity, all the set goals of the projects have been successfully met.

On November 1, 2020, the clinic in the town of Sinjar was officially handed over to the administration of the Ministry of Health in Iraq. We would like to thank all the partners involved in this project and made this possible, namely Mr. Michal Svoboda, Czech Consul General, Mr. Ali Omar, governor’s assistant for Organizations and Displaced Affairs, Mr. Oldřich Haičman, Executive Director of the Diocesan Charity Brno, Mr. Filip Habrman, Deputy for charity Brno, Dr. Jamal, director of the primary health care section in Sinjar district.

We thank the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic and the Diocesan Charity Brno for significant financing of the project.

Since 2019, we, together with Diocesan Charity Brno and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, have been providing basic medical care in the Nineveh Province in Sinjar area at two medical clinics.

After the liberation of cities from the occupation of the so-called Islamic State, one of the main targets was to renew medical care for local residents, who began to return home. In October 2019, we opened our second clinic in the area and we can provide people who have already returned and those who keep returning from refugee camps with the care of a general practitioner, a paediatrician and a surgeon and we are preparing an extension and access to medical care by gynaecology and stomatology.

The operation of the clinic was inaugurated in October 2019, the clinic provides basic medical care for children and adults, minor surgeries and laboratory tests. Staff working at the clinic include a doctor, a nurse, a laboratory technician, a cleaner and a guard. The doctor at the clinic in Sinjar provides care for about 50 to 60 patients a day. All patients are entered into records, have their own medical cards, where the nurse records their visits, test results and any future visits to the doctor.
The clinic in the municipality of Sherfadin has been operating since May 2017. The clinic provides primary medical care for children and adults including minor surgeries for the residents of Sherfadin and its surroundings. Staff working at the clinic include a doctor, a nurse, a cleaner. They treat about 35 to 45 patients a day at the clinic in Sherfadin. All patients are entered into records, have their own medical cards and the nurses record all patient visits

The dental clinic was opened on Friday, May 29, 2020. The operating hours have so far been set for Monday and Tuesday (twice a week for 8 hours a day, ie 16 hours a week).

The gynecological outpatient clinic was opened on Friday, September 4, 2020. Here, a similar working time was proposed for the initial operation of the outpatient clinic with a dental clinic on Friday and Saturday (twice a week for 8 hours a day, ie 16 hours a week).

In the case of the gynecological outpatient clinic, it is the first medical facility of its kind in the town of Sinjar and the surrounding area, which is equipped with high-level medical equipment and high-quality professional medical staff.

Both of these clinics were successfully completed and handed over on November 1, 2020 under the administration of the Ministry of Health in Iraq. We thank the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic and the Diocesan Charity Brno for their help both in the actual implementation and in the financing of these projects.

Beginning May 2020, we are going to continue with our project to expand the operation of the clinic in the city of Sinjar on the premises of the existing clinic by a new dental surgery, equipped by new medical devices and tools for doctors. The operation of the clinic will be secured by a contractual relationship with the doctor. We will also start providing specialized medical care in the field of gynaecology and obstetrics with a perinatal clinic for the residents of the city and its close surroundings.

We would like to thank our partners, Diocesan Charity Brno and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic for funding and support of the project.

The constructed bakery provides access to the basic food – bread – in the city of Sinjar and job opportunities to women ransomed from the captivity of the so-called Islamic State. We helped the women and girls ransomed from the slavery of the so-called Islamic State by building a bakery, which gave them jobs and financial independence, social usefulness and the very necessary therapy. We opened the bakery on 18 October 2019.

We would like to thank our partners, Diocesan Charity Brno and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic for funding and support of the project.