Inside the camp for the internally displaced persons in the Sulaymaniah Province of Iraq, the temperature hovers above 50 degrees Celsius at midday.
The people have been living in the middle of the desert for over a year without tap water, proper sanitation or electricity. Crowded families of 5 to 10 people survive on rice porridge and onions each day.
In late May, Jane Pearce, the country director of the United Nations World Food Program, visited the camp and went inside one family’s tent as part of her regular field trip.
Jane Pearce, country director of the United Nations World Food Program. (Joel Lee/The Korea Herald)
“The temperature inside was over 65 degrees Celsius, and obviously being distressed, they started yelling and complaining,” Pearce told The Korea Herald on Wednesday. “I tried to calm them down. I told them, ‘I will do everything I can to help. I am going to Korea, Japan, Australia and Belgium to ask for assistance.’”
“Then they all stopped,” Pearce added. “The women grabbed and kissed me. Despite the misery in their lives, this is the spirit of the Iraqi people ― warm, strong, resilient and proud.”
Pearce came to Korea last week to raise awareness of the humanitarian crises in Iraq, and raise funds from the Korean government. The U.N. staff is reaching out to the international media to keep Iraq on the global agenda, she said.
The Australian director has worked with the WFP for over 20 years, serving assignments in Zaire, Rwanda, Tanzania, North Korea and Iraq.
Ravaged by decades of wars with Iran and the U.S., and fight against the Islamic State and the Levant, the Iraqis are struggling to establish the most basic normalcy in their lives, explained Pearce.
Out of the 36 million people of Iraq, 8.2 million are in need of immediate humanitarian aid. People have opened their homes to their displaced compatriots, and the government has provided food, shelter, water, health care, education and money to over 3 million displaced citizens.
Iraqi children from the Baharka camp for internally displaced persons in city Erbil in northern Iraq. (Mohammed Al Bahbahani / WFP)
“We don’t really see an end to it. The crises in Syria, Yemen, Libya, Ukraine, Nigeria, South Sudan, Nepal and other parts of the world have completely stretched our money and manpower,” Pearce said.
“It is already 50 degrees Celsius in Baghdad, and the temperature is rising. Unless we get an immediate injection of cash, we will have to start shutting down up to half of our operations.”
Due to lack of funding, the WFP has already started cutting rations by half to 800 calories a day. To deliver the “bare minimum” of service to keep people alive, the U.N. organization needs $160 million for the next six months, while the global humanitarian community needs $500 million, said the director.
The new Iraq government is working hard to harmonize ethnic and religious groups and reconstruct the nation, but it simply cannot cope with the scale of the catastrophes and chaos, stressed Pearce.
One-third of the country in the northwestern provinces of Anbar, Ninewa and Salah al-Din is controlled by the ISIS terrorists, who have committed rape, torture, enslavement and killing by beheading, crucifixion, suicide-bombing and live-burning.
The survivors of the violence are suffering from depression and trauma, and female suicides have risen sharply, according to the WFP.
“The crises are multiplying at a time when the funding is drying up,” Pearce underscored, adding that there are now more displaced people around the world than at any time since the Second World War. “The number has increased year after year after year,” she highlighted.
The Korean government has been highly supportive through the international community and the WFP, the director noted. Through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Korea International Cooperation Agency, Korea donated $31 million to the WFP last year.
The WFP and Korean government hold annual consultations to strengthen the partnership. The Korean government aims to bolster its multilateral assistance alongside the bilateral contribution through the KOICA, the MOFA said in a press release.
Pearce said that foreign aid workers are well protected by the U.N. security forces, and do not feel unsafe in their operation. She travels between Baghdad and Sulaymaniah, where the ISIS does not pose a direct threat.
Baghdad remains a heavily fortified area, a part of the “Green Zone” where the weapon is not cocked, unlike the rest of the country, which falls under the “Red Zone” with weapons readied at all times.
“I have the greatest job in the world,” Pearce said, adding that despite being emotionally draining, her work is also “incredibly rewarding.”
“I remind myself why I have to work 20 hours a day, 7 days a week, for months on end. I try to connect with the people by regularly visiting them. I would not do anything else.”
By Joel Lee (joel@heraldcorp.com)