After the first cases of Corona in Iraq are documented Wadi’s field workers and partners adapt to the new situation
Wadi and it’s partners were closely following the development related to the Corona Virus since the start of its outbreak. We knew it would only be a question of time until it is going to reach the Middle East. After it has spread in Iran, now the first cases in Iraq were made public.
We gave the first Corona awareness seminars in January and since then all our teams and partners tried their best educating students, women, villagers and refugees on how to take precaution measures.
Today we decided we have to terminate these activities for the time being.
We cannot take the risk that groups of people gather publicly because of us.
Especially now, in face of the insufficiency of public awareness, we cannot risk becoming part of the problem instead of helping to find solutions.
We strongly believe there is no reason for panic, but we also think in this situation caution is better than imprudence.
We are no doctors or medical staff. But we still can do a lot. Currently the region of Halabja is considered high risk being so close to Iran. We will help our close partners there, Radio Dangue Nwe to air every day special programs, because people trust them. Corona does not separate between Kurds, Arabs, Syrians, Iraqis or Iranians. And we don’t too.
The radio will start airing special awareness programs in Sorani, Kurmanci, Arabic and even Farsi within the next days. And we will support them and other partners in different ways. Hopefully other media partners will join and we will also use all our contacts and social media channels too.
We will closely co-ordinate with medical staff, schools, authorities and other NGO’s to be updated.
We hope in this way our reputation of working here since almost 30 years and our knowledge can help to make a small difference.
KirkukNow is a partner of Wade which was found in 1992 as an NGO to offer many kinds of practical help in their projects including education and training for women, public awareness of and fight against domestic violence as well as campaigns against FGM.
