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April 13 - April 20,2003 |
An Appeal by World Vision Canada
Humanitarian Organization Works for Peace while Sending Aid to the Middle East
By Alberto Lunati
Originally Published: 2003-03-23
Half a million children are malnourished and 60 percent of the population barely survives, despite the UN programme Food for Oil. Nothing is said about the psychological traumas, often irreversible, that scarred the children after the first Gulf War," says Rupen Das of World Vision Canada.
The message is clear and the appeal to Canada is just as clear. According to Das, who is in charge of humanitarian aid to the Middle East for World Vision Canada, the war on Saddam will fall on Iraq like a boulder. It will hurl the civilian population, once again, in a whirlwind of horror that they will hardly recover from.
"We began preparing six weeks ago," explains Das, "When, together with 10 Canadians, we left for the Middle East with three containers of aid, destined for the emergency centres that we readied for war in the areas bordering Iraq, in Jordan, Syria, and Iran." These containers contain water, clothing, drugs and essential commodities. World Vision Canada has been collecting and shipping aid of every kind to war zones of the world for some time. It is an international humanitarian organization created 50 years ago, with 300 projects currently underway in 90 different countries.
"In several countries," continues Das, "We operate through other humanitarian organizations already in place, such as the Red Cross. This helps to avoid the many problems encountered in getting aid across borders but also provides the ability to rely on a solid structure, especially for credibility. What we are trying to do now is to focus the attention of Canadians on a war that will have terrible consequences, especially on kids."
Entering Iraq will be no cakewalk, and even beyond the border there could be obstacles to aiding refugees. Das continues to explain, "Currently, we are positioned at the border, with the purpose of giving first assistance to the refugees that are already flowing out of Iraq. In regards to operations in Iraq, on the other hand, we shall operate through an organization that is already present there. For security reasons we cannot name this organization. We are not there yet, and anything could still happen."
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