OPERATION MOSUL

Emergency PPE Mission
Mosul, Iraq

Veterans Rebuilding Life's direct-aid mission to Mosul required international shipments of Personal Protective Equipment to aid workers on the ground in Iraq.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), over 400,000 cases of COVID-19 have been recorded in Iraq since the outbreak of the virus. Vulnerable displaced families, including refugee households, are among the most affected by the pandemic.
Veterans Rebuilding Life: PPE mission to Mosul, Iraq.
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Accessing children in the most difficult to reach war-torn communities in Iraq and Afghanistan is one of the core components of Veterans Rebuilding Life’s mandate.

Veterans saving the lives of children in countries they once served in has proven successful in helping those vets recover from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

When a vet helps a child, a child helps a vet. None of this would be possible without the support of local non-profits in the field.

This is especially relevant with the support VRL gets from the Iraqi Institute for Development (IID), an UN-supported non-profit that helps victims of terrorism in Mosul, one of the most difficult to access parts of Iraq decimated by ISIS which claimed Mosul as the capital to its former state.

Since the start of the pandemic, and despite limited financial resources caused by it, VRL and IID teamed up to help 4 children with 6 life-saving surgeries from Mosul ranging from head traumas, cardiac problems, and broken bones, with a budget of less than $5,000.

IID founder, Ayad Salih, communicated to VRL that not only had his entire staff contracted Covid-19, some falling ill more than once but that the local clinics and hospitals in Mosul were severely underequipped to deal with the pandemic.

VRL responded by shipping 3,000 PPE items to Mosul, Iraq including KN95 filtration masks, nitrile gloves, and thermoplastic medical shields, for the use of IID staff and local hospitals and clinics. 

It takes a village and these children were saved through a collaboration between good people and an effective referral system with other non-profits in the region including Without Borders (WB). To achieve this, IID staff had to risk their health and safety during the pandemic, undeterred by Covid-19, to help these children.

We are thankful as ever to our donors who helped save these children’s lives. It has been our honor to serve alongside local non-profit organizations and we look forward to joining efforts again and helping more children in war-torn countries in the near future.