Iraq: You can do something now!

November, 2003

EasyCall Communications is partnering with Mercy Corps to help with relief efforts in Iraq by contributing five per cent of the monthly proceeds of EasyCall Communications to Mercy Corps. Sign up for any of our discount services and you'll help to provide emergency relief services every time you pay your phone or Internet bill. (See press release)

Mercy Corps is a not-for-profit organization that exists to alleviate suffering, poverty, and oppression by helping people build secure, productive, and just communities.

Since 1979, Mercy Corps has provided more than $640 million in assistance to 74 countries. Mercy Corps is known nationally and internationally for its quick-response, high-impact programs. Over 91 percent of the agency's resources are allocated directly to programs that help those in need.

Deteriorating living conditions have left many Iraq children and families in a weakened state. Mercy Corps is mobilizing an expanded relief effort in and around Iraq as the onset of war has created the first wave of displaced families in northern Iraq.

You can support Mercy Corps' current humanitarian activities in Iraq.

Here are examples of what a gift can achieve:

• $500 can provide lifesaving medicines for 300 Iraqi children cut off from health care
• $33 provides water cans and hygiene kits for three Iraqi refugee families for one month
• $42 provides blankets for an Iraqi refugee family of six

Currently, Mercy Corps and its global partner, Peace Winds Japan, is providing critical medical, housing and social care assistance to more than 300,000 people in northern Iraq. Mercy Corps staff in Iraq, Iran, Kuwait, Jordan, the West Bank have also drawn up an Iraq response plan to deliver food, water, shelter and medicine to nearly 700,000 refugees over the next six months.

Two costly wars, decades of government misrule and more than a decade of international sanctions have left Iraq's children and families in a fragile condition. Even before the current conflict in Iraq, many of Iraq's families were struggling each day just to survive.

Mercy Corps assessments in Iraq indicate that a conflict - even if brief in duration - will likely place millions at risk of hunger and disease.

Mercy Corps has over 20 years of experience providing humanitarian assistance in the region and currently operates programs in northern Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan, and the West Bank.

Update - November 2004

Due to the extreme hazardous conditions in Iraq, Mercy Corps is no longer involved in relief efforts in Iraq. As a result our donations are being directed to Mercy Corps' areas of greatest need. Our hope is that someday Mercy Corps will be able to return to Iraq and help the Iraqi people there recover from the war and strife they are currently experiencing.

Update - October 2007

As of October 2007, Mercy Corps has provided emergency humanitarian items such as drinking water, blankets, cooking stoves and kerosene to 140,000 IDPs across three Iraqi provinces, including some of the most violence-racked cities. We've provided more than 170,000 days of employment by funding the construction of wells, sports fields and additions to schools and health centers — projects used by more than 1.1 million Iraqis in the north and north-central regions of the country.

Our work is informed by an extensive survey of more than 10,000 displaced families in three governorates earlier this year. Ninety-three percent of those surveyed had received no assistance since their displacement. The results give us a better handle on where people are relocating to and on their needs.

More on Mercy Corps in Iraq - Click Here