Friends,

When I walked into the boy’s room Hassain was sitting on the floor playing with leggo, the sun shining through the window onto his face. Ahmed was beside him drawing pictures on a big pad with coloured textas.

The sight made me stop and smile.

I smiled because the first time I saw Ahmed he was playing with pieces of razor wire which surround the filthy squat where he used to live. The first time I saw Ahmed he was shuddering with cold, his big brown eyes wide with fear as he wandered the street late at night.

Ahmed is 11, Hassain is 9.

These two boys are now living in a shelter set up by Our Home – Iraq.

I smiled because I was happy to see them doing what little boys should be doing – playing with Lego and drawing pictures!

For some reason or another they were living on the streets of central Baghdad along with many other children.

The team from Our Home – made up of seven international volunteers and several local Iraqis - have been working with the boys these last few weeks and the results have been fantastic.

(Note: It seems that in this area of central Baghdad the homeless girls who were here have been taken off the street into mosques and orphanages. This is good news! But we are following this up and will investigate if there are still any homeless girls in other areas of Baghdad.)

The work with the street boys started by visiting a large group that had set up a squat in the basement of a burnt out building. You walk through mud and rubbish to get to the entrance of the squat and then through more mud and rubbish to a large concrete room, completely bare, where they sleep. Nearby is another concrete room used as a communal toilet, which ensures a heavy stench fills the place all day.    

The Our Home team became friends with the street boys by visiting them each day and bringing food. Over time they won the trust of the boys some of whom  had become pretty hard-core. Most of them had started sniffing glue and solvents. This resulted in them acting out and becoming violent between themselves and towards others, which meant they were always getting themselves into trouble.

One day everyone agreed that they needed a good wash, so to the dismay of a local hotel manager, we booked a few hotel rooms so they could have showers.

Next came some new clothes. Most of them had only one set of filthy old clothes, many no shoes. So they were thrilled when new clothes came just in time for Eid (the celebration at the end of Ramadan) They were quite proud of their smart, new look.         

Then came an invitation: Who would like to come off the street and live in a house? The condition being no more sniffing and no violent behaviour.

Eight boys immediately jumped at the opportunity.

With the help of our Iraqi friends we found a large building down a busy street with many empty rooms. We told the landlord Jaifa, of our plans and he agreed to help. He is a very kind man and, like so many Iraqi’s in the neighbourhood, he is keen to help the children come off the street and straighten up.

So for a small cost we’ve rented rooms in the house and Jaiffa also provides food for the children which they cook themselves.

We’ve brought in beds, mattresses, couches and the place is starting to feel like a home.  

Word has passed around the street so we often have new boys just turning up at the door asking for a bed. We now we have 20 boys in the house aged from 9 to 19.

They are cheeky, adorable little rascals who have stolen our hearts.

It is great to see them well dressed, fed and warm at night, but the best thing to see is their transformed behaviour.

Because they have stopped sniffing their eyes have cleared, their faces have brightened, they have a spring in their step and they are able to engage and relate well to others.

It seems like they have come alive again.

It’s amazing what a bit of love, care and attention can do!

We have employed a youth worker who will manage their day-to-day affairs and a teacher who is working with the ones who want to learn new skills.

It is a joy to be at the house and have the boys suffocate us with smiles, hugs and kisses. They are constantly giving us love and affection but they are also  demanding little rascals at times. They fight between themselves, sulk and break things - its heartening to see that they are still little boys!                      

This house is a ramshackle old dump in a rough part of town. We believe this is part of its success – the other groups who have tried to help the boys have not been successful because they wanted to take them out to the suburbs away from their networks. But we do want to open another more permanent house for the boys who are ready to settle down in a nice house in a safer, inner city suburb. 

We have also been helping poor families, meeting with local groups and supporting local initiatives. But the task is enormous and there is still a lot of work to do.

Thanks to everyone out there who has helped ‘Our Home’ become a reality.

The kids and I say 'shukran,' thankyou!    

Love your pilgrim

Donna

PS: Soon I will introduce a few of the boys and tell their stories.

PPS: The work is very demanding and tiring and some of us are sick (including me with a bad flu!) There are many challenges, so please keep us in your prayers.

PPPS: "Evil triumphs while good people do nothing" (who said that?)