In their latest project, Rwanga Foundation have begun the installation of Rwanga Community, a project to accommodate 24000 IDPs through 3000 prefabricated residential units.
On 2nd February 2015 the opening ceremony of Rwanga community was held in Duhok province. During the ceremony, the first of hundreds of families received their new houses. One of the first people to receive their keys, Ismail Namer, is from a family of 14, who until today were living in Zakho district in an uncompleted building with nothing except a roof to protect them from the rain. With tearful eyes, he said “ I can’t believe what I am seeing today. It is like a dream for me because I never expected to find myself living with my family in such a community again, because after all we been through, we deserve to have access to our basic needs as a minimum.
The Rwanga Community consists of 3000 prefabricated residential units installed in the most modern way. This is the first time that a humanitarian foundation or a non-governmental organization has built such a community for IDPs in Iraq, and in Kurdistan in particular. The aim of the project is simple: to provide a dignified way of living for those forced from their homes. Each unit has non-food items donated by L.O.G. and Carrefour Foundation for the delivery of food items. The wider community includes a kitchen to cook in, a school for students to continue their education, a health center to make sure the health of all these people are catered for, a Kidszone where children can play and be children and a green space park where people can relax.
The atrocities in 2014 have so far left over 1.6 million people displaced. These IDPs are now treating Kurdistan as their save heaven and almost 1 million of these IDPs (60%) are now living in the Duhok Province.
