When people are forced to flee their homes, many leave with little more than the clothes on their backs.
Supporting refugees and displaced people in camps requires meeting a community’s basic needs, which is often just about everything. Humanitarians refer to “non-food items” or NFIs, as the general and broad category that includes all of the items people need to go about their day, aside from food and water. Ensuring that people have these items—from household products to hygiene, clothes to kerosene—makes a difference for families trying to figure out their next steps after being displaced.
Diyar Jabbar Qadir, a Senior Field Officer working in Iraq, explained why these items are so critical. “It is to ensure that the dignity of newly arrived people is preserved,” he said. “With this, we can deliver the message that they will be taken care of here.”
“These items are important for residents to move forward with their daily life,” said Anas Hani Ali, a Team Leader in Iraq.
Diyar works with teams in Kirkuk, Iraq to ensure that people have access to necessities (photo taken before COVID-19 and associated precautions).
Anas Hani Ali leads a team distributing key non-food items to residents at camps in Iraq.
Teams deliver and distribute a wide range of items, including mattresses and blankets, cookstoves and heaters. The logistics of delivering these necessities to tens of thousands of people are complex, but every day, teams see the impact their work has in helping communities that have already been through so much.
“Before we distributed kerosene kits, people would purchase wood or bad quality fuel that created a fire hazard,” said Hussain Al Misrib, a Camp Manager in northeast Syria. “After we began kerosene distribution, we truly saw life change within the camp. The money saved from receiving these kits allows families to purchase other essential items they could not afford before, such as medicine.”
The rights and protection of camp residents are central to all camp efforts, including what products are distributed and how. “A lot of assessment and planning goes into conducting these distributions,” said Hussain. “We ensure that we are preserving the dignity of our beneficiaries, while taking the needs of people with disabilities and the elderly into special consideration.”
“Life with dignity is one of the goals of humanitarian organizations,” said Khayal, working at a camp in Iraq.
These considerations have been amplified with the COVID-19 pandemic, as teams in camps take steps to protect residents and implement practices to mitigate the risk of illness. Hygiene kits, including soap and recommendations on best practices for handwashing, are disseminated, together with coloring sheets and other ideas for parents to keep children entertained while social distancing in their tents.
Teams also rethought how to get items to beneficiaries—taking steps to limit large gatherings and adopting procedures to allow for more space between people, as well as relying on door to door deliveries that eliminate the need for groups to congregate at all.
Duraid Hamada, a Team Leader at a camp in Iraq, described the team’s adjustment to COVID-19 as “professional.” “People are following the instructions, like social distancing and moving from door to door to prevent crowds, while also wearing gloves, masks, and ensuring proper sanitation,” Duraid said.
Duraid and his team work with beneficiaries during COVID-19 to encourage handwashing and ensure families have proper hygiene supplies
Lines are painted on the ground to help people maintain proper distance as they wait to receive their relief items
Procuring and delivering supplies in camps is challenging—but thousands of people rely on the teams and donors each day to help meet these basic needs. Staff who work in the camps speak of a shared humanity and a commitment to doing the right thing to help.
Khayal Khalid, a field officer in Iraq, shared a recent story from Eid. She and her colleagues saw how excited children were when they received packages from the team—and how pleased mothers were to see their children happy. One mother who received a box of new clothes for herself and her children told her, “Now, I will feel the joy of Eid, where my family and I are going to wear new clothes.”
“People are very comfortable when they receive items,” said Duraid. He added that while COVID-19 restrictions are in place, the deliveries, “help people stay home and healthy.”
Teams acknowledge that managing all of the details of distribution are difficult, but they know the support makes a difference.
“This is a great feeling,” said Anas Hani Ali. “There are hundreds of memories that give me strength to continue my work in camps, helping vulnerable people.”
