“I only wish that I could have seen my new house,” was all that an emotionally overwhelmed Mrs. Sabria Khurshed could say.
Not that Sabria did not want to see the house rehabilitated in a joint collaboration between UN-HABITAT and an NGO, Counterpart International. Sabria is blind.
Her story is a moving one that can serve as an example of the troubles many Iraqis have gone through in their long history.
Sabria’s husband, Mr. Najat Mustafa Khurshed was born in a small village on the outskirts of Kirkuk in 1954. In 1963 his village was destroyed by the Iraqi Army and he, along with his families and other village inhabitants, was forced to flee to the city of Kirkuk. After his family settled in one of the city’s many poor neighborhoods, he had to quit school to become a day laborer in order to contribute to the family’s meager income. At the age of 18 he was forced to complete compulsory army service; Najat said this was, “the same army that destroyed my village and deported my family!” During his army service he contracted a retinal disease, which remained untreated due to his inability to pay for the necessary surgery and left him totally blind by 1977. In 1986, Najat met and married Sabria, who had been blind from a young age. Together Najat and Sabria had five children, one girl (Iman) and four boys (Abdulla, Hugir Rebeen and Redeen). The eldest is 18-years-old, and all the children are enrolled in school. The family is forced to live on a small pension for social care and charity, which they receive only sporadically.
The family has been living in a mud house with a mat and straw roof that cannot even be considered a shelter. Kirkuk’s local TV station interviewed this family, describing their impoverished and desperate living conditions. The Governor of Kirkuk contacted Counterpart’s team and UN-HABITAT, requesting that a suitable house be constructed for them. But first the Governor was informed that this program is not intended to construct entire houses, but rather to rehabilitate damaged ones. Working together, the Governor’s office, Counterpart and UN-HABITAT requested local companies to donate funds and construct a house for this family, and Counterpart will take responsibility for gypsum and cement plastering, installing window panes, constructing the wash closet (including a wash basin), installing a water tank and connecting the house to the water network. UN-HABITAT approved and strongly supported this innovative plan, and as a result Najat, Sabria and their children are now living in a new permanent house.
Many years of sanctions and conflict have taken their toll on housing and basic infrastructure in Iraqi cities. The project 'Community Rehabilitation' addressed the rehabilitation of houses in run-down urban areas as well as severely dilapidated social housing complexes constructed over 30 years ago. Because of the limited budget available, the project has not undertaken the full rehabilitation of the housing units but has given priority to urgent rehabilitation needs, especially water and sanitation.
The objectives of the project are to improve the living standards of low-income groups through rehabilitation of houses and basic infrastructure, enhancing the capacity of small contractors, and generation of income and employment. The project has rehabilitated close to 1,300 housing units in Baghdad, Samawa, and Kirkuk, with a significant level of beneficiary participation especially in Baghdad and Kirkuk where individual housing units have been rehabilitated.
During the last monitoring visit, Najat tearfully said, when receiving the team, “I ask Almighty God to construct for you a house in Heaven as you did mine on earth.”