According to the reports of Cainkar in the Arab Studies Quarterly, the desolating effects of war to the Kurdish women and Children were more concentrated on the health and sanitary matters. This is because of the overflow of sewage caused by bombing that flooded the homes of the civilians. Due to this, women had to put extra effort on the cleaning they do on the surfaces of their homes and the laundry, which they had to wash using a minimal supply of not-so clean water.
Aside from this the water they drink is more often than not contaminated because of the present situation of sanitation brought about by war. Because of the gender-based diversity in the household works, women had to make double time to face the fact that aside from the work they have to take in their homes, they still have to find the most possible way of earning for their family. They had no choice but to earn minimal amount of living through small and at times hazardous jobs.
These situations resulted to the low and overwhelmingly unhealthy lifestyle of the Kurdish women. With regards the children, because of the lack of time and at least physical strength of the Kurdish women to attend to the needs of their children and at times even to breast-feed their youngsters, the children’s health is also at its downfall. Not to mention that the food they eat are usually cooked upon improvised ovens and kerosene stoves making it prone to contamination from the kerosene they use.
The nuns also tried to help but it has been more often than not that the food they served only worsened the situation of the children’s health because of the water they use for cooking. Those times, food has been a source of fear rather than of comfort. Drought was all over the country and malnutrition became a dilemma to the entire land, infecting mostly the women and children of the Kurdish generation. Aside from the physical health, the mental and emotional health of the Kurdish generation is also at its lowest state. Everyone is stressed and depressed due to starvation and restlessness.
Aside from the fact that the Iraqi government is not anymore able to support the needs of its 22 million population of people, the war-generation of the Kurds began to dwell in the hardest times of their lives. Some even found themselves simply waiting for death to take over and put an end to their hard situations. The Help provided by the Non-Government Organizations Among the NGO’s who tried to at least alleviate the situation of the Kurds from devastation to certain ease were the Red Cross and the Red Crescent Organizations.
They had to evacuate many Kurds to refugee camps to be able to save them from simply dying in the war-affected areas in the land. Although there are still those who refused to be helped, a lot accepted the offer of transferring to a better place than the place they were currently staying at. In support to the refugee assistance program, Red Cross had to extend its funds to 60% for the year 1991. This is to be able to provide the refugees with the healthcare, water and sanitation support they needed.
As a result, the ones who stayed at their own homes missed the available supplies provided by the NGO’s to the refugees. Even though times were hard and getting the most basic needs of the refugees may have not been that easy, the simple idea of having some people empathize with the situation that the refugees are undergoing helped a lot in revitalizing the way they view life. At times, in wars, it is more helpful to assist people regain themselves from the disillusioned thoughts they have from what they are experiencing.
But of course, it is also vital to support their health needs as well as shelter. On the other hand, the ones who opted to transfer to refugee camps may have not been totally given what they need at a hundred percent basis but at least they were given the best of what they could be given. Yes, after the war, the refugees were a bit more emotionally stable compared to those who opted to simply stay home. In a way, the NGO’s did a great part in making the refugees’ thoughts more inclined to hope of being able to live a more normal life after the war years.