Erbil

A few weeks ago, Nadine and I travelled together to Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan. We went for work – to cover IOM’s projects in the area. The whole trip, I couldn’t help thinking how surreal it was…two best friends, paid to go on an adventure to a new place, meeting and interviewing people who have beautiful stories of hardship turned success with a little help from IOM. Really, it does not get much better than that.

Perhaps the best takeaway of the trip though was feeling the impact IOM has had on its beneficiaries’ lives – as well as seeing the way IOM staff truly integrate themselves into the local communities. There are many cynics of humanitarian work and aid in general – they talk of top-down approaches, programs that ignore local realities, and office bureaucracies that forget about the humanity of the people they serve. Yet watching IOM staff in action re-affirmed my belief in this work.

The staff members truly became a part of the communities in which they worked – IOM staff and beneficiaries looked at each other as friends and partners, working toward the same goal together. The local community groups informing IOM’s work were active and passionate, volunteering their time to ensure effective programming for the vulnerable populations in need of assistance. More than that, I cannot even count the number of times beneficiaries told us, a lot of different organizations came and took photos of us… but IOM was the first to do anything to help. It was truly inspirational to see such good work being done – and having a big impact.

To see the result of our trip — check out the newsletter produced on IOM’s Community Revitalization Program

As always, because IOM blogging rules are unclear.. disclaimer: these are IOM’s photos but only my opinions :)