Universal Children’s Day 2024: Meet Mustafa
In honor of Universal Children’s Day on November 20, Peace Winds would like to share the story of Mustafa, an eight-year-old boy who lives with his father and mother in northern Iraq. His parents fled from Syria to Iraq in 2011; Mustafa was born a few years later after the family settled in a camp for displaced people. Mustafa was born with permanent paralysis of his lower limbs, he faces mobility challenges, and he needs the use of a wheelchair.
Mustafa’s father works as a daily laborer, earning an inconsistent income to make ends meet, making it challenging for the family to buy the specialized mobility devices and health care services that Mustafa needs.
Mustafa has shown a great aptitude in the classroom and has a strong desire to attend school daily. At first he faced difficulties registering for school, because he had been using an old wheelchair and encountering accessibility challenges on a daily basis in his home and community. Because he has missed so much schooling, he is now two years behind grade level compared to his immediate peer group in the camp.
Through work with Peace Winds, Mustafa’s family benefited from improved shelter upgrades with generous funding from the U.S. government to promote improved shelters and accessibility throughout seven refugee camps in northern Iraq. Mustafa and his family benefited from an improved latrine and shower with greater accessibility for Mustafa, the removal of tripping hazards from the shelter floor, and widened entryways for ease of movement from the shelter. In addition to the shelter upgrades, Mustafa received a new wheelchair to replace the old one that had been repaired multiple times and was becoming another factor keeping him from attending school daily.
The family is very happy with all the support they received from Peace Winds and the U.S. government, and Mustafa is back in the classroom on a regular basis. If you would like to contribute to Peace Winds’ GlobalGiving fundraiser so that more refugees like Mustafa can receive new wheelchairs, please click here. We appreciate your continued support.
Thank you to the U.S. Department of State: Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration and to the U.S. Consulate General Erbil for funding and supporting this project.
