DRF Partnership Brings Light to the Marshlands

In collaboration with the Lady Fatemah (A.S) Charitable Trust (LFCT) Foundation, a non-profit, faith-based humanitarian NGO in the United Kingdom, DRF distributed around 800 solar lights along with their panels and accessories to the local inhabitants in the southern marshlands.

This joint mission, funded by LFCT and executed by DRF, took place in the marshlands of Nassiriyah and Basra provinces. The distribution benefited families that lack electricity and have a poor living condition. One agonizing feature of the marshland inhabitants is their isolation from any urban planning and services. They lack not only electricity but also potable water, as they use the stagnant water of the swamps for their drinking, cooking, and washing. In addition, they lack basic healthcare services and schools for their children. The recipient families were those who reside in huts made from reeds on the riverbanks and marshes with an average size of 5 in a single room hut. A major comment by the majority of households once the solar lights started to operate is that for the first time they were able to see their children’s faces at night and tend for them. Children, bare-footed and dressed in torn clothing, spend most of their time helping elders in the fields tending to cattle and crops; as a result, they are deprived from a basic education. The parents’ major request from DRF, LFCT, and similar NGOs is to establish full-time elementary and middle schools for their children and supply them with potable water.