Gifts
Sozan Hassan coordinates our Cash For Work Program in Khanaqin, Iraq.
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Iraq October 18, 2011 4:25PM
'I'm an employee now'
Sozan Hassan
Program Coordinator, Iraq
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When Hamid received his first paycheck for helping rebuild a school, he bought meat for the first time in eight months. Photo: Sozan Hassan/Mercy Corps
Hamid Jassim is the 52-year-old father of a big family – he has two sons and three daughters, and is known in his community as Abo Mustafa. I met him while he was working as a laborer on a project for the rehabilitation of Basma Kindergarten, in the Jalawla neighborhood outside of Khanaqin. We'd hired him as part of an Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) cash-for-work program to help families in need.
Abo Mustafa comes from Khanaqin, but has worried for his family because of the bad security situation there. Khanaqin has faced regular bombing and kidnapping threats. The area also still struggles with ethnic and sectarian tensions. And in Jalawla neighborhood, where Abo Mustafa was lives and works, there is an Arab majority.
