Iraq orphans get a 'safe house'

Baghdad: The ongoing violence in Iraq has contributed to the increase of orphans in the country and with almost no social services, many have to beg or steal to make a survival.

There are no reliable numbers as to how many children have been made orphans by the ongoing violence here in Iraq.

And the country's government admits that it is having trouble providing food and shelter for a growing number of orphaned children.

However, an orphanage in Baghdad is trying to bring about a change. They have taken some children in offering them food, shelter along with the chance for education.

The orphanage is a private institution, started by Iraqis from Kurdistan. It is funded solely by donations, one of only very few such places in Iraq.

Six-year-old Saif Saleh is safe in the orphanage even though he gets a simple lunch of a tablespoon of yoghurt on fried rice.

A roadside bomb killed Saif’s parents two-and-a -half years ago. He was with them in the car, and now the boy's afraid to even talk about the terrorists who killed his parents.

"If I speak they will kidnap me. They will shut my mouth and kidnap me,” says Saif.

Almost all the children in the orphanage have similar stories to tell. However, while the childrens' pasts are ever present, the orphanage tries to offer them a future.

They are giving a chance to the children to study where, the UN says, over 20 per cent of primary school age children don't attend any classes.

“Thank god we didn't let these children down. We leave our own families to look after these kids,” says social worker, Samir Jasim.

Saif agrees that he says the orphanage is like a new home to him and the staffs are almost like parents.

Saif is a talented singer. He often sings for his new friends songs about God and the prophets and of hope for a better future in the ‘safe house’.

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