Supporting Syrian refugees in Iraq

Peace Winds has been working with Syrian refugees in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq for several years to improve safety, accessibility, and work opportunities for those with disabilities. This includes accessibility modifications to homes and public spaces in refugee camps, as well as vocational training courses that were designed to meet the needs and interests of refugees with disabilities. However, many refugees with disabilities have been unable to take full advantage of accessibility upgrades and/or vocational training opportunities because they did not have adequate wheelchairs and were unable to afford new ones. 

The need for wheelchairs has been a long-standing one in the refugee camps. But when the U.S. Government began cutting foreign assistance programs this year, directly undercutting Peace Winds’ work, the need for additional funds became even more urgent. 

Thanks to donors like you, we raised more than $1,700 during our crowdfunding campaign in February 2025 to purchase and distribute wheelchairs and fund wages for staff in the field. Six refugees–two children and four adults–are now using new manual or electric wheelchairs as a result.

Before this, these six refugees were using old, broken wheelchairs, crutches, or no mobility aids at all to navigate their homes and camps. Two of the refugees are children, ages 7 and 9, whose parents said they were using old baby strollers in place of a wheelchair. Peace Winds provided the children with child-sized manual wheelchairs, and the four adults received electric wheelchairs.

Recipients and their family members say that the new wheelchairs have increased both their mobility and their sense of independence. “I no longer need someone to push me and take care of me,” one refugee woman said. “I can now attend training sessions and other events on my own. I feel more comfortable because it was difficult for me to ask one of my family members to push me, but now I can do it myself.”

Shereen is another refugee woman and mother whose adult son received an electric wheelchair as a result of this fundraiser. “When [he] first started using a manual wheelchair, I could not guide him and had to pay his brother to push it for him,” she said. “The manual one hurt his back, but after you gave him this electric one, he is very comfortable, and I can help him more easily.”

Dilshad’s grandson, Omer, contracted meningitis at just three months old and is now paralyzed and unable to speak. Omer’s father works as a day laborer, but the unstable job makes it difficult to afford his son’s costly medications. Dilshad expressed gratitude for Peace Winds’ work while also emphasizing the widespread need for additional aid for disabled refugees in the community.

“In these camps, there are a lot of families with disabled members,” Dilshad said. “My neighbors, for example, have three young boys between the ages of sixteen and seventeen with disabilities. We hope that you will continue to assist persons with disabilities in our camp and elsewhere.”

Peace Winds hopes to continue to meet the ongoing accessibility needs of refugees with disabilities in Iraq, including the need for additional wheelchairs. Thank you to everyone who made it possible for us to provide wheelchairs to these six refugees. 

Click here to watch a video from Iraq and meet some of the refugees who are using new wheelchairs.

Links:

• Video: Wheelchairs for Syrian refugees in Iraq
• How U.S. cuts to foreign aid have affected Peace Winds