Local charity helps the physically challenged and abandoned elderly

Thanks to a home for the physically challenged and the elderly - a private house in the Karrada district of the capital, Baghdad - Hemsa Fathallah, a mother of two, now has a roof over her head. She was thrown out of her house when she contracted poliomyelitis. She could no longer move or eat by herself and her husband couldn't look after her. She needed a place to stay and someone to take care of her. Her case prompted a local charity to open the Bethany House care home for those living with disabilities. Alhan Smith, the founder of the house, started charity work in 1994 by visiting patients in hospitals and houses to help them as much as she could, along with some other youths from the local church. But when she came across Hemsa's case, she felt that much more needed to be done. There is both private and government care in Iraq, but government help, which is free, fails to meet the needs of all those who cannot care for themselves. Bethany House is the only free care centre for those living with disabilities. Smith was finally able to open the home for the physically challenged on 1 May 2000 after a wealthy businessman donated a house and another wealthy local helped to furnish it. "They told us that we needed to get a licence to open the house if we were really serious about it, so we got it from the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, and now people believe in our dedication to the cause," Smith told IRIN in Baghdad. But the government does not interfere in the running of the home, leaving them to carry on as best they can. "Four years ago, when we first opened the house, we had only four cases. Now we have 15. Some of the old patients died, some went back to their families and some are still with us," she said. Following calls for help from some elderly people, the house was also opened up to them, but so far it only takes women. "It was meant to be a house for the physically challenged not for the elderly. But we came across many cases of elderly people abandoned by their own children or families so we have [made] room for them too," she explained. Smith also said that the numbers of deserted elderly people in need had increased greatly after the war. The informal arrangement in the home has worked out well and the elderly also sometimes help out with caring for other residents. "There is a big difference between government employees and volunteers. Also, in the governmental facilities, patients feel they are in a department but here we are very much like a big happy family in our little house where everyone takes care of each other," Smith maintained. At Bethany House, elderly ladies read stories to the disabled and look after them just like mothers. Some doctors have volunteered to check and help the cases in the house and Smith took a nursing course to handle the daily needs for medical care. The recent war, she said, was a big experience and a hard test for everyone at the home. "Many governmental facilities were abandoned and patients were left to face their destiny," the founder of the house added. During that time Bethany House received many patients from the streets and also helped those who were wounded in the war. "The neighbours protected the house in the delicate time after the war. They were always there for the house, telling the staff to call them whenever they faced any danger. They do that because they love us." Coalition forces, along with aid agencies, also visited the house several times, bringing medical supplies with them, Smith said. NGOs donated a generator and other items. But Smith complained that some organisations said the project was too small for them to become involved in. "One of the big companies told me that you have to have over 200 patients for us to deal with you."