Dunedin-born charity on the front lines

Icare founder Assil Russel (left) and Icare Iraqi director Shahad Ebadi visit an 8-month-old at...
Icare founder Assil Russel (left) and Icare Iraqi director Shahad Ebadi visit an 8-month-old at Baghdad Central Paediatric Hospital.

An Iraq aid programme established by a University of Otago student three years ago has taken on a whole new dimension as conditions in Assil Russell's land of birth worsen every day.

Dr Russell graduated from the University of Otago School of Dentistry in 2011 but the organisation she was instrumental in establishing has continued to grow.

More than 200 medical professionals from New Zealand, Australia and Iraq doctors and dentists mainly now provide free services in Iraq as part of the Iraqi Children Aid and Repair Endeavour (Icare).

Dr Russell herself makes the journey every year to help the growing number of people injured, orphaned or forced from their villages and cities by the spread of separatist Islamic State in the Levant (ISIL also known as ISIS) militia.

'It is really, really dangerous and it is getting worse every day but still we have got people out there who are willing to risk their lives to do something for others', Dr Russell said.

Icare's head office is in Baghdad and there are offices in four other cities, including Anbar and Basra, which are
supported by volunteers and fundraising in New Zealand and Australia.

One volunteer group in Dunedin will be showing a documentary to raise awareness next weekend for those interested in knowing more.

Dr Russell said they were setting up offices in the United Kingdom and the United States to further boost the fieldwork.

She said there were now about 1.2 million homeless people in Iraq and more than 5 million orphans.

The charity has expanded its programme in response to the ISIL ncursion and now provides humanitarian aid like
food parcels and emergency shelter as well as continuing work on medical and dental aid and disease-prevention programmes.

'A lot of these people, they weren't poor people but now, all of a sudden they are homeless. A lot of the elderly,
they have got diabetes, they have got all sorts of health problems and they have left everything behind'.

'ISIS kicked people out of their homes, took all their money, all their jewellery and left them with what was on their back'.

'You can' t imagine. It is so heart-wrenching but what keeps us going is there are people out there who are doing good'.

Dr Russell emigrated to New Zealand with her family when she was 5. She has a full-time job as a dentist while also keeping an eye on the rapidly growing organisation she founded.

She makes at least one trip each year to volunteer her own professional skills.

To find out more about the work of Icare, people can attend the documentary screening of In My Mother's Arms at the Burns 1 Theatre at noon on September 20. Entry is by gold coin donation and there will also be
an Iraqi bake sale and henna temporary tattooing.

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