By Aid to the Church in Need (USA)
November 6, 2024
ACN supported the construction of a new floor for a kindergarten in Enishke, allowing it to expand its services, receive more children from families in the surrounding villages, including Kurds and Yazidis, and help sow the seeds of peace and fraternity for future generations.
The Enishke village is located in the Diocese of Dohuk, in a mountainous region of Iraqi Kurdistan in northern Iraq.
Christian, Kurdish, and Yazidi families live in the many settlements around Enishke, struggling to survive in a climate of economic hardship, political instability, and lingering insecurity.
The lack of resources and investment from both the regional and federal governments meant that when the local parish priest, Father Samir Yousif, visited local communities, he often found young children deprived of opportunities and a healthy upbringing. “When I was visiting families in the past, I would find the children locked up in their house,” he explained to the international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).
In 2013, Father Samir started a small kindergarten in Enishke, which served up to 16 children. What the Chaldean priest did not know at the time was that the whole region was about to change, with the terrorist organization ISIS taking control of much of the nearby territory in August 2014, sending a wave of Christian, Yezidi, and moderate Muslim refugees into Iraqi Kurdistan.
After the expulsion of ISIS, he realized that much more needed to be done. He made plans to build a new floor for the kindergarten, allowing it to expand its services. “Our goal is to create an educated, aware, and open generation, and also to create peaceful coexistence among Christian, Kurdish, and Yazidi children,” said Father Samir. ACN is one of the organizations supporting this project, as part of its overarching strategy to help Christians in Iraq to overcome the tragedies of the ISIS invasion, and to enable them to live in their homelands.
In July, the Chaldean Catholic Bishop of Dohuk traveled to Enishke to inaugurate the completed project, which can now take up to 100 children, directly benefiting around 90 families. During the event, Bishop Azad Shaba expressed hope that the ACN-sponsored project might serve the whole of Iraqi society and not only Christian families. “We commend the opening of this kindergarten, through the efforts of the priest and teachers in this town, and we encourage it to be open to all our Muslim brothers in the region, because it translates the teachings of Christ. Our goal is to help people in need, and by this, we do not mean just raising buildings, but to raise up people, who will have a role in constructing a future Christian society,” he said.
The project has also created jobs for local people, helping their families as well as the families whose children are attending. Father Samir told ACN that since it opened, dozens of children have already graduated from the kindergarten, moving on to other schools, where they have been commended for their academic abilities.
“With the support of our bishop, we always focus on giving value to every stage of a person’s life, but childhood and children are the most important. We have a saying: ‘In order to have a future, it is not enough to have children only,’ and for this, we must raise and educate. The best time for this is childhood. We have another saying, that ‘engraving on childhood is like engraving on stone.’”
The new floor of the kindergarten opened in July 2024 and includes three classrooms, a kitchen, sanitary facilities, and a large and well-equipped area for playing. “It is well-built and secure, to be safe for our children. We are very grateful to ACN and to all donors, and God bless you,” said Father Samir.