Iraq
Shy, nervous, tense. Sarah, a 29-year-old mother of two, heard about our character and trauma training from a friend and wanted to see if she could change. Interacting with our staff and training materials, Sarah noticed the improvement as she started to apply the material: forgiving, apologising, and working towards reconciliation.
Growing up, Sarah had a very strong relationship with her cousin, almost like sisters, but unfortunately, she accused Sarah of wrongdoing and slandered her. Sarah cut off her relationship with her and blocked her on all social media platforms. Her cousin got married and had a child, but Sarah never visited or communicated with her. During the training, Sarah started to work through forgiveness. After the training she went to visit her cousin, taking a wedding gift. The cousin was shocked and happy, and now their relationship has grown even stronger than it was before. Growing in confidence, Sarah has discovered she is resilient, has courage, and learns new things. Her husband noticed this life change. Now apologising, forgiving, and reconciling are normal parts of Sarah’s new life.
A Family Effort
Perseverance is one of our five key priorities at Operation Mercy. In our city, we often meet children and families who have endured immense hardship — through war,
Don’t Give Up, There Is Still Hope
After a year of working with her, she is now able to feed herself, shower independently and help with cleaning around the house! When we first started working with her,
Trust is Built Through Peer Groups
This group of four men became eager to meet each other and friendship was formed.
Character Affects Relationships
“Where did you learn gratitude? It seems that your teacher is teaching you some moral matters.”
Rescued From Revenge
After forgiving, Enam no longer desires to take revenge and now even prays for her former husband.
Wheelchair Gives New Hope in Life
The wheelchair has not only contributed to Amir’s improvement physically, but emotionally and psychologically as well.
New Found Confidence
During the last couple of weeks, Ahmed’s gait and posture have significantly improved.
Character Affects Relationships
While attending a character development training, Heba was reminded of a past conflict with her manager and close friend at work. Once, while her manager was traveling,
Partnerships for Good
He now has a stable home for him and his family and is walking on his “new” foot.
Hope Stored in His Heart
Most of all we sense that Haitham now has hope stored in his heart that he did not have before.
Exploring New Ways of Moving
Yousif, a 4-year-old diagnosed with spina bifida, lay curled up in the corner of the living room floor. The doctors had told his family to give up hope—he was disabled and would remain that way for the rest of his life.
Can I Change?
Shy, nervous, tense. Sarah, a 29-year-old mother of two, heard about our character and trauma training from a friend and wanted to see if she could change.
Truth Boost
In spring 2023 we partnered with another NGO. Their local staff were running a centre in the old city for children with learning disabilities.
They wanted to integrate children with physical disabilities and asked our physical therapist (PT) and our occupational therapist (OT) to work specifically with these children.
How a Mother’s Life Was Changed
On his own, he began to stand up and to hold himself on the wall.
Healing and Growth
During a wedding in a small local village a large fire broke out!