Honor for Major Humanitarian Work in a Difficult Region of the World

Ralf Bülter with nine-year-old Ibrahim under the symbol of the BCF Foundation, the eagle, which stands for strength, freedom, and individuality.

The Wings of Help Award was accepted in the presence of LOG/WoH President Frank Franke and Vice President Ralf Bülter: Erbil’s former mayor Nehad Qoja with Frank Franke, Musa Ahmad, the President of the BCF, Ralf Bülter, and Ibrahim Samin, BCF Vice President (from left).

Ralf Bülter with nine-year-old Ibrahim under the symbol of the BCF Foundation, the eagle, which stands for strength, freedom, and individuality.

Luftfahrt ohne Grenzen/Wings of Help e.V. (LOG/WoH) has honored a humanitarian institution in the Middle East that powerfully combines both: helping tens of thousands of people in its own country and a decades-long partnership with LOG/WoH, a renowned German aid organization. With over 1,500 employees, the Barzani Charity Foundation (BCF) cares for refugees in 29 camps and tent cities in northern Iraq. The migrants predominantly come from Iraq, Syria, or from the Yazidi ethnic group, who have suffered particularly under the terror of the ISIS militia. Through these efforts, BCF not only provides temporary housing for around 300,000 people, providing food and medical care, but also supports the education of young people. The work of this non-governmental foundation, based in the city of Erbil, with a population of one million, supports schools in camps, and is continually strengthened by the efforts of LOG/WoH, which is well aware of the needs and shortages in the Autonomous Republic of Kurdistan, with Erbil as its capital. Camps with “Education is Future"

The Barzani Charity Foundation received the Wings of Help Award for its ongoing commitment in an extremely difficult political region with highly diverse groups and nationalities. LOG/WoH has been connected to the region for over ten years through aid, but also through support for schools built in the camps. They benefit from the LOH/WoH “Education is Future" educational program, for example, through the supply of computers and connections to the university network in the greater Erbil area. LOG/WoH can also rely on the expertise of its new Middle East representative, the former mayor of Erbil, Nehad Qoja, who lives in Kurdistan and Germany.

Ibrahim gains a perspective

LOG/WoH has also addressed the fate of individual young people. In addition to Ruqaya, a girl who lost her entire family in the war, the aid organization is now also supporting nine-year-old Ibrahim. He was born in Syria and had to flee the ISIS militia with his parents and three siblings. Ibrahim’s father, a chemistry and physics teacher, has been teaching refugee children in a camp near Erbil for eight years. His greatest wish is to live with his family in his own apartment in Erbil and to leave the camp as soon as possible. LOG/WoH is helping Ibrahim, with small financial contributions, to progress, especially in school, and perhaps even to study in Germany one day – just as his eldest brother, who now lives in Stuttgart, did. Vice President Ralf Bülter: “With relatively modest amounts, we can help Ibrahim get closer to his ultimate goal. Like others, we want to give him a future and leave his permanent life in the camp behind him." The government in Kurdistan is doing a lot in this regard: The large camps from the immediate post-war period have been reduced from approximately one million people to around 300,000 today. Many displaced people have returned to their ancestral homelands thanks to appropriate programs.