Seven-year-old Ali watches his father, Majid, a falafel shop owner, write out a list of things he would like to use micro grant money for in order to provide better service for his customers during a visit from Soldiers with Company B, 2nd Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, May 6. Photo by Pfc. Kimberly Hackbarth

Hamamiat Iraq – There’s an empty space where a front window should be, letting in flies that climb over food waiting to be sold to customers, while dust coats the shelves at a hole-in-the-wall falafel shop in Hamamiat.

Shop owner, Majid Saadoon Noor, is caught in a catch-22. He believes that with improvements to his shop, he can double his business. However, because he isn’t drawing in enough customers, he can’t make enough money to afford those improvements. He also is unable to secure a small business loan because they are unavailable from Iraqi banks.

There is help. U.S. forces are offering micro-grants to Iraqi small business owners to help grow the local economy.

Company B, 2nd Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment Soldiers visited Majid’s falafel shop and another business to hand out paperwork for the shop owners to apply for the micro-grants.

Funding for micro-grants comes from the Commanders’ Emergency Response Program, explained Staff Sgt. Carl Hendricks, a squad leader with B Company, 2nd Bn., 23rd Inf. Regt.

Commanders in the battalion, working with local Iraqi leaders, choose businesses they feel would be the best candidates to help boost the local economy, foster security and leave a positive impression in the community long after the brigade redeploys.

Through micro-grants of up to $5,000, business owners can purchase air conditioners, windows, appliances and furniture, something Majid said he would like for his shop to make his customers happier.

“I’m looking forward to improving the service provided,” said Majid.

Local citizens and members of the Iraqi security forces view the falafel stand as a main stop for food, so getting the owner better conditions for his products helps the people in that area, said Hendricks.

At a nearby sewing shop, which also serves as a school where Iraqi women learn how to sew, a different need was identified.

Unlike the falafel shop, the work area in the sewing shop does not need as much structural work. However, the women lack many of the necessary supplies for sewing, such as fabric and thread.

The head teacher at the school also filled out paperwork given to her by the Soldiers to apply for a micro-grant.

“It’ll help [the populace] so that when we do leave, they’re able to have food and have their schools,” said Hendricks. “They can be independent.”

DVIDS
Story by Pfc. Kimberly Hackbarth

Iraq prepares for H1N1 flu pandemic

Doctors in Salah ad Din province are taking the threat of H1N1 seriously. They are taking no chances in preparing for pandemic influenza.

“They view it as a serious problem,” said Dr. Marcus, an advisor for the Salah ad Din Provincial Reconstruction Team.

With the announcement of the global flu pandemic and growing fears of an H1N1 outbreak within the country, the doctors in Salah ad Din province took action. Weeks of clinical preparations, public health announcements and professional preparations culminated in the mid-July provincial H1N1 Influenza summit in Tikrit, Iraq.

Six leading physicians from the Tikrit University College of Medicine, the Tikrit Teaching Hospital and the Salah ad Din Health Directorate, along with an American preventive medicine physician from the US military, presented on topics that ranged from the epidemiology of H1N1 to public health controls to prevent and respond to an outbreak in the province.

Clean water restored to Iraqi villages

For residents of the villages of Qalata and Khalkhalan, Iraq, access to a cup of clean drinking water is not always as easy as going to the faucet and pouring one. The current water purification plant that supplies both villages no longer produces clean, drinkable water, requiring residents to travel to a nearby city.

But soon the nearly 7,000 residents of the villages will only have to travel to their water pumps to get purified water.

“Local contractors are set to begin refitting the old water purification plant so it produces water people can actually drink,” said Hameed Faqi, the director of municipality for the villages.

“Right now all you can use the water from the old plant for is washing clothes and showering,” said Othman Hassen, a member of the district council.

Microgrants restores business around Samarra’s Golden Mosque

The area around the Al Askari “Golden” Mosque of Samarra, Iraq, once thrived as an open-air market serving thousands of visitors every year. Iraqi and U.S. forces are working to guarantee security, and that means more than safety. It also means rebuilding the economy.

Joined by Samarra Mayor Mahmood Khalaf Ahmed, U.S. Soldiers with the 490th Civil Affairs Battalion and the 25th Infantry Division’s 2nd Battalion, 35th Infantry Regiment, distributed $2.5 million in small-business grants to more than 900 local store owners, Aug. 3 to 5.

Following the bombing of the Golden Mosque in February 2006, business plummeted. Some shops shut down due to security concerns and the placement of protective barriers around the city.

“The closure of the stores around the Golden Mosque truly hurt the economy of Samarra,” Ahmed said. “Many of the visitors to the city would come and shop and provide the much-needed money for the city. With these microgrants, we will be able to return being the strong, economic city that we were in previous years.”

The Iraqi government and U.S. forces have allocated millions of dollars in grants for small-business owners, and to those who wish to become small-businesses owners, to revitalize the economy. The grants ranged from $2,500 to $10,000.

Army 1st Lt. Daniel Braud checks on a cell phone store in Daquq, Iraq, July 7, 2009, owned by Ali Abbas Muhsin, who used a U.S.-issued microgrant to revitalize his business. U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Jason Douglas

As security improves in Kirkuk, the business community has the opportunity to grow. But some small businesses still need a helping hand.

U.S. forces issue microgrants of up to $5,000 to help Iraqi small-business owners build or revitalize their businesses, and they follow up about 30 days later to assess progress.

Army 1st Lt. Daniel Braud, platoon leader for the 1st Cavalry Division’s 4th Squadron, 9th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, set July 7 out to review several microgrants in the city of Daquq in Kirkuk province.

“After the microgrants are issued, that isn’t the last step,” Braud said. “We need to verify the funds are being used in the manner that [Iraqi business owners] stated on their applications, and also check on the progress their businesses have made.”

Braud’s first stop was to visit Salar Ghazi Fauzi, who owns an automotive repair shop. Fauzi said the funds helped him purchase an air compressor and a generator. The compressor allows him to use an impact
socket wrench that improves efficiency by removing bolts faster, Fauzi said. The generator allows him to stay open longer, he added, because he is less reliant on public electricity.

Army 1st Lt. Daniel Braud takes a photo of Salar Ghazi Fauzi showcasing the new impact socket wrench he purchased for his automotive repair shop using a U.S.-issued microgrant in Daquq, Iraq, July 7, 2009. U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Jason Douglas

Gahandai Kyiani Ghiden works as a real estate sales agent in Daquq. He bought fax machines and laptops to list the homes he sells.

“Now that the homes are advertised, there is a better chance to reach potential buyers,” Ghiden said.

Ali Abbas Muhsin, displays his wares from wall to wall in his cell phone store. Ali used his grant to add a new floor and ceiling and to purchase laptops used to activate the cell phones he sells. Before he got his grant, he said, his customers had to wait for him to get to a computer to activate their phones.

Microgrants have helped shop owners in Daquq open shops with services ranging from shoe repair to window making.

“Getting the local economy up and running is an important part of stability in this region,” Braud said.

While Braud conducted his assessment, several Daquq residents approached him about applying for their own microgrants.

“Many times, [Iraqis] will see the progress of their fellow citizens and want to take part as well, so we get approached about how they can take part in the program,” he said, adding that he’ll accept more applications soon.

DoD
By Army Staff Sgt. Jason Douglas
Special to American Forces Press Service

Sgt. 1st Class Betty Ortega, a Miami native and the women's initiative representative for 3rd Battalion, 82nd Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, present Kocher Muhammed Ali, a Kirkuk city resident, with a micro-grant, May 2, to help her start a juice making business. Kocher is planning to use the business to teach women how to make juice so they can start their own juice making operations. Photo by Pfc. Justin Naylor

A woman starting her own juice bar business would not sound too unusual to an American. For a woman in Iraq though, the chance to open any kind of business is unique.

Kocher Ali Muhammed received the fourth micro-grant to be presented by the “Red Dragons,” 3rd Battalion, 82nd Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, in Kirkuk city, Iraq, to help her start her own juice making company.

“The micro-grants are a form of money used to stimulate business in the area,” said Cpt. Stephen Clark, a San Antonio, Texas, native and information officer for 3rd Bn., 82nd FA Regt.

“We give them enough money to get on their feet,” explained Clark.

For Kocher, this is more than just a chance to get on her feet; it is a chance to assist the fellow women of Kirkuk.

“We are trying to help women become independent,” said Kocher. “Learning a trade gives them the opportunity to support their families.”

“Women aren’t always given the chance to start businesses,” explained Kocher. “We [women] are starting out with this small business and we going to work our way up.”

This gives women the chance to show the country of Iraq that they are capable of starting a business and being successful on their own, said Kocher.

By starting businesses, women are showing that they are capable of doing more than working in the house cooking and cleaning, explained Sgt. 1st Class Betty Ortega, a Miami native and the women’s initiative representative for the “Red Dragon” battalio.

“This will allow them to employ other women,” said Ortega.

According to Ortega, women in Kirkuk city are in the “crawl” phase in their quest for equality. They are opening up small shops like this and are beginning to join the work force in higher numbers.

“We are doing anything we can to broaden their capabilities,” said Ortega.

Kocher will be using her business to do more than just make juice; she will be training a new group of 10 women every two weeks on how to make their own juices and desserts, creating the opportunity for these women to go out and start their own juice businesses.

Kocher Muhammed Ali (left), stands with a group of friends after receiving a micro-grant, May 2, from 3rd Battalion, 82nd Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, to help her start a juice making business in Kirkuk city. Photo by Pfc. Justin Naylor

To obtain the money to start her business, Kocher filled out an application and submitted it to the “Red Dragons.” She answered a few questions about the type of business she planned to start, how much experience she had, and how she was going to come up with any other money needed to get the business up and running.

She explained exactly what supplies she would need, the quantity she needed, and how much they cost.

She submitted her application to 2nd Brigade for review and final approval, and the entire process only took about a week from the start of the application to the delivery of the grant to Kocher.

This particular grant comes after weeks of Soldiers taking to the streets of Kirkuk city explaining to the locals about what micro-grants are and how they work.

“It’s a way to inject money into the local economy,” said Clark.

The great thing about these micro-grants is they have such a fast turnaround time, explained Clark.

Thanks to a little help from the “Red Dragons,” the residents of Kirkuk city will soon have a new spot to buy freshly made, healthy juice. Chai lovers need not be immediately worried.

DVIDS
Story by Pfc. Justin Naylor