Daily Dispatch: Securing a Base of Operations in Bashiqa

This morning we scouted for a compound in a neighborhood in Bashiqa close to the central command center so that we could potentially provide immediate medical assistance for (1) Peshmerga, (2) IDP's crossing over from Mosul into Kurdistan and (3) the various international agencies working to de-mine the city of the thousands of mines and IED's (a dangerous and daunting job).

After looking around and not finding anything that was particularly ideal, Dilshad (one of our Peshmerga brothers) led us to a place he found on the next block. It was an ISIS house that had miraculously been untouched from airstrikes--which is incredible considering that nearly the whole city is rubble.

After a preliminary sweep for booby traps and IED's we got the green light to start gutting it. Inside we found ID cards of children, clothes and papers littered all over the house and blood puddles in two of the rooms. But all the windows but one were intact and it was an ideal layout for what we need it for.

It is the perfect place for an office, clinic, hosting facility and training center. It is a mess right now and needs a lot of work. But it should be functional in 24 hours.

From the roof the frontline berm between Kurdistan and Mosul is visible which means we will be able to see and serve IDPs in flight within minutes. And it's a block from central command. We are grateful to the Lord for His provision.

Tonight we have more medical personnel and volunteers arriving in Erbil and making their way here.

Tomorrow we want to start the process of locating the owner of the house so we can start paying rent (which would be a blessing to them) and begin beautifying the home (which will hopefully be a blessing to the city that has been reduced to ashes and rubble). And we will also start the process of setting a program in motion.

If you would like to donate toward the costs of renovations, click on the link below or the SUPPORT page above.