On 29th May 2015, the second humanitarian aid delivery of basic medical and healthcare equipment crossed the Syrian -Iraqi border heading towards the population of northeastern Syria (Rojava).

This delivery of medicine, provided by the development wing of the Italian Foreign Ministry, left the UN warehouses in Brindisi on its way to Doha, in the Autonomous Region of Iraqi Kurdistan, where it was delivered to our field workers for distribution.

The town of Rojava lies between the blocked Turkish border to the north, and the Daesh militias to the south.

We broke through this state of siege by crossing Iraqi Kurdistan, which shares a very small border with Rojava. Our delivery was worth about 90,000 Euro, and comprised healthcare equipment, basic medicines and other material needed to provide first aid to 20,000 traumatised patients.

This was the first, significant and official sign of support for this mainly Kurdish area of Syria from Italian institutions. They had been looking for a way to help Rojava and its population since the battle of Kobane, because this region is a unique model of secularism, self-government and coexistence of Kurdish, Christian and Arabic communities.

We received the Italian convoy in Iraqi Kurdistan and we organized transport to Syria and the Rojava area, where distribution was implemented thanks to the Kurdish Red Crescent.

This humanitarian aid delivery for the Rojava population was made by Un Ponte Per… just days after the first delivery on 2nd / 3rd May 2015, thanks to the generosity of the charitable wing on the Waldensian Table.

This second delivery was also made up of tumour medicines for which were not available locally, required for the treatment of around 6,000 people in Rojava through hospitals in Derik/Al Malikiah and Qamishlo.

We must support everybody who fights oppression and the cruelty of Daesh. Kurdish Syrians have been in the frontline of this fight for years. And they have established one of very few areas where Christians and Yazidis are not persecuted, and where women have won the fight for innovative legislation.