ABOUT OUR WORK

The Kurdish Aid Foundation (KAF) is a small UK registered charity, which was set up in  1991 as a medical and dental appeal, as a consequence of Saddam’s atrocities in Southern (Iraqi)  Kurdistan. It has helped displaced and injured people in that part of Kurdistan since  the 1990’s.

Little Kurdish girl standing at her mother’s grave on Nowruz in Mahabad

Over the years we have helped refugees in Southern (Iraqi) Kurdistan and Rojawa and more recently, we have sent aid to the Kolbers in Rojhelat, the Kurdistan of Iran. We have links within Iran and played an important part in helping the earthquake victims in the region in  2019. From 2022 until now we are helping with a couple of projects, specifically in the Kurdish region of Iran. The KAF is willing to help in all parts of Kurdish-inhabited areas, wherever disaster strikes and human rights violations occur.

Borders are not an obstacle, and we will help all victims of natural disasters or the repression of regional governments which frequently discriminate against the Kurdish people and deprive them of their rights.

OUR TRUSTEES

Karen Dabrowska

Karen Dabrowska

Secretary

Karen Dabrowska, the author of nine books including Iraq the ancient sites and Iraqi Kurdistan, is a freelance journalist focusing on the Middle East and Islamic Affairs. She participated in the KAF’s fact-finding mission to East Kurdistan in March 2015. Karen is a regular contributor to the cultural section of The Arab Weekly.

Kawa Almasi

Kawa Almasi

Chair

Kawa Almasi, from the Kurdistan of Iran, where he was a human rights activist and fought for social justice. Since arriving in the UK in 1997, he studied software engineering at the University of Westminster. He has always combined his professional activities with charitable work.

Dr Shafiq Harris

Dr Shafiq Harris

Trustee and Director

After a wave of Iraqi army and police atrocities in Kurdish towns and villages, Shafiq began his humanitarian relief to Kurdistan, in 1991. Shafiq experienced the barbarity of the Iraqi army first hand in the 1970’s and since then the aim has always been to try and improve the lives of those persecuted and those otherwise affected. He registered the Kurdish Aid Foundation in the UK in 1994 and has continued to supply medical and humanitarian aid to the Kurdish region ever since. Professionally Shafiq has worked as a Maxillo-Facial Surgeon in the UK since 1976. This includes extended spells in the NHS and the British Armed Forces. He currently works as a Lead Oral Surgeon in the NHS on a part time basis.