ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The urge to help the people he has considered his community for the last eight years drove Kurdish businessman Emad Ballack to abandon the comfort of his office in Erbil and head to the violent battleground of Kyiv, knowing that he could not just stand by and watch Russia dismantle the country he has grown a significant emotional attachment to.
Not intimidated by the current situation in the country, Ballack ran to the aid of the Ukrainians, believing that a life of war and instability in Iraq had prepared him for this experience. “I’m familiar with war. I’m familiar with the pain and suffering of people who encounter war,” Ballack told Rudaw via video call on Sunday.
Born in Baghdad to a Kurdish family, Ballack is a Kurdish-American entrepreneur and official representative of the International Chamber of Commerce for the national committee of Ukraine in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region.
Following the instability in Iraq brought upon by the war against the Islamic State (ISIS) in 2014, Ballack began searching for investment opportunities outside of the country, setting up businesses in Ukraine, and eventually forming a special connection with the country and its people over the years.
“I felt I needed to be home and help my friends because otherwise I would be sitting home in Erbil or at my office just watching news and going crazy, not being able to do something,” Ballack said.
It took Ballack 4 days, and multiple flights and train rides to finally reach the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, arriving on March 8 after his initial flight for February 25 was cancelled.
“My concern was not whether I should go or not, but how I can go,” said Ballack, describing his decision to go to Kyiv as being very easy.
In addition to using his restaurants in Kyiv to provide free meals to Ukrainian troops, the Kurdish entrepreneur is distributing donations, through his e-commerce company, Zibox, from all over the world to people who are currently either displaced in Ukraine or seeking safety along the border with Poland.
Medical kits, dry food, clothes, and water are amongst some of the donations that Ballack distributes to the Ukrainian people. Ballack added that they received 30,000 units of water filters to be distributed to the people of Mariupol and Kharkiv, who are currently struggling with access to safe drinking water. His team is also currently working on securing special medication for cases of blood clotting.
As his company continues to receive donations from around the globe, Ballack, appearing disappointed and disheartened, mentions that he has only received one donation from a Kurdish citizen, stating “unfortunately Kurds forgot what happened to them… they don’t know the spirit of helping the needy.”
Ballack, who has previously also provided help to people in Sierra Leone and other African territories, stated that geopolitics is what steered him away from engaging in similar projects in Iraq and Syria during the war against ISIS.
“For me to leave, as an American from Ukraine to go to Syria was not a good idea... Those people who tried to get into Syrian borders, they mainly became associated with, perhaps, ISIS or terrorists,” said Ballack.
Ballack has also hired a team of 400 workers to renovate abandoned buildings and create shelters for the internally displaced. “We have converted dormitory homes, old abandoned dormitory homes, to shelters for those who are IDPs, internally displaced people,” said Ballack.
“We are also in talks with a donor from the United States, who is willing to send pre-fabricated homes,” he added.
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24 and has since seized control of parts of the country, so far failing to capture any major cities. Despite harsh sanctions and calls from the international community for the suspension of the invasion, Russia seems determined to go ahead with what it calls “a special operation.”
Ballack’s efforts come during a time when the Russian invasion continues to take its toll on the people of Ukraine, as nearly 6.5 million people have been internally displaced, and 3.5 million have already fled the country, according to the U.N. migration agency.
By Chenar Chalak
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