CHRISTIAN ASSISTANCE IN BAGHDAD'S WORST NEIGHBORHOOD

The Baghdad suburb of Hai Tarek is an unusually harsh place, and conditions here - muddy roads covered with garbage, no sewage system, the deleterious effects of sickness and trauma - underline the continued importance for humanitarian assistance in Iraq.

As Mazen Mohsen, an Iraqi physician, said recently: "Humanitarian work is still needed here."

It's also welcome, if the boisterous -- and predominately youthful -- crowds that greeted the daily delivery of water in this predominately Shi'ite area was any indication.

The delivery was made possible by the support of U.S. churches - specifically by Church World Service and other U.S. church agencies working together on the "All Our Children" (AOC) campaign, an inter-agency effort to meet critical ongoing medical and health needs of Iraqi children and their families...

The AOC-funded water project in Hai Tarek - including daily delivery of water and distribution of jerry cans to some 55,000 people (some 5,000 families) - is improving lives in one of Baghdad's poorest areas, an area where most residents don't have jobs and where eight out of 10 residents are children.