After spending five weeks in the southern Iraqi city of Basra, UNICEF worker Kathryn Irwin can relate first hand the plight of Iraqi children.
And now that she has returned she is desperate for the people of Birmingham to be made aware of the dire situation so that urgent help can be delivered.
She said: I was there for about five weeks and one of the key problems is that of water sanitation. It is extremely hot and can get up to 40C.
There is a pipe that runs through the city and people were shooting holes in the pipe to get water.
This means you get water mixing with waste and it pollutes it for those further on - and it is done in desperation. Then, if you go to the hospital you see the results of dirty water. Its heartbreaking.
Kathryn said: I have seen the difference donations can make on the ground and the difference it makes to childrens lives. It means so much to them that the people of Birmingham are thinking about them.
One of the positive things you can see is children going back to school. The children have been stuck in their houses during the war and now they get to be with their friends.
But Kathryn said a major danger confronting the children was a legacy of the war.
School finishes finishes at 11.30am. So they are out playing and we have the problem of cluster bombs dropped by the coalition.
The children are exploring and these things are shiny and interesting and as a result we are getting deaths.
UNICEF is now educating children about the dangers of approaching unexploded bombs and a team of UNICEF engineers is working repairing water cylinders to help provide clean water.
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