Citizens State Bank owner Chris Yatooma, a Chaldean House member, accompanied Mana on a late November trip to Iraq to meet with a US Congressional delegation that included: US Reps. Elissa Slotkin, Katie Porter , Colin Allred and Mark Takano, chairman of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs.
With a $50,000 gift from Yatooma, the new microfund has raised $100,000 from Chaldean American business leaders in Southeast Michigan, Manna said.
The chamber has created a “product of Nineveh” label to help promote products and goods made in the remaining Chaldean villages in northern Iraq and plans to promote and sell the products to the diaspora community, including those living in Michigan. , he said.
It is also talking to governments in Iraq to see if it can create a sister city or sister state environment.
“Once we open the office, it will help us accelerate our efforts,” Manna said.
Manna said he joined the US congressional delegation to defend US policy that protects Chaldeans, Yazidis and other minorities in Iraq and supports them by helping to create administrative regions with local government and policing.
Annual congressional delegation trips are planned starting next year, Manna said.
“It’s fantastic to see firsthand what US policy has created,” he said.
“Unfortunately, it was the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 that decimated the Chaldean population there…due to the lack of security in the country and religious extremism targeting religious minorities like the Chaldeans who were seen as allies of the West.”
The delegations’ trips can show how U.S. policy can help preserve and strengthen these minority populations, Manna said.
