Iraqis Displaced within Iraq and Seeking Refuge Abroad

by Farah Abrahim Mohsen
July 24, 2009

As an Iraqi refugee displaced for six years in a row, the vision of Iraq has became more distant every year, but the desire to go back grows stronger day after day. On a cold Damascus winter afternoon, over a hot cup of Shai Khameer, I shared with a friend my dream to go back home. “If you miss home so much,” he asked, “why don’t you go back?”

Damascus, Syria
June 26, 2009

Cathy Breen with Iraqi Child in SyriaDear Friends,

My time in Syria is coming to a close. Tomorrow I will head to Jordan for a couple of days and then back to the big apple on July 1st. A final session with UNHCR the other day brought a sense of closure in some ways, as I was able to discuss concerns and turn over concrete “cases” for their consideration. We spoke of the increasingly desperate situation of Iraqi refugees here, one hidden from the world by the lack of media coverage. But we also acknowledged the many small miracles and victories we continue to witness.

During the Month of May Gerald Paoli of Voices served for 28 days on the Christian Peacemaker Iraq Team (CPT). These are some images from that journey.

Damascus, Syria
June 16, 2009

Middle Eastern people are by nature gift givers. My room and the refrigerator outside on the patio attest to this. The homemade yogurt from Namir’s family and the jar of cherry jam from Sara, mother of four; are in the process of being consumed. However, the large oil painting from 16 year old Noor, a bar of soap carved into the shape of a foot by little Anfal and a large Arabic bible are just a few of the lasting items so lovingly given to me.

Inside the epicenter of Iraqi relocation in the Western United States
By Hanna Ingber Win
Read Original article at LA Weekly
May 21, 2009

If you weren’t paying close attention, it would be easy to mistake Main Street, El Cajon, for any other Main Street across the USA that has been transformed by its immigrant population. Kebabs and falafel are on the menus of most of the restaurants, and the local supermarket sells green olives, hummus mix and a wide assortment of olive oils. The television in one café shows a woman in a head scarf delivering the news in Arabic. Outside another, 2-foot-high hookahs sit on a table, ready to be smoked. These are sights we’ve become accustomed to in many California neighborhoods. But there are other details that make this street a little different. The word Babylon, for instance, is all over the place. There’s Babylon Hair Style, Babylon Restaurant, Babylon Jewelry, Babylon Hookah Lounge. And inside a small deli, where a clerk’s computer screen saver shows a photograph of men in traditional turbans and robes gathered on the floor around a feast of Middle Eastern delicacies, Iraqi flags are for sale near the lamb shanks and the ground meat preferred for a certain type of kebab favored in Iraq.

By Corinne Reilly, McClatchy Newspapers
May 22, 2009
Read original at McClatchy Newspapers

BAGHDAD — When Dhafir Hussein left Iraq last year for Sweden, he hoped it would be for good. Sectarian killings and armed gangs had turned his old Baghdad neighborhood, Sheik Omar, into a ghost town. Business had disappeared at the small engine-repair shop where he once made a decent living.

A year after Hussein got to Stockholm, his immigration lawyer called and said that Hussein would never be allowed to settle in Sweden permanently with his wife and two teenage sons, so he decided to go home. Besides, he figured, Iraq’s government had said things were better there.

By Gerald Paoli
May 20, 2009
Sulimanaya, Iraq

The Events Leading Up to Mohamed’s Death
UNHCR Camp in Northern Iraq: Gerald Paoli (left) with the Camp Nurse and child at the UNHCR refugee camp in northern Iraq. Sulimanaya, Iraq - The first Zarawa internally displaced persons (IDP) camp was in a valley in the Qandil Mountains. It wasn’t home, but it was situated next to a cool stream and was close to the eight villages of the 132 families, who had fled violence rained down on them by Turkey and Iran. Now, they live in the new Zarawa IDP camp built by the United Nation’s High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR).

Damascus, Syria
May 19, 2009

Did you or did you not cook?

It seems like such a harmless question, but the simple yes or no answer to that question can determine the fate of an Iraqi family longing to join their relatives in the United States.

Damascus, Syria
May 17, 2009

I said laughingly to Josh “You have a shadow.” When he wasn’t chasing after the frisbee, 5 year old Mustafa kept taking his hand. It was such a sweet gesture.Mustafa and Josh

I met Josh a few days ago over tea. He had contacted me by email, asking if we could get together. Not only do we know many of the same people in the peace movement, but I felt an instant kinship with this gentle yet intense young man from Oregon. Josh has spent a good deal of time in Palestine over the last years, and is currently continuing his Arabic study in Damascus. We spoke of many things, and by chance I mentioned a dear Iraqi family I had been just been with.

May 11, 2009

AMMAN, Jordan - On the first Saturday in May, at Churchill Downs, the underdog, come-from-behind, runaway victory of Mine That Bird in the 135th running of the Kentucky Derby thrilled people across the world. Racehorse victories are attributed to team efforts: credit the jockey and the trainer for winning. And the trainer in this case - Bennie Woolley - was as much an underdog as Mine That Bird was a long shot, having never previously run a horse in a stakes race before Saturday.