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Iranian Kurdish refugees find shelter in
Kurdistan-Iraq
20.6.2006
By Margaret Besheer
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International refugee
agencies say nearly one million Iraqis have fled
their country since the U.S.-led invasion to topple
Saddam Hussein in March 2003. But Iraq is also host
to a small and long-standing refugee population of
several thousand Turkish and Iranian Kurds. On World
Refugee Day, VOA's Margaret Besheer visited the Kawa
Refugee Camp in the northern Iraqi town of Qushtapa,
and brings us this report.
In a hot, dusty camp on the outskirts of Erbil city
stands a small town of tents, tarps, and cinder
blocks. For the past eight months it has been home
to more than 200 families of Iranian Kurds.
The Kawa Transit Camp was established last October
by the U.N. Refugee Agency to house refugees who had
been living in another camp in the western Iraqi
city of Ramadi for more than 20 years. Those
refugees initially fled their homes in Iran during
the Iran-Iraq war that raged during the 1980s and
killed an estimated one million people.
But the refugees had to be moved from Ramadi last
year after insurgent-inspired violence made the city
too dangerous for both aid workers and refugees. The
Kurdish regional government provided the land for
the Kawa Camp.
Chinour, 18, and her seven brothers and sisters were
born in the camp at Ramadi. Now they live at Kawa
with their parents.
Chinour says, "We came here because the security
situation in Ramadi was bad and because the
terrorists were killing people and the families were
all afraid."
Although there is a secondary school at Kawa,
Chinour, like many other girls, does not attend
because she must help her father in his small
grocery store. But camp officials say the attendance
rate is better among younger children and that the
primary school has about 400 students.
Chinour's family home consists of one bare room
built from cinder blocks where the family eats,
socializes and sleeps. Outside is a small courtyard
draped with plastic sheeting for privacy.
But the family has electricity to run a fan in the
intense heat and they also have a color television.
In fact, many of their neighbors even have satellite
dishes outside their tents.
Camp Kawa's daily operations are handled by a small
Swedish-based non-governmental organization called
Qandil. Joann Kingsley is the field coordinator for
the camp. She says water and electricity are better
at Kawa than in some other parts of Iraq.
"Are they getting more power than everyone else? Yes
they are," she said. "Do they need it? Absolutely.
They are not living in the same conditions."
The families also receive 95 liters of water each
day for cooking, drinking and bathing.
The camp has a healthcare center and a library.
There are sports and other activities for the
children, who make up about half the camp's
population of nearly 1,300 people.
Along the camp's main road are several small shops
run by residents.
Kingsley says the camp has programs to help the
refugees get off assistance and become
self-sufficient.
"It is a bit more difficult for the women," she
added. "The traditional cultural values here are
extremely conservative, so women are often not
permitted to do anything outside their tents. So we
have to find things that are culturally
appropriate."
She says they are offering sewing, which women can
do at home, and are considering offering training in
bee keeping and computers. For the men, there is
training in carpentry, welding and electrical work,
as well as English classes.
Although they are better off than refugees in some
other countries, life at Kawa is not easy. But
hopefully it will improve soon, as permanent homes
are being built nearby for the Kawa families.
voanews com
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