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IRAQ / MOSUL DISPLACED
STORY: IRAQ / MOSUL REFUGEE
TRT: 02:09
SOURCE: UNHCR
RESTRICTIONS: PLEASE CREDIT UNHCR
LANGUAGE: ARABIC / NATS
DATELINE: 31 MAY 2016, ERBIL, IRAQ
31 MAY 2016, ERBIL, IRAQ
1. Various shot, Abou Ibrahim repairing a truck
2. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Abou Ibrahim, Iraqi internally displaced person:
“They took my son and daughter and killed by son in law.”
3. Various shots, Bushra and her daughter gathering laundry
4. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Bushra, Iraqi internally displaced person:
“Our situation was very hard. We left barefoot and without our headscarves. We left with only the clothes we were wearing.”
5. Various shots, family eating lunch
6. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Abou Ibrahim, Iraqi internally displaced person:
“Till now I don’t know my children’s fate. I don’t know if they were killed, if they’re dead or alive. I don’t know.”
7. Various shots, Abou Ibrahim repairing engine
8. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Abou Ibrahim, Iraqi internally displaced person:
“I’m sure they were killed, and when they take girls (crying).”
9. Wide shots, Abou Ibrahim’s granddaughter give him water
10. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Abou Ibrahim, Iraqi internally displaced person:
“All of Iraq is my country but Mosul is where I was born and raised. It is a part of me, a part of my body. If I lose a part of my body, the body will come to an end.”
11. Various shots, Abou Ibrahim playing with his granddaughters
Abou Ibrahim and his family fled Mosul during the offensive in June 2014 that led to the fall of the city to ISIL. He and his family were among the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis who sought refuge in the Kurdish region of Iraq.
Life has not been easy since he fled Mosul two years ago. It’s a day he remembers with agony.
SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Abou Ibrahim, Iraqi internally displaced person:
“They took my son and daughter and killed by son in law.”
Initially Abou Ibrahim took his family to camp Khazer, about 50 kilometres from Erbil, but as the fighting approached they were forced to flee yet again. His wife Bushra described being displaced twice.
SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Bushra, Iraqi internally displaced person:
“Our situation was very hard. We left barefoot and without our headscarves. We left with only the clothes we were wearing.”
He moved his family to Baharka camp in Erbil where they now live with about 4000 other internally displaced persons (IDPs). Two years after the fall of Mosul, Abou Ibrahim still does not know the fate of his missing children.
SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Abou Ibrahim, Iraqi internally displaced person:
“Till now I don’t know my children’s fate. I don’t know if they were killed, if they’re dead or alive. I don’t know.”
The horror of losing his children never leaves him. He knows the prospects for them are dim and cries for what could have happened.
SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Abou Ibrahim, Iraqi internally displaced person:
“I’m sure they were killed, and when they take girls (crying).”
Still, Abou Ibrahim longs to return to Mosul and rebuild his life in the city he calls home.
SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Abou Ibrahim, Iraqi internally displaced person:
“All of Iraq is my country but Mosul is where I was born and raised. It is a part of me, a part of my body. If I lose a part of my body, the body will come to an end.”
He cherishes what he has left. His two granddaughters were orphaned by the war, but his losses are a constant reminder that peace is desperately needed. Since 2014, some 3.26 million Iraqis have been displaced. About a million of them currently live in the Kurdish region of Iraq.
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