.
  Lightstalkers
* My Profile My Galleries My Networks

On the Border: Refugees from Iraq

Shortly after the beginning of the Iraqi war in March 2003, some Iraqi residents fled the war torn country trying to find refuge in neighbouring Jordan, fearing insecurity during the conflict and discrimination after the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime in Baghdad. Some of them were allowed to enter Jordan and were settled in the Ruweished camp, some 70 km from the border, others who arrived later were stuck in the Karama camp in the no man’s land, between the two countries. The refugees were mostly Palestinians and Iranian Kurds, some very few others were Somalis, Sudanese and Iranians. End of May/June 2004 I lived with the UNHCR operation in Ruweishid, the last Jordanian village, and documented the daily life of the 2000 refugees living in the two camps in the middle of the desert, where the weather is extremely hot in summer days, the snakes and scorpions wander between the tents, and multiple sand storms in the day, And the winter days and nights are extremely cold, with high winds and rain. Part of my job was to teach the refugee kids how to take pictures with disposable cameras. With their pictures and mine, we exhibited for the World Refugee Day 2004 in Amman. Later in October I revisited the camps and lived there, trying to continue the documentary I had started earlier that year. Some refugees in October were preparing to be resettled in Sweden, while other had left back to Iraq, discouraged by their situation and tired of waiting in the desert camps.

Want to link to this gallery?
Flash Slideshow:


Keywords

jordan-iraq-border refugees camps


More about sponsorship→
About

Lebanese born, majored in photography at a Fine-Arts faculty in Lebanon.. Was always interested in refugees, social and human rights cases.. Took photos in Iraq while on a humanitarian mission.. Documented the life of refugees stranded on the border of Jordan-Iraq summer-fall 2004. Worked as the photo editor at AP in Beirut for 20 months, before quitting end of 2006. And after the long rest I am now trying to go back to my social documentary photography, as I decided to work on the aftermath of the summerlong war in Lebanon, and the Lebanese community.

Dalia Khamissy's current location:
Beirut, Lebanon (BIA)

Play slideshow →
Top↑ | RSS/XML | Privacy Statement | Terms of Use | support@lightstalkers.org / ©2004-2009 November Eleven