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People have suffered a lot and “Only the mountains love the Kurds”, is an often heard Kurdish saying.
Iraq – It was an often-repeated quote here in North Iraq, where the mountains have often served as a hiding-place when Saddam was once again trying out his chemical weapons on the Kurdish population.
While the population of Iraq is fleeing to escape the violence of IS, the existing camps are still full of Syrian refugees. Hope feels like a concept from a previous world.
The e-mail is short and that makes the despair even more tangible: “No hopes, all family can do is pray and wait, bye Shukrya.”
The mail is not from Shukrya, it was written by her daughter Berivan. A 24-year-old woman who once studied English at the University of Damascus and dreamed of a career in ICT, but now lives in a refugee camp in Akre. In Kurdistan, in northern Iraq.
Images: Nicole Franken – Text: Anneke de Bundel
