ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Dignity was a word mentioned frequently during a ceremony at the Harshm Camp near the Kurdistan Region capital of Erbil to celebrate the arrival of prefabricated cabins – or caravans -- for the almost 1,400 internally displaced persons (IDPs) living here.
The cabins will give them “comfort and dignity,” said senior field coordination manager Whycliffe Songwa of the UN organization for refugees, UNHCR. “They are more safe and durable. A tent will last about six months, these caravans about three years.”
The UN organization would like to replace all tents in the dozens of camps in Iraqi Kurdistan with caravans, he said, if only the funds would allow. The Kurdistan Region is housing some 1.4 million IDPs, plus another 600,000 Syrian refugees, many of whom have found refuge in the camps.
The caravans at the Harshm Camp have been donated by Taiwan. Songwa hosted a simple ceremony to celebrate this fact, with both the Taiwanese ambassador in Amman and Governor Nawzad Hadi of Erbil present. Since the camp outside the Christian suburb of Erbil, Ainkawa, is managed by the French NGO Acted. The Deputy Principal Officer William Silkworth of the American Consulate in Erbil was also present.
“We know how important the development of social welfare is. We were there ourselves,” said Ambassador Matthew Lee of Taiwan, during a walk through the camp, as he recalled his own country’s past struggle. “For that reason, it is our policy to provide human aid everywhere in the world,” he explained.
Harshm is one of the first camps in Iraqi Kurdistan where the cabin-caravans have taken the place of the white UNHCR tents. The three hundred white Portacabins each offer a home to up to seven persons, with the larger of the 272 families there split into two cabins. Most of the inhabitants have built a separate kitchen with blue plastic sheeting adjoining their cabins. Toilet and shower units can be spotted all over the camp site.
The main advantage of the cabins, according to their inhabitants, is that that they have doors with locks, improving privacy and a sense of safety. Therefore, the caravans feel more like a home. Even though their new homes arrived after the cold spell of early January, camp refugees are grateful for this improvement in living conditions.
“I lock my kids inside,” said 27-year-old Ibtisan Ismael with a big smile, when asked how she manages to keep her home clean in a camp that gets turned into a mud pool whenever it rains. That was not possible with tents, as they had openings at both ends, she said, calling to one of her three children who was getting too near a puddle.
Ismael, who is from Hamdaniya, a predominantly Christian region, was outside chatting with some neighbors. Although the inhabitants of the camp derive from a mix of ethnic and religious backgrounds mirroring that of Iraq itself, the atmosphere is good. Amongst them are Sunnis who escaped from Christian and Yezidi areas with the arrival of the Islamic State (ISIS). The Sunni Arabs are regarded wearily by some in the Kurdistan Region because other Sunnis in these areas chose to align with ISIS.
Ghanem Oudaida, 60 and a pensioned army officer, comes from Shingal and now runs a fruit stall in the camp. “We live here as brothers, or even more,” he said. “My real brother I have not seen for months; here we are all together.”
He mentioned that most people felt safer in the new caravans than before, because one of the tents had burned down recently, when a kerosene heater malfunctioned, killing a baby. “Many families are very scared of fire.”
Ismael agreed: “Cooking outside, next to the caravan, is much safer. If something goes wrong in the kitchen, it happens outside the house.”
Even though the situation has improved, camp manager Yasmine Colijn of Acted still sees more tasks ahead. “A camp is never finished. The toilet and shower facilities still need to be improved, and we need to do more for the many disabled in the camp,” Calijn said.
Also, Unicef is building a new school in the camp.
The inhabitants speak of hope that, with the latest Peshmerga offensive against ISIS -- or daesh as the group is called locally -- the moment they can return to their homes is approaching fast.
“No later than next month I go back home,” Ismael said longingly. “Surely, daesh will be gone by then. I’d love to really live again.”
Ghanem Odaida said he would return home the moment ISIS is chased completely from Shingal, even though he has heard that most of their homes have been looted or even destroyed. His wife joined him in this wish by saying: “God does not forget anyone. He will surely help us.”
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